All Episodes

December 3, 2023 5 mins

You don’t have to do it perfectly, you just have to do it. Sam explains why striving for perfection leads to burn out, and what we should be doing, both mentally and physically, to ensure we stay on track with our fitness goals. Have a question for Sam? Send it to him here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Sam Wood, and this is your motivational moment for
this week, and we are talking progress, not perfection. So
I want to tell you a little story. When I
first started my twenty eight program back in twenty sixteen,
I was two weeks into the program and I was

(00:23):
doing a daily video to my twenty eight ers and
sending it to them on their little app, something I
still do to this day. And I pulled into the
supermarket and it was about nine o'clock at night. I
was on my way home from my gym Snares and Eve.
He hadn't moved to Melbourne yet, so I was still
living the bachelor life where I could kind of go
home at whatever time I wanted. It didn't really impact

(00:44):
anyone else. I pulled into the supermarket to get dog
food for my dog Hendrix on the way home, and
I proceeded to not only get his dog food, but
also a lead of chocolate ice cream. And I sat
there and I got my phone out and I did
a video to my twenty eight ers where I showed
them that I'd bought the leader of chocolate ice cream

(01:06):
and that I was heading home and couldn't wait to
get into it. And It was by far the most
popular video I had done to them at that stage,
and it was just so beautiful to see that people
needed to see that I was real, and the relief

(01:26):
to people that we didn't have to be perfect. And
it really really dawned on me at that moment that
the reason I don't like so many exercise programs, not all,
but so many, and the reason I think they do
more harm than good in some cases is they are

(01:47):
extreme and they practice perfectionism, which is the total wrong
thing to do. If something isn't enjoyable, it's not sustainable,
and if something isn't detainable, what is the point in
doing it. That's where I've shifted my whole philosophy, my
whole workout philosophy, particularly in my thirties and beyond I'm

(02:11):
now forty one, has been to move away from that
extreme lifestyle where you have to work out for sixty
minutes plus every day, and every workout you have to
smash yourself so you can barely walk down the stairs
at the end of the workout, and you can't drink alcohol,
and you can't drink coffee, and you can't eat carbs,
and you're depriving yourself of everything that you enjoy, and

(02:32):
guess what. Eventually, some people last longer than others. The
damn walls break, you throw the towel in, you feel deflated,
you feel defeated, and you go back to a worse
position than when you first started. I always explain it
to people when I'm explaining progress not perfection, that you
should be a seven, eight or nine out of ten

(02:57):
with your food and a seven, eight or nine out
of ten with your exercise, not a ten out of
ten in either, because neither of those are enjoyable, neither
of those are sustainable. Now, the reason I give a seven,
eight or nine range is it depends on where you're at.
If you want quicker weight loss goals, then you probably

(03:18):
should be closer to a nine. If you're happy for
it to take a little bit longer and you're a
little bit more relaxed about it, you should be at
a seven. Now. I'm sure some people are listening, going, well,
i'd be at a two now. There's a point where
you can't be at a two because that's actually not
there's not going to be any progress there. It's going
to be either going backwards. It's going to be regression,
not progression, or best case, you're going to stay where

(03:39):
you are. So I typically think you need to be
a seven or eight out of ten, and you've got
to have the ability to change gears. If it's the
start of a little challenge that you're doing to yourself,
you might be a nine out of ten, and then
you have the ability to change gears and go back
to an eight out of ten or a seven out
of ten. Once you've got that initial momentum, you've got
those initial results as long as you have the ability

(04:01):
to go back a gear so that it becomes more
enjoyable and more sustainable. Because progress not perfection, I promise you,
is the only way to get long term habits and
the only way to have long term success. Sometimes you
might reach a level of your health that you're really
happy with. I'm exercising three or four times a week.

(04:24):
I'm lean, but I don't care about having a six pack.
That's not for me, and I function and feel great
because really, let's not forget how we feel and how
we function is more important than how we look. So
my whole philosophy, the philosophy of my twenty eight program,
the philosophy that I've lived by with my personal training
over a two decade span has been progress, not perfection.

(04:48):
And if I can leave you no other motivational moment
than this one, this is the one I want you to remember.
So my task, as I always give you one with
these motivational moments for this week, is simple. I want
you to evaluate where you are at from a food
score out of ten and where you are at with

(05:10):
an exercise score out of ten, and I want you
to make an improvement. Unless you're already at a nine
out of ten, then just keep doing what you're doing.
But if you're at a six, go to a seven.
If you're at a seven, go to an eight. And
find that place where you are still enjoying life, but
you are really proud of the results and the progress

(05:32):
that you're making. Because when you can find that balance,
that's when you know you're in the right spot.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Super Bowl LIX Podcasts

Super Bowl LIX Podcasts

Don't miss out on the NFL Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts' exclusive week of episodes recorded in New Orleans!

24/7 News: The Latest

24/7 News: The Latest

Today’s Latest News In 4 Minutes. Updated Hourly.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.