Performing a Fitness SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis. Anyone who’s worked in the corporate world or taken an introductory business management class is probably familiar with this method of analyzing one’s strengths and weaknesses. Commonly used in business, the SWOT is a subjective look at the positive and negative internal factors of a company, as well as the positive and negative factors external to a company. The SWOT can help with goal setting, competitor analysis, marketing, and many other corporate planning strategies.

But the SWOT does not have to belong solely to the corporate domain! We can use the SWOT principles to analyze our own fitness landscape and provide a tool to help us reach our goals. Let’s take a look at each component of SWOT as it relates to fitness, health, and wellness. 

Fitness SWOT Analysis. K. McLaughlin (2013)

Strengths – A strength is a positive, internal factor – meaning something you control and inherent to you. These can be skills, talents, interests, or abilities. Some examples include: cooking, understanding basic nutritional concepts, playing tennis, muscular endurance, grip strength, time management skills. Questions to ask yourself include: 

      • What do you do well (in relation to health/wellness/fitness)?
      • What do others see as your strengths?
      • What behaviors/skills will contribute to your progress?

Weaknesses – A weakness is a negative, internal factor. This would be something that you need to improve upon or an area where you lack skill, knowledge, or ability. Some weaknesses could include: emotional eating, poor upper body strength, or poor stress management skills. Questions to ask yourself include:
      • What could you improve (in relation to health/wellness/fitness)?
      • Where do you have fewer resources (e.g. time, equipment, knowledge, experience)?
      • How can you overcome these?

Opportunities – An opportunity is a positive, external factor – meaning it’s outside of your control and exists in your environment. Opportunities could be people, events, or objects of motivation. Even an interest in something, such as group exercise classes or mixed martial arts, can be included. Some opportunities could include: a charity 5K you’d like to compete in, your best friend who consistently works out, your partner who supports your health initiatives, your personal trainer, a CrossFit gym you’re interested in trying out, a trusted health magazine that inspires/motivates/educates you. Questions to ask yourself include:
      • Who/what in your life motivates you & supports you to be healthier?
      • What interests you (types of exercise, cooking, nutrition)? What would you like to know more about?

Threats – A threat is a negative, external factor. “Threat” is a really harsh word, but in terms of our fitness analysis, let’s think of “threats” as deterrents to our fitness/health goals or something that thwarts our progress. It might even be something temporary in nature, such as bad weather or sickness that could prevent our normal workouts. Some threats could include: the office candy dish, the family member that “shows love” with their rich, buttery, sugar laden baking, 60-hr workweeks. Personally speaking, cupcakes are a huge threat for me! (Note that in our SWOT, the cupcake would not show up as a weakness, since it is not internal; it is an external object, making it a threat. Stress eating or eating out of boredom would be the behavioral weakness leading to the consumption of the cupcake threat.) Questions to ask yourself include:
     • What products, environments, or people could thwart your progress?
     • Can your strengths/opportunities overcome these?

How can you take all of this information and put it together to benefit you? 

1) Do you have a fitness, health, or wellness goal that you’d like to work toward? If so, complete a SWOT with that goal in mind. For example, let’s say you want to lose 10 pounds. What strengths and opportunities will help you reach that goal? Conversely, what weaknesses and threats do you need to be cognizant of so that they don’t sabotage your progress? Any health and fitness goal can benefit from a SWOT, whether it be performance based (e.g. running a half marathon), body-metric based (e.g. reduce fat mass, increase muscle mass, lose weight), or lifestyle based (e.g. eat 5 fruits/vegetables a day, improve stress management skills).

2) If you don’t have a fitness, health, or wellness goal in mind, you can complete a general health and fitness SWOT to determine your strengths and identify areas of improvement. This could then help you formulate a goal you want to work toward.

Whether you’re a novice exerciser or a competitive marathoner, everyone could benefit from thoughtful examination of fitness habits, strengths, and weaknesses. Have you performed a fitness SWOT? Please share your experience below!

Are You Insane? (Or... how to commit to a healthy lifestyle)

The last post that I wrote (I Quit the Gym...) made me reminisce about my fitness journey and what motivated me to make lifestyle changes. Which made me ponder the question "what does it really take to commit to a healthier lifestyle?"

