“I used to be (insert weight at age 16, position on high school football team, or any unrealistic expectation of what client thinks they should be here)”.  As a trainer I hear this several times a day.  There is a name in the industry for this these clients.  They are called used-to-coulds.  They look to the past and use that version of themselves to determine their goals for the future.  It is interesting that in a world in a constant state of flux we expect our bodies to stay the same.  Realistically, we have many machines in the gym but a time machine we do not.  Would you want to go back there anyway?  Sure, you may have weighed a few pounds less but remember that awful 80’s hair?  Remember how insecure you were?  How broke?  How ignorant?  Or maybe your life really was perfect back then and the rest has been a downhill tumble.  Are you going to keep on tumbling or use those quads and hamstrings to work your way up to the next peak?  Our cells are constantly turning over, we are literally not the same person we were a decade ago.  Who are you going to be now?  Why does it have to be about getting back to where you were then?  Couldn’t it be about moving forward to something even better?  You don’t have to forget where you came from, but maybe don’t cling to it so hard either.  You have to loosen your grip on the lower ledge to pull yourself up higher.  Try it.  The next peak might be closer than you think.