John J. Schessler, MS, SPC, CPT is the founder of Athlete Mindset HQ and a sport psychology, fitness, and performance professional with a background in child and adolescent psychology. His work explores the intersection of mindset, physical performance, mental well-being, fitness, and human development. Through practical, evidence-informed education, John challenges outdated ideas about fitness and performance while helping people build stronger bodies, healthier mindsets, and sustainable habits for life. His philosophy is simple: More Than Winning—build the person, and performance follows.
I’m sitting at my desk at work today, which is right at the front of the gym, and I happen to have a cupcake sitting on it from Oakmont Bakery. Now, if I had been a regular member of the gym instead of the Lead Personal Trainer for it, nobody would bat an eyelash BUT over the course of about fifteen minutes since the time I sat down with said cupcake, I must have gotten about ten comments about how I shouldn’t be eating something sweet like that and trying to promote good health and fitness habits. With the more comments I received, the more I had to laugh about it because the type of people that were making comments were…can you guess? Exactly. The type of members that were making comments were people who were basically of the older age grouping with absolutely not a positive bone in their body. It does pose the question though, “Are personal trainers subject to the same double standards as regular people are concerning fitness or are our standards raised more because we’re professionals?“ Let’s dive in and take a look at this.
As a fitness professional, I agree with the notion that above all else we need to be setting a good example for our clients by adopting healthy lifestyles for a few reasons: 1.) Our Health, 2.) Setting a positive example for others, and 3.) Marketing. I hate that last one but it’s true, we are our own billboards so to speak and part of this business, as sad as it is, is looking the part as well. What people also tend to forget though is that we’re human too, and subject to the same vices and hangups that others experience from day to day. Trainers are not all cut from the same mold, and each has their own way of dictating how they make certain rules for themselves concerning dieting, exercise, etc. A lot of people that I know who are trainers themselves compete as amateur bodybuilders. Part of that lifestyle is holding yourself insanely accountable for what you eat, how you train, and having a fitness/work/life balance on top of your goals. Being an amateur or professional bodybuilder is basically a second career because you live and breathe bodybuilding, proper dieting, etc. 24/7.
I like to think of myself as a more realistic trainer in that I’m not calorie-counting everything that I eat. Also, my training methods cater to average people that just want to improve stamina, health and lose weight. This is what the majority really is searching for when they sign up at a gym, not look like Thor. Back to my initial question though, “Should trainers be held to the same standards as seasoned fitness professionals and bodybuilders??” The quick answer coming from me is NO. Not all bodies are created equally and that means that trainers aren’t either. This is a lighter version of the body-shaming debate in a way. I remember applying for trainer positions that I didn’t get because I didn’t fit the physical expectations of what a trainer should look like (Yes, this is exactly what the email I received as a rejection said.) I’ve had body image issues with myself for as long as I can remember, just like everybody else but these days now that I’m in my 40’s, I don’t dwell on it too much. Holding people by an often times unreachable standard isn’t the way to gain great trainers to your staff because most trainers who have shoulders the size of bowling balls, usually have dust or creatine powder for brains.
John J. Schessler, Jr. is a Pittsburgh-based Personal Trainer and host of the podcast, “Flip Your Script”, available on Apple, Spotify and Google Podcasts.John has worked within the fitness/health worlds for the past 20 years, educating and helping people gain self-respect and motivation to reach their personal goals.John has backgrounds in Social Work, Education, Physical Therapy and Fitness and travels as a Motivational Speaker throughout various parts of the year.For all questions concerning speaking engagements or training inquiries, please email pghwellnesspt@gmail.com.
Hey everybody! Just wanted to update you on the publishing of the first and second episodes for the Flip Your Script Podcast! I listed the Apple Podcast site so you can save it to your favorites:)
I would love if you liked the episodes, share, and hit that notification button to get updated on when new episodes become available! And as always, if there’s negativity in your life….
