After 20 years of rebuilding his own relationship with fitness, VIBE Personal Training Manager Kyle Counts shares why consistency, enjoyment and a sustainable plan matter more than punishing yourself into results.
By Kyle Counts | Personal Training Manager, VIBE Fitness LIC + Greenpoint
I graduated college in 2001, and after 18 years of sports and training, I was tired.
I didn’t enjoy working out anymore. I didn’t enjoy eating well. I went to work, started building a family, and before I knew it, I was over 250 pounds and looking at high cholesterol numbers at just 25 years old.
Even that wasn’t enough to immediately make me want to work out.
It wasn’t until I had my second child that I finally got off the couch and decided something needed to change.
So I started running.
And I hated it.
It worked. Slowly, I began losing weight. Over the next several years, I kept running, started weight training and eventually got the weight off. I was determined because I wanted to look better, feel better and be healthier.
But if I’m being completely truthful, I didn’t enjoy the process.
I Thought Getting Fit Was Supposed to Hurt
Looking back, I’m surprised I stuck with it.
Almost every day was a battle to make myself train. There were days when my legs hurt, my arms hurt and my abs hurt so badly that I couldn’t comfortably get off the couch.
But I kept showing up because I thought that was what getting fit required.
Last October marked 20 years since I started that journey. Being on this side of it now, both personally and as a coach, there’s something I wish I had understood much earlier:
There is a better way.
If I had known fitness would eventually become a lifestyle instead of simply a way to lose weight, I would have approached the beginning very differently.
I could have gone a little slower.
I could have done fewer reps. Used less weight. Given my body more time to adapt. I could have kept soreness at a manageable level instead of treating pain as proof that I had accomplished something.
The old gym saying “no pain, no gain” doesn’t need to define your relationship with fitness.
The Best Workout Is One You Can Keep Doing
You can get incredibly fit. You can become stronger. You can change the way your body looks and feels.
And you don’t have to hate yourself through the process.
One of the most important things you can do is find a style of movement you actually enjoy. There isn’t one perfect workout that everyone needs to follow.
Then, if you need guidance, find a trainer who can help map out a path that challenges you enough to grow while still fitting your goals, your body and your actual life.
That’s part of our job as trainers. We’re not here just to make a workout harder. We’re here to help you find the path that gets you where you want to go and makes sense for the life you’re living.
Because enjoyment creates something incredibly valuable: consistency.
When you enjoy the way you’re training, you’re more likely to keep doing it.
When you keep doing it, you begin seeing and feeling progress.
When you see progress, you become more motivated to continue.
Eventually, fitness stops being something you’re forcing yourself to do and starts becoming part of the way you live.
Consistency Wins
After 20 years, the biggest lesson I can give someone starting their own fitness journey is this:
The biggest determining factor in your success isn’t how much you can lift or how fast you can run. It’s how consistently you can keep showing up.
You don’t have to destroy yourself today to become stronger tomorrow.
Start where you are. Find movement you enjoy. Give yourself room to progress. Get guidance when you need it.
Your fitness journey can challenge you without making you miserable.
Working out doesn’t have to suck.
There is a better way.
And at VIBE, we’re here to help you find yours.
“You don’t have to destroy yourself today to become stronger tomorrow.”
