The Fitness Industry Has Sold Us A Lie About “Balance”

We talk about balance a lot in life. Work life balance, the balance between exercise and eating what our body needs. we hear this word “balance” a lot…yet balance can’t come first if your goal is change.

Work hard, but make time for yourself. Eat well, but enjoy your favorite foods. Train consistently, but don't overdo it. Get enough sleep, drink your water, spend time with your family, have a social life, answer your emails, take care of your house, make time for your friends...

Sounds great.

But here's the problem:

You can't have balance when you haven't built the foundation that makes balance possible.

I see this all the time with fitness.

Someone wants to "find balance" with exercise, but they haven't established any consistency yet. They want to know how to fit workouts into their life without feeling overwhelmed, but they haven't actually made taking care of themselves a priority.

So they keep trying to find the perfect schedule that somehow requires no sacrifice.

And that doesn't really exist.

Balance Comes After the Foundation

I don't think balance means everything gets equal attention all the time.

There are seasons where work needs more of you. There are seasons where your kids need more of you. There are seasons where your health needs more attention because you've spent the last year putting everyone else first, trust me as a small business owner I understand.

That's normal.

What isn't particularly helpful is using "balance" as an excuse to never establish the habits that make taking care of yourself possible in the first place.

You can't decide you're going to work out whenever you "have time" and then be surprised when three weeks go by without exercising. You can't wait until your schedule calms down to start taking care of yourself when your schedule has been chaotic for the last five years.

And you definitely can't build a sustainable routine if every time life gets busy, you're the first thing you remove from the calendar.

The foundation has to come first.

You Have to Become Someone Who Shows Up

When you first start, getting yourself to a workout, building the meal plans, putting the phone away before bed, might feel like a whole production.

You have to schedule it. You have to plan around it. You have to get your clothes ready. You have to leave the house. You have to decide that whatever else is happening that day can wait for 50 minutes.

And sometimes you're going to be annoyed that you have to do all of that.

But then you do it again and again. And eventually, it isn't this giant negotiation with yourself anymore.You've built the habit. You've become someone who shows up despite what’s happening around you..

That's the foundation.

And once that exists, something changes. You stop treating movement like an option that gets squeezed in when everything else is handled. It becomes something you protect.

You have a crazy week? You figure out where it goes. You have a vacation? You know when you're coming back. Your schedule changes? You adjust the schedule, not your commitment to yourself.

And that's an important distinction.

Balance doesn't mean your workout gets bumped every time something more important comes up.

Because if taking care of yourself is always the first thing to go when life gets busy, it's not really a habit yet. It's an option.

Once movement becomes part of your life, you actually start wanting to lean into it. You want to feel strong. You want the energy you get from moving your body. You want the mental clarity. You want to sleep better. You want to feel good in your body.

So you make it happen.

Not perfectly. Not identically every week. But consistently.

The foundation is simply deciding that taking care of yourself belongs in your life, too.

Your Life Isn't Going to Suddenly Get Less Busy

I wish I could tell you that eventually you'll reach some magical point where your calendar opens up and you suddenly have plenty of time to take care of yourself. I have yet to find that point (and if you do please tell me your secret).

Your responsibilities change. Your job changes. Your kids get older. Your parents need you. You travel. You take on new projects. You have stressful seasons. There will always be something.

So instead of waiting for your life to become easier, you have to figure out how to take care of yourself inside the life you actually have.

That's why I don't think the answer is always doing more.

Sometimes it's having a few things that are non-negotiable.

For me, movement and nutrition are two of those things.

And trust me, I dont’ always crush the workout or stay perfect to the meal plan. But I know that the more I do the habits that make me feel and function best, the less I want to do the opposite. Because once you’ve felt the difference, it becomes a lot easier to protect the habit.

The Goal Isn't to Build a Perfect Routine

The goal is to build a routine that survives your real life. That might mean three Core (LP) classes a week for one person and two for someone else. That might mean private training because you need the accountability. It might mean working with our Registered Dietitian because movement is easy, but food has you feeling overwhelmed. It might mean running on the weekends and doing Pilates-inspired strength training during the week.

The point is that you have a foundation to return to.

Because when you haven't built that foundation, every disruption feels like starting over. And when you have, life can happen without completely knocking you off course.

That's what I want our clients to understand.

We're not interested in helping you create a fitness routine that only works when everything else in your life is going perfectly. We want you to learn how to train, recover, eat, rest and take care of yourself in a way that can actually evolve as your life does, that’s the long-play.

At Core (LP) Berkley + Rochester Hills, we give you the workout, but we also give you the guardrails and support to keep progressing. We check in with you, help you navigate your goals and give you different paths depending on what your body and your life need.

Because eventually, the goal isn't to need more motivation.

It HAS to be built on habits that become normal

You show up. You get stronger. You take care of yourself. Life gets crazy. You adjust. And then you keep going.

That's balance. - LEARN MORE