John J. Schessler, Jr. is a Pittsburgh-Based Personal Fitness Trainer, Writer, Motivational Speaker, Actor and host of the podcast, “Flip Your Script”, available on Apple, Spotify and Amazon Podcast platforms. He has also worked in the Special Education, Social Work and Psychology fields and has an extensive knowledge that contributes to his fitness expertise. If you would like to contact John concerning speaking engagements or fitness ventures, please email pghwellnesspt@gmail.com. Thank you!
I am happy to announce that we’ve begun production of the 3rd season of the Flip Your Script Podcast! If you aren’t familiar with the show, we discuss men’s health/fitness, psychological issues, mental health, and so much more!
Below is the link the show’s website and I’d love it if you all would give it a listen and subscribe to the podcast! I’ve got a lot more interesting and fun interviews coming soon! Thanks so much!
John Schessler is a Pittsburgh-based Fitness Trainer, Motivational Speaker, and host of the podcast, “Flip Your Script, available on Apple, Google, Spotify and Amazon Podcast platforms. John has been working in the fitness industry for the last 15 years and specializes in Orthopedics, Pediatric Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine. For speaking engagements and training inquiries, please email pghwellnesspt@gmail.com. Thank you!
We’ve all had moments in our lives where we are faced with a choice that is life-changing. Often times, these moments involve some degree of risk-taking. Many of us often marinate over the pros and cons of the choices that we make and hope that what we choose is the best option for us and the situation at hand. Many people believe that every move that we make has already been laid out for us by a higher power (whatever word that you have for it is totally your own!) and it’s kind of comforting to think about it that way. That no matter what choice you make, in the end God is already there, helping you get to your next stepping stone. But we’re only human, we’re not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and we tend to compensate for our short-comings, imperfections and idiosyncrasies. But what most of us don’t realize is that it’s those imperfections that draw us closer together…or at least, that’s the way it should be. This doesn’t start in us as adults but as infants, from the day we’re born. We are assigned colors based on our genders; girls – pink, boys – blue. From that moment, we are assigned into our roles and with those roles comes great expectations on how we’re supposed to act, carry ourselves and even how we express our feelings.
It wouldn’t be America if we didn’t categorize everything, I mean, that’s what we do after all. But why? We all know the negative effects of this phenomena, this wrapping up certain groups of people in a box and tying a bow around it to make it seem pretty but in actuality, it’s a big mess that’s created. Above I stated about how males and females express things differently, so let’s start there. I’ll start with males, as I have personal experience in this area.
Our problems with vulnerability start way before we’re even born. Biologically speaking, female is the default gender, so males are susceptible to a whole host of problems, contracting certain birth defects and physical deformities more so than our female counterparts. After we’re born, there’s a whole host of problems that we have to contend with. Because of the lower estrogen-levels in our bodies, we’re more likely to have issues that affect our immune systems as well as our brains, given that our immune system is packed with estrogen and counteracts the antioxidant process. Turning away from our physical ailments for a minute, emotionally, we are totally screwed up and we can thank American family values and just social roles in general. Vulnerability for men can be summed up in one sentence – Do not be viewed as weak. That’s us emotionally in six words. From the moment we’re born, we’re taught that it’s not ok to show our weaknesses in any aspect of our lives. If we do, people might view us differently than we actually are. We play sports that show the toughness of our gender, men are responsible for most of the violence in this country as well as around the world and the list goes on and on. A lot of this isn’t really our fault, it’s just how we’re wired, but the disadvantage of all this for us is that we never really get to connect with others the way women do. Let me explain this in detail: Vulnerability studies have shown us that the more vulnerable we are with each other, the more we tend to connect better with other people. But if you are totally shut off to showing your true feelings, how do you ever fully connect with someone? Take baby steps, of course. Rome wasn’t built in a day:)
I’ve always loved observing people wherever I am. Since taking psychology courses in college and figuring out how humans operate on a solitary basis as well in a group there’s definitely a lot to be said for the way men and women size each other up and just how hurtful these methods are.
