The best shape of your life for what?

Rachel Cosgrove • June 30, 2021

What do you want to be in the best shape of your life for?

"Your body is an instrument, not an ornament." - Lexie and Lindsay Kite.


Getting ready to do my second Ironman distance triathlon a client said to me, “That’s so amazing! You’re in the best shape of your life! What will you do next now that you are in the best shape of your life?” 


As if this is it. This is me ready for anything. Because I'm ready to complete an Ironman distance triathlon, I  am ready to do anything? 


Yes he’s right I’m in the best shape of my life to complete an Ironman distance triathlon. 


This got me thinking…am I in the best shape of my life? That’s such a definitive destination that I’m not sure we ever reach because I hate to say it but…It depends. 


Often a client will join Results with the goal of getting into “the best shape of their life” and what an incredible goal to have! I really hadn’t thought about being in the best shape of my life as I was focused on being able to swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles and run a marathon. 

In the best shape of your life for what? 


The human body is an incredible machine and we can train it to do anything. Anything is possible. I’ve had the opportunity to follow specific training programs for many different goals and every one of them I’ve learned about myself and my body.


When I shifted from focusing on training to "lose weight" or "get a six pack" to focusing on what my body can do, using my body as an instrument to conquer obstacles feeling empowered, lift twice my body weight or cross the finish line of a race I experienced my body changing to adapt to the specific goal getting stronger, leaner, fitter and seeing visible muscle including a six pack in order to be able to do the thing I was training for. Focus on what your body is capable of, not what it looks like.

As an IRONMAN triathlete, I am NOT the strongest I’ve ever been. That would be when I trained for a powerlifting meet and was able to Deadlift over 300 pounds, or when I went to the Spartan World Championships and was able to tackle any obstacle with confidence with my best strength to weight ratio to date. 


I am also not the leanest I’ve ever been as that would be when I trained for a Figure competition and really dialed in my training and nutrition with the goal in mind of reaching a specific body composition and “look" but I know I couldn't have run a half marathon let alone an Ironman at my leanest, most depleted and really not healthy but I looked good in a bathing suit on stage point of my health and fitness journey. 


Realizing that chasing the goal of being lean or weighing a certain number doesn't lead to being able to do more with your incredible machine of a body and instead can lead to a distorted body image especially when maintaining that state is unrealistic. Focusing on what your body is capable of rather than how it looks will lead to realizing your body's potential to do things you never thought you could do, have experiences of a lifetime along with better health and happiness while your body transforms to become the athlete you need to become for your specific goal. 


Training for an Ironman is another extreme, doing a very high volume of steady state cardio, beyond what's needed for health and eating more carbohydrates is not ideal for improving body composition as you end up trying to maintain muscle while your body becomes efficient at storing energy for the really long workouts you're doing. You can read more about that here (Click Here) where I wrote about the first time I trained for an Ironman. I had a similar experience this second time around again. 


I think a lot of people think - I'll train for an Ironman or a marathon to reach the best shape of my life but that isn't necessary unless you want to be able to do an Ironman or a marathon. 

Every single goal I've trained for has had strength training as a priority. Even while training for an Ironman I still did strength training three times a week to do everything I can to maintain my muscle and keep my joints strong to handle the impact of 140.6 miles while also being able to generate as much power as I can to propel myself forward as I swim, bike and run. Strength training is the cheat code. 


If you’ve set yourself a goal to “Be in the best shape of your life” let’s get more specific and decide what you want to be in the best shape of your life for? What’s important to you right now? I've realized over the years for our clients and myself goals focusing on what your body can do rather than how you look set you up for a healthier relationship with your body. 


Is it to be able to do the things you want to do to enjoy life and live an active lifestyle? Be able to hike with your family? Waterski again? Is it to be able to complete an Ironman triathlon or win a powerlifting meet? Having an event or experience you are training for is much more powerful than looking a certain way. Is it to be superhuman with a robust immune system able to fight off COVID or one of the ongoing variants with a body composition that is optimal for health and reduced inflammation?


Believe me – you don’t need to train for an Ironman to achieve the best shape of your life.


Strength is usually the limiting factor for many people for any goal. Make that your focus first.


"Strong People are harder to kill." - Mark Rippetoe


Once you have a base strength built such as being able to hold a plank for a minute and be able to do 10 body weight push ups, Squat 1/2 your body weight, Deadlift 1.5 times your body weight,  perform a chin up, to give you a few bench marks that we track at Results Fitness.  Along with adding some muscle which we track with our Inbody Body Composition Analysis getting you're machine ready for anything!


We like to think of getting our clients to a point where they are 6 weeks out from anything.


We offer a number of performance goals to train for as part of Team Results Fitness including OCR races, Powerlifting Meets, Kettlebell Tactical Strength Challenge, 5K's, Triathlons and even in house challenges like our 100 workout challenge(starts tomorrow!)


At Results Fitness we believe in creating a scientific program using the SAID principle, Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands, where each client is treated as an individual to reach a specific goal. The more specific your goal the more measured progress we can help you make toward that goal by creating a program to fine tune your instrument to be ready to perform.


What do you want to be in the best shape of your life for? 


Book a no sweat strategy session today and our team of expert coaches will help you figure out what being the best shape of your life means to you specifically and the fastest way to get there - Book your No Sweat Strategy Session Today

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