So, let’s pretend you’re all psyched up and ready to tackle your goal with your new fitness habit. You have the program, the knowledge (to an extent), hot new outfit and nothing is going to stop you.
The first few weeks of the ‘new you’ are fine, then things start to get a little monotonous, perhaps you don’t see results as fast as you would like or sleeping in seems a more attractive proposition. The willpower has faded…
The main issue most of us face is hoping we follow through with a fitness regime and incorporating it as part of our lifestyle. The biggest clincher here is finding and doing something you like/love/can’t get enough of kind of attitude. Your friends might be seeing results with a certain style of exercise but if it’s something that simply doesn’t gel with you and get you at least a little bit excited about then it just ain’t going to happen.
The key to lasting change and lifelong behaviours is doing something you enjoy enough to want to continue doing.
Remember we talked about willpower a while back? Willpower is great to get you out of bed when the sun is shining for a lovely walk but once it hits winter and it is chilly and dark then its habits and routines that reign supreme. This is where an individualised fitness program that you’ve created (or had input with) and chose to do shines through.
Perhaps you didn’t really gel with the program like you thought you would or that something else was stopping you from enjoying the workout. Don’t give up on this thought, just go back to the drawing board and really ask yourself what activities you enjoy doing.
I don’t love every aspect of fitness. Well, I lie, there are certain types of workouts I prefer over others that get me excited about making the time. Being the endurance junkie that I am running a marathon doesn’t rock my boat but stick me out in the middle of a Hawaiian channel and I would happily paddle the same distance. The same can be said for the gym, but leave me to my own devices at home I can easily and happily punch out a creative and effective circuit workout. Can you see it’s more about finding something you love?
The next step is to not get too caught up in the process of the smaller details.
The most important factor of your fitness equation is just creating the habit of making the time and committing to starting the process. The rest will come later.
We often overanalyse stuff that doesn’t matter. The number of reps, the gear we are going to do it in, the correct techniques (which is important at some stage) but the biggest drawcard for you in embracing fitness as part of your lifestyle is simply just doing it. Be consistent with making the time and build your momentum. This is what is going to get you through when there is no willpower to draw upon.
Overthinking opens us up to evil twin talk, and this chatter soon sees us taking the easier option, not necessarily the best but the easiest. Have you ever reconsidered that workout you did as you watched a beautiful sunrise or set? Hardly, and this is what you should be focussing on rather than the small details that are irrelevant if you don’t even make it out of bed. Look at the positive tradeoffs and worry about the rest when you begin. Habit formation is the pot of gold you’re looking for and it begins here.
ENJOYING FITNESS EACH DAY IS NOT A WILD DREAM
LET ME SHOW YOU HOW YOU CAN…