Let’s start with the ladies. Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor. Since the dawn of time, women have always been guided to look their prettiest, sexiest and alluring to men but in modern day planet Earth, women;s attitudes towards each other and their appearance have reached new lows of shaming. I was training a client about two weeks ago and our conversation as we were working out turned to body shaming. Now this individual is somewhat taller than the average woman and she stated that the teasing growing up about it definitely weighed on her, which is totally understandable…I’ve had my own struggles with my height or lack thereof as a man but I’ll get into that later. Deeper into our discussion, I mentioned that women are relentless when body-shaming themselves as well as each other! They tend to go for the jugular, emotional shame, which on my opinion, is the worst type of shame! With emotions, any kind of emotions, you rarely see them coming at you unless you are anticipating them, especially if you’re on the receiving end of them. Sadly, body-shaming in general terms has weaved its way into American culture anymore. People will just say anything with no discretion! Walking the floors of the gym I hear it almost daily, “Did you see what she’s wearing?!” or “OMG, I’m so fat!”, among others. Taking jabs at not only ourselves but others who are in the gym making an effort is not only bad of one’s character, it’s also tiresome and possibly hiding deeper rooted issues. Girls are primed from a very young age that they need to look pretty, wear make-up, dress sexy to get attention. If they don’t do these things, well, in the eyes of the public majority, they are seen as ‘less than’. We need to abandon this rhetoric and fast. We’ve created a plastic world where people now hold themselves to standards so ridiculously high, it’s virtually impossible to reach them. Women, you are beautiful, no matter what body type you have! Stop comparing yourself to the models on instagram and facebook because 90% of the time, those photos are fake or airbrushed. Being your authentic self and radiating a positive self-image is far more attractive in the long-run. Create a circle of friends that build each other up, not knock each other down.
Alright guys, it’s our turn. First of, if you don’t think men body shame each other, you are dead wrong….we are just more direct in some ways. From basically the time we’re born, we boys are guided into masculine areas….sports, risk-taking activities that show strength and as we grow up, for most of us exercise and working out comes into the picture. The gym has become a breeding ground for men’s ego’s to come out onto center stage and compete for their own version of ‘survival of the fittest’ or ‘who is the biggest rooster in the barn”. I get it and ask any guys and they’ll get it to, this is just how we’re wired. The issue starts when the flexing and grunting metamorphoses into something on a whole other level. Testosterone is a crazy hormone and when we’re around other guys in the gym, we size each other up. A recent study concluded that 71% of men are unhappy with some part of their looks and that more men are going through with plastic surgery and other means of getting the ‘perfect body’. These means are often dangerous and life-threatening as well as stupid to be perfectly frank. You hear about athletes pumping themselves full of steroid and PED’s (Performance-Enhancing Drugs) all the time to increase their game but there are serious side effects that accompany using those kinds of substances. All steroids and PED’s come with a price and the risk is certainly too high of one to pay. I remember one time I was getting together with my best buddy after not seeing him in a while. We met up, hugged it out and the next thing he does is poke my stomach and said “What’s going on here?” I laughed it off but in retrospect, it made me cringe inside a little. My stomach wasn’t that big to begin with but I had been brainwashed into thinking “I need to have abs dammit!” These days for me, being healthy tops the aesthetics and vanity of working out, they are just side benefits. One thing though that men do a little more of that women tend not to do is encourage gains in the gym, on the field or in the pool. I think that’s one thing that we do get right a little bit more and embrace the brotherhood of teamwork as many of us have played sports or been on teams in our past. I know for me that I always perform better working out in a group of with someone than alone. It just feels good knowing that you are going through it alongside someone else.
