Admitting Your Mistakes

It’s hard to admit you made mistakes.

You screwed up big-time and pissed people off, particularly those close to you.

It is hard to forgive yourself and others.

It’s hard to admit to yourself that you need help.

It’s difficult to say I’m sorry.

However, doing so, as difficult as it is to accept responsibility for your actions, is both mentally and physically freeing. How do I know? I’m living proof.

But is it easy? No

We all make big and small mistakes, and sometimes we learn from them; however, sometimes we don’t, and we continue to make them. Here, I’ll outline some mistakes I’ve made, and I’ll tie them back to health and fitness, to help you be your best self.

Mistakes, I Made A Few

Here is a mix of professional and personal mistakes that stand out and I’ve learned from. Please, don’t laugh, and if you do, do it behind my back.

Mistake: I hurt my very first client’s lower back because I got her to perform a Romanian deadlift before teaching her to hip hinge with good form. You’d think I’d learn from that, but it happened again, resulting in a lost client.

Lesson Learned:  Just because I knew how to do it doesn’t mean the person in front of me does. This resulted in returning to the drawing board to learn the value of exercise regressions.  

Mistake: Early in my career, a client called me to report that she had stubbed her big toe and was in pain. I told her to suck it up, come in, and we would work around it. It was a broken toe, and I made her train on it.

Lesson Learned: Besides feeling like a total dick, I admitted my mistake, comped her the session, and learned to be more compassionate with clients.  

Mistake: An incidental late-night “discussion” about politics with my wife ended up being a full-blown argument where I completely lost my shit.

Lesson Learned: I made this mistake a few times before realizing I had trouble controlling my anger. This led me to seek therapy, which has made me not only a better, more aware person but a better coach, too.

What does this mean, besides making me think I’m Dr. Phil? It means I’m human, and I made some whoppers. But sometimes, it’s not the mistake that matters in the end; it is what you learn from it.

Health & Fitness Mistakes

You need to realize that you’re making mistakes to learn from them. If my clients hadn’t gotten hurt or my wife hadn’t been so upset about my outburst, I wouldn’t have realized I had a problem.

At times, you need others to point out that your behavior or actions are unacceptable. Other times, you must realize that your behavior and actions are not serving you and are holding you back.

You know what they say about the definition of insanity—doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Insanity is often the case in the realm of health and fitness.

Things like

The yo-yo dieting cycle.

You are rewarding yourself with food after a challenging workout.

Consoling yourself with food or alcohol after a bad day.

Using unhealthy means to reduce stress.

The stop-start-stop mentality and using a lack of time as an excuse.

This could continue, but the point is clear.

Particularly in the areas of health and fitness, it is challenging to see the forest through the trees and recognize that mistakes in your behavior and actions are hindering your progress. IMO, it’s much easier to blame something else than to accept responsibility for where you are.

Not only with health and fitness, but also with life’s behaviors.

Trust me when I say I’m living proof, and this is not me standing on a podium high above, but right down in the mud with everyone else. However, admitting your mistakes and taking positive action about them is liberating.

Wrapping Up

Admitting your mistakes and accepting responsibility for where you are in your life’s journey is difficult. Taking a long, hard look in the mirror and realizing that some of the problems you face are a result of your actions is hard. However, it is freeing once you learn the lesson of your ways and practice some self-forgiveness.

Because when you know better, you do better.

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Whether you’re just starting or you’re tired of piecing together random YouTube workouts, my online coaching is built to help you succeed with:

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Expert guidance and progress tracking that fits your lifestyle

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