Creating a Fitness Routine Part 1

Admit it - you haven't had that much success in this area.  You've had a few exercise routines come and go over the years.  Maybe you've tried running or getting on the bike, but it didn't last more than a couple weeks.  You've tried some diets that didn't produce the results you expected.  And weight lifting - after a week you were so sore you never made it back to the gym.

Score:  Intentions 44  
            Results   0

Deep inside everyone knows they could be a little healthier.  We all want to eat a little better and workout a little more.  We have something to prove to ourselves.  Forget the guy at work who always gets a good workout in - we have something to prove to ourself!

This is the first article in a new series called J2K.  Kind of catchy, right?  J2K.  It's a project for you, by you, with me.  But mostly it's for you.  This is a story you're going to write about your fitness experience.  "But Hans my fitness experience, if I'm really honest, has been a story of failure."  I'm with you.  I've failed too.  But luckily history provides proof that even when we fail, we can still learn and succeed.  Here's how the J2K Fitness Challenge derives its name.

Virgin Atlantic Airways is an airline owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin label, a forward-thinking business group known to be highly innovative.  In 2000 they made a $67 million investment to create sleeper seats, reclining seats for their business class.  

Although sleeper seats had long existed in first class, airlines had not yet adopted them for business class. Virgin was the first to announce it would be offering "a bed in business," says Joe Ferry, Virgin's head of design, who led the design of the J2000 seats. Within a year, however, Virgin's idea was one-upped by its chief competitor, British Airways PLC (BAB ), which rolled out a truly flat bed. While customers were initially enthusiastic about the J2000, some complained about sliding and discomfort. In the end, says McCallum, it "was wildly unsuccessful. Everybody acknowledged that it was not as good a product as our principal competitors'." Agrees Ferry: "We were an also-ran, which didn't really sit well with us."

But Ferry didn't get fired.  In fact, CEO Gordon McCallum entrusted Ferry with more money - $127 million to over-haul the upper-class seats.  The new version, launched in 2003, has been a solid success.  Called the "upper-class suite," Ferry's makeover made a design leap beyond merely being flat.  Flight attendants flip over teh back and seat cushions to make the bed, allowing for different foam consistencies for sitting and sleeping.  While Ferry hoped the new seats would eventually improve Virgin's business-class market share by 1%, they've already exceeded that goal.  (Source: businessweek.com)


Failure is not the end of the story.  Many leadership experts and business professionals would testify that failure is in fact necessary for success.  So we begin J2K with a look at our failure.


When you think back to your attempts at creating an exercise program for yourself, what has gotten in the way?  What's made your routine fall apart?  What one aspect would you do differently to improve your chances at success?


The first part of the J2K Fitness Challenge is to get one piece of paper for some thoughts.  Write "J2K Fitness Challenge" at the top and brain-storm a couple reasons why exercise hasn't worked for you in the past.  That's it.  Come back in a couple days and we'll talk about what to do with those thoughts and we'll formulate some goals.  But not just any goals - we'll formulate S.M.A.R.T. Goals.