We now in the US have support groups for body shaming and motivational seminars, books, etc. All of this support because people have decided that putting people down is what matters instead of helping support them? Shameful! No one of us is getting out of here alive. Your looks will fade no matter how much surgery that you have or how much make up you plaster on your face. A lot of women say that men with scars are sexy. I tend to agree because it shows they have flaws about their body but t hey really aren’t phased by them. Flaws and scars are what make you unique and special. It’s what makes you YOU. I wouldn’t be John without walking with a limp or having scars on my face from a car accident back in college. Do they define and consume my thoughts? No, of course not. I actually laugh when I trip over my left foot, which has a natural drop in it. I trip over it a million times a day but I see it as a constant joke these days. And if I didn’t have it, i wouldn’t be me.
So, embrace all the things that you are and pray on the things that you wish to become. But just know that you are perfect. Just the way you are.
John J. Schessler, Jr. is a Pittsburgh-Based Personal Trainer, Actor, & Writer. He also is the creator and host of the podcast, “Flip Your Script”, available on wherever you listen to your podcasts. He is also a motivational speaker for companies, groups, and individual bookings as well. John has been a Master Trainer in the fitness business for over 15 years and has certifications in Nutrition, Tactical Conditioning, Sports Injury and Orthopedics. For booking or training information, please email pghwellnesspt@gmail.com.
It’s that time of year again…. time to give thanks for everything that we have, time to be with friends and family and of course, EAT! This is the time of year that personal trainers like me are one of two things, either extremely busy or extremely slow. People have good intentions when it comes to exercising and being healthy but this time of year, we all have a way of letting things fall by the wayside just a little…or a lot. Most people want to enjoy their Thanksgivings without the pressure of having to count calories, watch what their macros are for the day or calculating their calories. I’m more of a realistic trainer and everything that I’ve just mentioned, I totally understand that mentality of the individuals that embrace this mindset. I always say that food was meant to be enjoyed and on Thanksgiving, many people look forward to foods that they may not have the luxury of being able to eat all year, so we tend to indulge ourselves, right?! Well, let me be one of a handful of trainers to say, don’t worry it’s okay. We’ll get through this together. But John, how? Well, the first thing to do is to STOP IT! It’s not life and death and eating a little bit more isn’t going to hurt anything. Also, if you’ve chosen NOW to start worrying about the food you’re consuming and in what quantities, you may need to re-evaluate your game plan. You should have started monitoring things waaaay back in January, not November. For some people, fighting the battle of the holiday bulge isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do but here are some tips to make eating better and keeping more positive habits during the holiday season.
DON’T BEAT YOURSELF UP. You’re only human and one of the things that makes us human is eating. It’s amazing how many people beat themselves up on a daily basis because their weight isn’t a certain number on the scale, or their clothes are a little bit tighter than usual. You deserve to be happy above everything else and if eating the foods that you want is going to keep you on the up and up, go for it. What you do need, is a gameplan to becoming more aware of the foods you’re eating and in what amounts more often.
THE SCALE IS A DAMN LIAR. I heard once in a comedy show that men have a great relationship with their bodies as opposed to women because we don’t worry about how people perceive our physique and how we look. WRONG! I’m one of the worst and I know a lot of other men feel the same way, just because we don’t vocalize our struggles as much doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. What usually is one thing that is a constant reminder and discourager is the dreaded scale. Every few days or every week, people stand on this thing and wait for a reading. The reading mentally dictates how we see ourselves from a physical standpoint until the next time we perform this task. The scale is just that, a tool to utilize to give us an idea of how we want to start or continue to make healthier choices for ourselves. It’s not a death sentence. It’s not supposed to discourage you, although I understand why it does. We have certain expectations before we step on the scale as to what our weight should be and if it isn’t that, then something’s wrong with us that needs fixing. This is totally not true and during the holidays, it’s best not to even step on the scale. Put it in the closet until the urge has passed to monitor your weight around the holidays.