Some individuals are provoked into action by witnessing a close friend/family member have a health scare or having a health scare of their own. I use "health scare" in a broad sense, as it can include realizing that one's Body Mass Index (BMI) score is above the recommended range, being prescribed medicine to control hypertension/cholesterol/diabetes, being easily winded while playing with one's kids, or something as dire as having a heart attack/stroke. Other individuals may see a picture of themselves and are shocked into wanting to make a change. Anyone who's been on a weight loss journey has one of those defining moments, which propels them to make immediate changes toward moving more and eating better.

My defining moment was stepping on the scale in January 2000 and weighing 215 at the age of 21. Yes, it was my own personal Y2K moment: I stepped on it a few times to make sure my scale hadn't been affected by the turn of the millennium. The analytical side of me realized I weighed approximately 10 pounds per year of life that I had lived. What if I continued to weigh 10 times my age as I got older?!? It was a shock-and-awe tactic that was quite effective. The next day I borrowed a friend's Tae Bo videos, started cooking for myself instead of eating out every night, and I never looked back. The scale has never hit that high since then.

Even after someone has a defining moment, it doesn't mean it will last a lifetime for them. 50% of individuals who begin a fitness program quit in the first six months. Which brings me back to that original question of what does it take to COMMIT to that lifestyle?

When we live in a society that caters to instant gratification, it is hard to commit to a program that will take 3-12 months to see the final results that one wants to see. That's why weight loss and improving one's fitness is not for the faint of heart or weak-willed. That doesn't mean that some people can't succeed... EVERYONE can succeed. You just have to have - or find - the emotional tools within yourself to persevere and commit to the work that needs to be done.

I recently came across a tweet that said "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get the same results that you've always got." It's similar to the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

If you've been thinking about making a lifestyle change, eating better, losing weight, starting a fitness program, but you just can't find the motivation to start, you're not alone. But if you keep sitting around thinking about changing but still doing what you've always done, you're not getting any closer to the body and life that you want. So do this activity instead:

1) If you're looking to tone up or lose weight, find a picture in a magazine or on the internet of someone who has features that you aspire to have. What do you want? Strong, toned, Michelle-Obama-arms? Muscular, powerful, Venus-Williams legs? Solid, sleek, Jillian-Michaels-abs? Now, you need to be realistic here.... find someone of a similar height and body frame so that you're not trying to fit a yacht into a marina designed for a canoe. It doesn't need to be a Hollywood celebrity, in fact it might be helpful if it's not... because you don't know that all their body parts were with them when they were born anyway.

2) Cut (or print) out this picture and post it prominently in your bathroom, bedroom, or kitchen. Let it be an inspiration to help you make better decisions.  When you feel a temptation for that piece of chocolate cake, you can ask yourself "do I really want cake?" or "do I really want my goal body?"  When you have a visualization of a goal, you are more likely to accomplish it.

3) Make a realistic plan to get the body you want. And when I say realistic, I mean one that includes eating healthfully and exercising. Not doing some crazy fad diet where you eat tofu and drink kale shakes for 3 weeks straight.  If you need help devising this realistic, HEALTHY plan, consult a registered dietitian or a certified personal trainer. And no, the people selling you that protein shake that promises to make you lose 10 pounds of fat in 10 days as long as you drink two a day and eat a salad for dinner are NOT registered dietitians.

4) Give up the excuses. You will always be busy at work. Your family will always have pressing needs. You will always have things on your to do list that need to get done. But guess what? If you have time to look at Facebook or Twitter, find the latest deal on Groupon, or play Angry Birds on your iWhatever, I think you have some time you can devote to working out. Quit finding reasons why you can't and just do it. Take a walk after dinner. Don't buy the mac n' cheese at the grocery store. Don't eat the fries with that hamburger. It just takes one small *different* choice that will set off a chain reaction of more *different* choices that will get you closer to that goal.

As my brother says on a frequent basis, there are people who make things happen and there are people who sit and watch things happen. Which do you want to be?  Find your defining moment, visualize your body-to-be, plan your work, and then work your plan. I promise you, even when you're only halfway to your goal, you will realize it has been worth all the hard work and effort. The pride and happiness that come with accomplishing a goal is more satisfying than any piece of food could ever be.