Has there ever been a time in our culture when Health and
Nutrition guidance needed so desperately to be listened to? If you look at the statistics on overweight
and obesity, you would have to say, “No.”
As a nation, 60% of us are overweight while 30% of the total is
classified as obese. Child obesity
statistics are mortifying. We are eating
more manufactured “food” than ever before.
Nutrient deficient foods, refined sugar, and toxic sweeteners/additives
are in 85% of what you see in a grocery store.
Our daily lives, over the age of eighteen, are sedentary with fewer and
fewer jobs requiring physical effort to perform. Medical costs to the “over forty” group of
adults are skyrocketing due to chronic illnesses caused by these extremely poor
eating and exercise choices. Heart
conditions, cancer, blood issues, edema, acid reflux, sleep apnea…the list is
endless. All of these conditions are
avoidable with the right life choices.
That’s a fact.
So if you walked into an Emergency Room in a hospital loaded
with these people…the overweight, the chronically ill, the overmedicated…how
many do you think would hear you when you said, “If you make a few changes, eat
right and exercise, I can show you how to avoid all of this. I even have a few items that are proven to
help you, and I can show you how to use them.”
How many? Few? I bet a couple would listen. How many would listen if you said it in a
medical office? Fewer. How many if you said it at a grocery store or
mall? None?
Why is that? How
could it be that a horse dying of thirst, when a bucket of water is put under
them, would refuse to drink? The main
way is that the horse doesn’t know it’s dying.
With people, it’s a little bit different. People are a lot more complex. They refuse to drink because they are hoping
that the lifestyle they have been living, the one they are very used to and
think is bringing them pleasure, can somehow continue without consequence. It’s maddening…believe me, I know it.
It’s strange how even the medical issues these people are
facing or enduring are not enough to make them decide to change. The not so funny part is that I get it. I took two ambulance rides that were caused
by my physical condition and job stress.
The job stress was bad but the real condition was that I was so
physically broken that my body couldn’t handle the effects of that stress. Many think that stress is psychological but
in reality, the physical effects of stress are far worse. The over stimulation of cortisol and the
other metabolic changes that happen in the body due to stress can kill
you. I know that. But that’s not what made me change.
For me, it was an ‘aha’ moment when I was simply turning a
screw on a July day and I was sweating a puddle under my face. I am dead serious. That snapped me. That’s the day I decided I was changing and
not going back.
So here we stand with all this information and we wonder why
there is so much resistance to the message.
I have spent the last ten years selling bank products on the
internet. Getting someone to open a
checking or savings account online is very difficult. To be successful, you have to be patient and
understand why people decide to buy things.
“Buy” means that they decide they want to invest time and/or money in a
product or service.
The first three things you need to be successful are you
need to have expertise, honesty, and likability. Expertise has to be complemented with
credibility. People have to believe that
you actually believe the message. You
can’t fake that. Honesty and likeability
are things we all have come to appreciate and try to aspire to, but you also
need to complement those two things with sincerity. Absent sincerity, looking honest and likeable
is hollow and sniffed out very quickly.
You would think that once you get over this hurdle that your
job is done. Oh no. Not at all.
That just takes care of your side of the selling equation. Selling any concept, service or product
requires the other person to do something too.
The next question is, “What would this product have to do for them to
inspire them to change?” That’s really
the issue here. Change. We live today in a culture where we have so
much that there are very few products that are needed that we don’t already
own. So the trick is getting people with
too much and very busy lives to see your product as so essential that they need
to have it.
So, if your product is health and fitness, what would
trigger someone to decide to embrace the message?
Does the service fulfill a basic need? Health and fitness? Oh , yes…it does. Do THEY think it’s needed? Maybe not. They may think they are healthy enough and have moved on to satisfying other needs in their life.
Does the service offer a benefit of convenience? Nothing is more appreciated than a solution
to something that is fast and effective.
Ever wonder why more diet pills are sold than exercise DVD’s? Perceived convenience.
There are many other reasons that people buy
things…scarcity, replacing something they already have that either broke or
requires a significant upgrade, low price, great value, fills an emotional
void. But with Health and Fitness…it is
obvious. THEY NEED IT.
So what need is it fulfilling? Is it a basic need? Maybe they have had a health crisis. Maybe they have been warned that things are
so bad that a health crisis is imminent.
So maybe it would fulfill a basic safety need. Is their health affecting their
relationships? Better health could improve
their need for love and affinity. Do
they want desperately to be held in regard by others (an esteem need) ? The closer the need is to the basic needs,
the more they are likely to be receptive.
Regardless, I have been pushing a pro-health message for
four years now. I have been living it,
so I have some credibility. After that,
people will only move on becoming more fit when THEY are ready. Don’t get frustrated and just keep pushing
the message. It is desperately needed.
THE WORKOUT:
Last night’s workout was great. I finally figured out why my thighs were
getting ripped up in the routines. I was
not squatting properly. My knees were
out over my toes and, when I dropped my butt into the squat, I was bending my
knees at an angle less than 90 degrees, which is really tight. My poor form was actually killing my legs. I made and adjustment last night and it was
great.
Same result for tonight’s workout. Better form and all went really well. I am still sweating like crazy but my
endurance is building. One observation
though…and this is how I know that I am in week two…some observations on the
other participants.
I am jogging my butt off in the Pure Cardio. WHAT are some of the people in the back
doing? Their feet aren’t even leaving
the floor!! They are ‘flashdancing’ as
the legs barely move and the arms pump. It’s all I can do to not hum ‘Maniac.’ Also, there is a guy that gets caught huffing
and puffing with a painful look on his face and when the camera cuts to him, he
turns on the gas. The surprise look
makes me laugh every time.
Okay, signing off.
AbRipper X in the AM. KEEP IT
GOING!!
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