CHOOSE HEALTHY OPTIONS AT THANKSGIVING DINNER.One of the things that you can control is the foods you’re choosing to eat during those holiday dinners. Instead of eating the greasy, carbohydrate-loaded fattier foods, choose foods that are leaner and less dense in volume, so you won’t feel as bloated or ‘stuffed’. There’s no rule that says you have to eat a little of everything at the table or just the foods that are cooked in vegetable oil either. You control your own meal-planning and on the holidays, it’s imperative to implement it, especially if you feel that gouging yourself is going to make you more depressed the next few days afterwards.
DRINK WATER! In ways of drinking around the holidays, for many people, water is the last thing that would be considered to go with Thanksgiving dinner, so usually we opt for sodas, wine, beer and sometimes, hard liquor. Facts: not drinking alcohol won’t make you a pussy. Annnd, you don’t need alcohol to enjoy the atmosphere or the company either. Alcohol contains carbs that tend to linger long after we’ve drank the alcohol of our choosing so that’s another deterrent from drinking right there! The holidays are hectic enough with everything that we have to do, make sure a DUI isn’t one of them. If you are drinking, be an adult and use your head, drink responsibly.
PACE YOURSELF. During Thanksgiving, we tend to speed up our eating to savor the tastes of the food that we ingest. Did you know that if you just slow you’re eating down, you’ll consume fewer calories? No, it’s true. Eating slower gives your brain the needed time to receive the signal from the stomach that it’s full. So slow down, take a few seconds to listen to Aunt Ida’s story about her casino trip in between bites and enjoy the gift of fewer calories.
TAKE A WALK AFTERWARDS. Dinner is over and what do you do now? Take a walk sounds like a good idea! Burn some of those calories off after dinner with a brisk or not so brisk walk with your family. Make it a new Thanksgiving tradition that the whole family will benefit from!
The holidays can be a particularly stressful time of the year for many people thinking about the responsibilities of the holiday and the meal they are preparing. If you wish to be proactive, plan out your meal from start to finish, what foods you are going to eat and what amounts. It may seem a little pretentious but if you are serious about keeping your weight down this Thanksgiving, you’ll put in the work. Don’t let this Thanksgiving be the holiday that ruins your fitness goals!
John J. Schessler, Jr. is a Pittsburgh-based Personal Trainer, Men’s Health Coach, Motivational Speaker and Writer. He is also host of the podcast, “Flip Your Script”, available wherever podcasts can be downloaded. John has been working in the fitness industry for over 15 years and continues to enjoy helping people become the best versions of themselves. For personal training or speaking inquiries or bookings, please email pghwellnesspt@gmail.com.
I meet with people pretty regularly who have either injured themselves or are just bouncing back from a surgery. The one thing I hear from a majority of my clients when I tell them about either scaling back their training regimen or inserting a few rest days in between their workout days, is that none of them want to modify their training routine. Either because they feel 100% better, which usually isn’t the case, or because they ‘don’t want to lose their gains’, everybody has a reason NOT the adequately let their body rest and recover. If you have been consistently hitting your workouts for any length of time and then, BAM, something comes along to screw all that up, it’s disheartening. I totally get it. People use working out and physical exercise to help cope with a lot of life’s problems that get thrown our way. Stress, anxiety, depression, death, life changes…anything really can have a positive or negative effect on our mood and how we react towards the stimuli thrown at us and exercise can help curb that and make things just a little bit better. What do you do though when you have to sit it out for a length of time?
The rest and recovery principle of training is a guideline that states that athletes (and people in general who exercise), need to balance physical activity with adequate rest and recouperation. The principle is based on the idea that if stress is imposed on the body, rest and recovery will help the body adjust to the demands being put on it and improve as a result. This is known as the principle of adaptation. Because these are legitimate principles that apply to bodybuilding and exercise in general, why do most people want to just skip it? I personally think it’s because it’s the way our brains are wired, combined with feelings of guilt if one skips a day or two to properly rest up.
