If you keep falling off track, read this.
You’re probably reading this blog post because you’re feeling frustrated with yourself, with your fitness progress, and are asking yourself questions like “what is wrong with me??”. First of all, there is nothing wrong with you if you are struggling to be consistent and do the work you keep setting yourself. But there might be something wrong with the goal you have set or the approach you are trying to take. We often get clients coming to us feeling this way, so here’s what we do to take them from feeling frustrated and failing to thriving.
First of all, as a coach we dig deeper into your goal and ask you “why?”, why is this important to you. Often people are struggling to stick to a program because they don’t really know why they have set this goal, perhaps it seemed what everyone else is doing and they feel they ‘should’ do it too. If you’re not passionate about the end goal, if it doesn’t mean enough to you, you’re not going to put in the hard work and sacrifice to get there.
Next we ask the client about what is most important to them in their lives. We ask “what does fitness meant to you?”. This helps us to know more about you and your values, which are unique to every individual. One common reason why people are constantly falling off track is because they’ve picked a goal which doesn’t align to their values. For example, they want to do a bodybuilding competition, however they have stated or their actions show that actually they don’t enjoy a regimental daily routine and love socialising at the weekends. Cleary, the two don’t go hand in hand. If you’re trying to pursue a goal which isn’t aligned with your values, it can make you feel unhappy and therefore you won’t want to work hard for it.
We also ask about the client’s lifestyle so we can gather more information on their commitments, responsibilities and general environment. These are all huge factors when setting your goal, because they will dictate how much time, energy and money you can commit to it. For example, if you’re studying and have your final exams to focus on then it’s probably not the best time to do a bodybuilding competition! This doesn’t mean you can’t complete this goal, but maybe the timing just isn’t right!
Once we’ve gathered this information and decided on a healthy and sustainable goal aligned to the individual, we then program that client and select a suitable approach. We often see people struggling to execute their program because the plan simply isn’t well tailored to their needs! Or even worse, it’s not healthy! This is the main reason why serial dieters constantly feel like they’re falling off track… because they’re trying to follow a way of eating which is unsustainable, unhealthy and not enjoyable. For example, cutting out carbs, extreme calorie restrictions or excessive output.
Finally, you must have realistic expectations of the result and also the work you have to put in for it. Nine times out of ten, people really underestimate how much work goes in to dropping 5kg, or how long it takes to build noticeable muscle growth (years). Many people give up because they get annoyed that they’re not seeing the results, but this impatience and constant on and off the plan is only making the process take longer. If you don’t accept this and only care about seeing results as quickly as possible, then you will struggle to stay on track. The best way to overcome this is to focus on the daily routine of your journey. Focus on enjoying the daily tasks, commitment and challenges. Stay present in the gym and enjoy the feeling out getting out of your comfort zone and smashing a PB. Appreciate the healthy food on your plate rather than wishing you had a pizza. There will always be a sacrifice when working towards a goal- be that muscle building, fat loss, strength training, marathon running. The sooner you embrace that, and relish in the feeling of practising your discipline and commitment and work ethic… the sooner you’ll be at your goal.