Hacking your Results

“Dang look at that one girl on instagram. Ripped! I’m going to do her workout! Summer 2017 baby!” OR “Dude, did you see that one guy that flipped the tire, then box jumped over it, then did a power clean, squatted, and did like 100 burpees?!? Yeah man got to get on his level”.

If these sound familiar you, or you have participated in this kind of behavior, then pump the brakes. We have been bred to believe that what gets the reward is the “binary change”. You were once “X”, and now you are ” BADASS SUPER AMAZING Y”. Huzzaaaaaa, give me all the likes and hearts, and wows you can, so I can feel the buzzing dopamine hits in mah brain. Totally get it. It is totally normal to want validation after you have worked your ass off for your body. However, this thinking is the number one reason why most people start a fitness program, and then throw in the towel soon after. Why does this phenomenon occur?

Our TLF clientele have given us some strong insight as to why it happens. WARNING AND REMINDER: THERE IS NO MOTIVATIONAL VIDEO OR TALK THAT WILL GET YOU TO  YOUR GOALS. ENTER “SELF-LOVE”. THIS IS THE CONSTANT RECOMMITMENT TO THE PROCESS OF HABITUALLY DOING WHATS NECESSARY TO GET TO YOUR GOALS. Embrace the Process. Enjoy the video or read on (or a bit of both if you are into that thing).

  1. The People on Instagram are NOT YOU!: This sounds fairly obvious upon reading it, but there’s more to this statement.We can’t automatically assume that if we just did what they did, we would magically arrive to the same results. It is silly, because you don’t have their genetics, you don’t know how long they have been training, what their support team is like, what their lifestyle is like, what they eat, and what their mindsets are like. It may have taken this person years to get to where they did, and a serious amount of sacrifices. Let’s call this said person “Mary”. Instead of being like Mary:


Acknowledge where you are right now. We aren’t doomed if we don’t have what Mary has. We CAN optimize what we are given.

a) This means figuring out your own unique body type, and understanding the skill sets built around movement training/nutrition/mindset training.

b) Practice, practice, practice the habits that eventually help you actualize your goals. Embrace the process, and keep bringing yourself back to that! The process will move you in the direction of your goals. If you keep focusing on only the end result, then you will always be disappointed in the fact that you aren’t at your binary end goal.

c) If your environment is toxic,  then you can either have a conversation with the people around you asking for their support,  or your can find a better circle to surround yourself with. Preferably people that are like minded, and are willing to encourage you towards your goals.

2. You are Not What the Scale Says: It pains me to hear about the men and women that get on the scale everyday, hoping that they can see the numbers plummeting to an all time low! What we don’t realize is that you could be losing weight from anywhere. And no, losing from anywhere and everywhere is not a good thing.


You don’t want to be losing muscle and fat, and leeching minerals from other parts of your body only to  be miserable and “skinny, but not lean”.  REMINDER: Leanness, and being toned is a product of building muscle mass. YES, muscle…MASS! It sounds crazy, and it sounds like you are going to become the hulk, but no that probably won’t happen. Unless you take steroids, growth hormone, or other anabolic aids. Instead of the scale:

a) Notice how you feel in your clothes everyday. Are things fitting differently? If they are, celebrate that!

b) Get your body fat tested, and keep measuring it every 3-4 weeks. Is your composition of lean muscle to fat changing every month. Celebrate that! because that’s what you really are going for when you want leanness or toned-NESS! Types of body fat testing : DEXA, Calipers, Bod Pod etc. Pick a method and check for relative change in each one.

c) How do you look in the mirror. A simple look in the mirror or compliments from others is a good sign your composition is changing as well.

d) How is your energy? Do you feel like you can do more, your numbers in the gym keep going up with your exercises, and you are recovering faster from your workouts? This is amazing  because you are most likely putting on muscle if you are making consistent strength changes in the gym…#GAINS.

3) Progress is Non-Linear: When we embark on some sort of transformation or change, we expect to see linear progress all the time every time. We are then butt hurt when we get pulled off our trajectory. Is it really that bad to be pulled off your path, and is there a lesson to learn from it all? Absolutely! A lot of our clients go strong into their program, only to be hit hard in the face by LIFE. Conditions aren’t favorable and all of a sudden they find themselves falling into stress eating, or skipping a workout, or bingeing on a vice. This is an opportunity for you to become aware of what your pattern is when you become overwhelmed. Instead, document all the emotions leading up to your behavior, how you felt after said behavior, and then how you truly want to proceed from there. Often times than not, we aren’t even aware of the programs we are running on. We have worked so hard to train those coping mechanisms into ourselves. And just as that is trainable, so is the new more serving habit for yourself.

And as a non conventional piece of advice:

If you are feeling burnt out on your program, take a little break from it, don’t count your macros, don’t worry if your numbers don’t change. Instead, just show up to your workouts, have fun, and do the minimum to maintain yourself. Think of it as a hard interval training bout. You go hard for a period of time followed by a rest period. That rest period allows you to hit it hard again.

Much love,Sumair

Pssst….Embrace the Process!

Sumair Bhasin