Anything professional athlete of any sport will tell you that proper rest is going to not only help your body recover but also help your mind recover and give you clarity as well. People who suffer from mental health problems such as depression or anxiety for example, use exercise and physical activity to help balance out the chemical imbalances they deal with in their brains causing them to become depressed or anxious. The same idea is used when the same types of people rest and recover. Their minds aren’t as scattered, things don’t seem so fast-paced and on the whole, some type of homeostasis happens inside their entire body.
Overtraining effects roughly 60% of elite athletes and about 30% of non-elite athletes and once you have, it’s difficult to overcome. WAIT! Wouldn’t your body just take a little longer to recover then? Technically yes but that’s if you overtrain just a little. Overtraining and spraining or tearing muscle is a whole other level of rest and recovery because they usually require advanced healing techniques. Enter the Physical Therapists and Doctors.
If you’ve read my other posts, you already know that PT’s treat most physical injuries that aren’t simple accidents. Tears, sprains, bone breaks, etc. are something all PTs are educated and trained to treat, and it usually requires some home exercise on the patient’s part. Now, I don’t treat patients anymore, I train clients and the difference between the two isn’t actually that far from each other. Depending on the type of clients you train, you like me, may find yourself ‘treating’ these kinds of symptoms after they’ve graduated from physical therapy outpatient treatment. The line that I hear ALOT is “I don’t want to pay for PT services, so I decided to come to the gym and self-treat myself with your help.” Let’s unpack this from a trainer’s perspective.
Let’s say that the above scenario just happened to me during my last consult with a new client. The first question I always ask after they let me know what’s going on is “Have you been cleared by your doctor to exercise?” If they say no, things stop right there for my services and it’s at the client’s discretion whether or not they want to work out on their own. If they have been cleared, then I’ll assess the limitations of their pain or movement patterns. I work for a commercial gym, so I’m covered under their blanket liability insurance as a personal trainer. That means if someone gets hurt, they can’t sue the gym. However, that doesn’t stop them from suing me as an individual, which is why it’s always a good idea for trainers to have their own liability insurance, so you’re covered from all angles! But I digress.
Back to rest and recovery. How do you rest and recover? It sounds like a stupid question but has real benefits for people. There are two kinds of recovery: active and passive and they are just what they sound like. Passive recovery involves taking the day entirely off from exercise. Active recovery is when you engage in a low-intensity exercise, placing minimal stress on the body, if any. During active recovery, your body repairs soft tissue (tendons, ligaments, muscles), improves blood circulation by removing waste products from muscle breakdown. Passive recovery involves taking the day entirely off from exercise.
After speaking with some friends of mine at the gym, Nick and Anthony, to find out whether they adequately rest if they have any prominent muscle tears or injuries, they both answered yes. However, it’s interesting to hear each guy’s expansion on the subject. Nick said that just last night he got about eight hours of sleep and woke up feeling refreshed and in a good mood today. Anthony’s point of view was more scientific though. Anthony is going to school to become a chiropractor, so I expected his answer to be a little more specific. He was saying that many people overtrain, the same way that they may undertrain. For athletes, recovery days are literally built into their schedules because they know the importance of it. The difference between regular people when it comes to overtraining is that most people aren’t as informed on the specifics of recovery periods and knowing when to taper off for a few days.
If you feel that you have done too much in the gym or your body feels tired, it’s OKAY to take a day off to get your head and body back in order. One of the things I stress with my clients and gym members in general is that if you’re tired or sore, that means your form is likely to suffer and if your form is sloppy, you might as well not do the exercise at all. One thing is for certain though, make rest and recovery a normal part of your workout schedule. You’ll begin feeling much more energized that first day back lifting.
