Avoid these 8 obstacles that stall your fitness goals
Welcome back friends in fitness. In part 1 of this series –we introduced the first of 8 most common barriers you may encounter to slow, or even stop your success in achieving your fitness goals. Those first four obstacles we covered were:
- Lack of knowledge and how to fill in the gaps
- Lack of action to get you started
- Lack of patience and wanting instant results
- The defeating all or nothing mindset
Now, we move onto the next four keys of what to do and what to avoid so that you can power up your results in a training regimen.
Once you’ve begun, whether you choose to go it alone or to hire a fitness trainer to guide you, you’ll find yourself ready to keep your momentum up with these to do and don’t do tips:
LACK OF CONSISTENCY
As a fitness trainer, I see this very often with new exercisers. They come to the gym once or twice and start to wonder, why they don’t look like that ultra-fit person on the gym billboard, or why they haven’t lost those 10 pounds since Sunday?
What have I got to say to this? The human body is an amazing and beautiful machine but it needs constant and consistent stimuli in order to change. If the stimuli is consistent then change will come and if the stimuli isn’t consistent then you won’t see the change.
Let’s say you had your first workout today and you left your session feeling great, accomplished and with purpose achieved. That’s amazing! But only that one time isn’t sufficient. Take action in a consistent manner and the results will follow. Do the work, results will follow.
Yes, you might sometimes feel stressed out, blue or just a bit lazy when you come to work out. Well, this is the exact time that we need to train. Tie up your shoe laces and get out there. I assure you, you’ll be happy you did.
EATING THE WRONG DIET FOR YOUR FITNESS GOAL
In the fitness world there is a saying: Progress is 90% diet and 10% exercise. My observations over 10 years in the industry have shown me that it’s more likely 70% diet 30% exercise. But, even though it doesn’t measure up to the common belief that diet is 90% of the battle, 70% is still hell of a chunk of potential.
Your success comes from you following the nutrition plan that matches your goal, body type, and age and exercise intensity. Keep this simple bottom line in mind: You cannot out train a bad diet.
NOT HAVING A SUPPORT SYSTEM
I can’t stress it enough. Having the right support system or a community is extremely crucial for your success in achieving a sustainable, lifelong healthy and fit body.
Experience as a fitness trainer has taught me that unless you have a willpower and dedication made of steel, it can be very challenging to stick to a training and nutrition program.
Let’s be honest, our everyday social and work life is full of temptation. Delicious foods are everywhere. Food companies make food more palatable so you crave it and seek it out over and over. Now you can purchase almost anything in one click, so you don’t even need to move your body to a grocery store that might be only a couple blocks away.
What have I got to say to this? You see how it’s easy to stay sedentary. I suggest, that you start building up your fitness community. Find a training buddy, join a training group class, hire a personal fitness trainer or join a running or cycling group.
HYPER FOCUS ON PHYSIQUE GOALS ONLY
Success breeds success! Let’s be honest. We are here to see result. With your fitness and body transformation in mind, there are a few types of goals:
1. Physique and body composition goal: e.g. I want to drop 10 lbs, lose a couple of inches around my belly and fit into my wedding dress, perfectly!
2. Performance based goal: e.g. I want to do 20 push ups and 12 pull-ups. Or I want to shave 5 minutes off my best Grouse Grind climb time and be able to run and finish a marathon for the first time.
3. Habits goals. While this one is less common but is very powerful: E.g. I want to strength train 3 times a week, do cardio on Monday and Friday and have my super smoothie for breakfast and to make these my health sustaining habits.
What have I got to say to this? The massive majority of new exercisers focus on physique goals. This is a very natural thing to do.
But what would work better for you, or anyone starting out, or sitting at a plateau – is to strive to focus on the other two: The performance goals and your habits goals.
Imagine this subtle mental shift and you’ll see that your physique goals will follow: What if you change your questions from ‘How can I lose those extra pounds?’ to ‘How can I run a 10K for the first time?’ And how about this constructive question: “How can I increase my protein intake and reduce the sugar in my diet?” The shifts in your thinking are subtle – but pretty powerful. When you think and behave like this, your physique goals will naturally follow.
I’m here to help you get started or keep going depending on where you are at with your fitness journey. Let’s make your fitness journey a reality and a success. I hope you found this helpful.
Call or email today to get started on a fitness program!
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Supporting Your Healthy and Active Life Sam Jabarin
Canfitpro Personal Trainer
ISSA Nutrition Coach
3dfvancouver.com
Info@3dfitnessvancouver.com
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