John J. Schessler, Jr. is a Pittsburgh-based ISSA/NPTI Certified Master Trainer, Tactical Conditioning Specialist, Motivational Speaker, Men’s Life Coach and host of the podcast, “Flip Your Script” available on Apple & Spotify platforms. He has also been featured on the BBC News regarding body dysmorphia and eating disorders. He has worked in the health and fitness industry for the past 15 years, assisting clients in the areas of physical therapy, personal training, and neuromuscular training. If you would like to contact John concerning training inquires or speaking engagements, please email pghwellnesspt@gmail.com.
Motivation is an odd emotion/mindset to have if you really sit there and think about it. Where does it come from? How is it created inside the body? No matter what the answer to those questions maybe, we each experience and utilize motivation differently and create many varieties of projects with the motivation that we have. Sometimes it’s hard to stay motivated and then other times, it’s easy but we can’t stay motivated ALL the time. Or can we? There are more than a few people who are claiming that staying motivated 100% of the time is not only an ability that people can tap into but that it is also necessary for creativity and innovation to occur. How to we let this happen?
Anybody who has studied psychology or human conditioning is going to tell you first that motivation is a mindset, plain and simple. The more you concentrate on becoming motivated, the more you will exude and give off those qualities. It’s like some sort of immersion therapy, you have to drown yourself in the ‘can-do’ spirit and let it wash over you like water off a duck’s back. After practicing that simple mind trick, you will start to conform to it. Sounds easy, right? Well, if it were only. It’s true that doing something over and over again does condition that brain to begin thinking and acting accordingly but with motivation, it’s more like a ride on a roller coaster. It starts out smooth but eventually there’s a lot of bumpy twists and sharp turns you find yourself going through. Motivation oddly enough, comes to us after beginning a new behavior, not before. Motivation is often the result of an action that we’ve taken, not the cause of it.
Many times, people often struggle to find the motivation to start a task or continuing to finish it because of the time they’re wasting on parts of the project that aren’t as important as you might think. This is why ‘scheduling’ your motivation in necessary for success in whatever you’re tackling. Tons of people never get around to writing a book, an essay or even a journal article because they usually never have the time or create a schedule for the writing process to happen. This is why scheduling motivation should be just as important. Motivation by definition isn’t something that just happens, there is an antecedent that causes it to become active in our bodies and brains. How does one ‘schedule’ motivation? Well, it can look like this,
“I hope I get the motivation to go to the gym today and lift weights.”
“I hope I can get together with my friends tonight and spend quality time together.“
This sounds weird, at least I thought so when I first started doing research, but words have a profound effect on our brains and if we phrase our motivation just right during our scheduling period of it, it is more apt to work. Setting schedules is great and all but if you really want to knock your motivation mindset into high gear, your schedule will become a ritual.
You journal about what it is that you want to become motivated about that day, you meditate on it, and then execute it. When you do this, it can look something like this:
“I begin each day of my life with a ritual; I wake up at 5:30 A.M., grab a shower, a quick breakfast of oatmeal and a banana and go to the LA Fitness downtown where I’m going to put myself through a heavy upper body workout.” The ritual is not the stretching and weight training I put my body through each morning at the gym; the ritual is the ride to the gym in the car. The moment I pull the car out of the driveway, I have completed the ritual. It’s a simple act but doing it the same way each morning habitualizes it — makes it repeatable, easy to do. It reduces the chance that I would skip it or do it differently. It is one more item in my arsenal of routines, and one less thing to think about.
Follow the Goldilocks Rule.
As humans, we often find that tasks which are too hard or too easy are ones that we really don’t gravitate to as much or we don’t even think about because they either are too mundane and ordinary or that they aren’t even worth the headache of trying to complete it. The ones most humans are more apt to follow-through with are the tasks that are ‘just right’. Working on these just right tasks are one way to adhere to motivation during the day because completion of these tasks keeps you focused on finishing more tasks more thoroughly and with more detail.
If your motivation fades, what do you do…..what do you do!? The first thing you should do is to keep in mind that your brain kind of resembles a suggestion machine. As I type this, it’s 8:52 AM on a Friday morning and I’ve been awake since 3:30 AM. My brain is getting into that space where taking a nap while it’s chilly and rainy outside sounds seductively delicious right about now but my mind is also suggesting that completing this blog entry is going to feel good because I will have accomplished something else this morning aside from training clients and completed my paperwork. Just remember that this cognitive argument between parts of your brain and body is temporary and won’t last. For example, this blog article won’t take me forever to write, it’ll be done within the next few minutes so why let yourself get bummed out about looking forward to all the other things I have to do this morning?
Life is easier than it has ever been for us. 3000 years ago, people literally had to go out and kill the food that they were going to eat instead to driving to the grocery store and paying for it in a self-checkout line. This is life in 2023 and as difficult as we tend to make it most of the time, it’s really not at all. We have endless options at our fingertips to assist us through the majority of our problems so it shouldn’t be too difficult to stay motivated, at least on the surface level of things. Life does get in the way and bad things do happen, so it’s totally understandable that most of us can become de-motivated at some point, it’s just the way life is. If it was positive 100% of the time, we wouldn’t and couldn’t be able to appreciate the awesome things when they happen.
So today, how are you going to get and stay motivated?
John J. Schessler, Jr. is a Pittsburgh-based Personal Trainer, Writer, Life Coach and Psychology Major with a Mental Health concentration at Southern New Hampshire University. He has work that has been featured in reports from the BBC in London as well as being a published Podcast creator/host of the upcoming show, “Flip Your Script”. He has been working for the fitness industry for 20 years as a trainer, fitness manager and club manager with backgrounds in education, human resources, kinesiology, mental health and counseling.For fitness inquiries concerning training and rates, please contact me at pghwellnesspt@gmail.com.
As I’ve talked about before, testosterone is incredibly important for muscle production in both men and women, especially men. For a lot of men, building muscle can be an arduous process due to low testosterone levels (Low-T) and can make the task of making gains in the gym that much more tough.
If a man’s testosterone is low, the body increases it’s production of estrogen, which can adds fat to the chest, thighs and abdomen areas. As testosterone level continue to lower, estrogen levels continue to increase and these areas continue to store fat. Testosterone has many roles in the human body to fill but again, the main one being muscle building for men. Men who enjoy strength training and working out often see issues in building muscle due to the low numbers in the their testosterone production and as we age, it gets worse as well. There are many treatments available these days when it comes to Low-T that can level the playing field when it comes to muscle building and production of testosterone for men in their 40s, 50s, 60s and even 70s!
So in short, yes you can build muscle with having low testosterone numbers but it can be well below the expectations you have about how big your muscles should be after a certain amount of time has passed. Obviously, if you do suspect something is feeling ‘off’, see your PCP for a referral to a specialist.
John J. Schessler, Jr. is a Pittsburgh-based Certified Master Trainer, Exercise Therapist & Tactical Conditioning Specialist. His writings have been featured on the BBC and he is the host and creator of the ‘Flip Your Script’ podcast, soon to be available on Apple and Spotify Podcast platforms. For all motivational speaking or personal training inquiries, please email pghwellnesspt@gmail.com or call 412.295.4406.
Remember the ManAlive Podcast? I’m sure some of you do but I’ve been busy rebranding and retooling. It is now officially renamed the Flip Your Script Podcast!
The FYS Podcast is still male-centered: men’s issues, men’s mental health, etc., but is for both men and women! I still plan on having great guests on to talk about topics such as mental health, fitness, nutrition, masculinity and much more but I will also be flying solo on episodes and creating listener surveys on what topics you want to hear about! Stay tuned in the coming weeks for information for the first broadcast, coming to a podcast station near you!
If you wish to be guest on the FYS podcast, GREAT! Please send all requests and questions to me directly through IG or email at pghwellnesspt@gmail.com. Thanks so much!
Athlete Mindset HQ Institute 