Common Pitfalls with Motivation…
Common Pitfalls with Motivation…
Motivation can be defined as: A reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.
Remember it takes on average 66days to form a habit. All4fitness wants all our clients to succeed in achieving their health and fitness goals. With that in mind, here are some common pitfalls you may face along the journey. Everyone loses motivation at some point, know the signs and avoid backtracking.
When motivation is gone, HABIT will keep!
Aiming too high – Many clientele set the bar so high that it is just not achievable in the early stages of training, I.e. 20kg in 8 weeks. Make sure you aim for something that is challenging so the reward is satisfying. Check out our blog post on setting and tracking fitness goals.
Your not setting achievable goals – Instead of setting goals that either seem like a life-time away or seem unachievable. Don’t set up for failure, set yourself up for success! Break your goals into blocks to make small but achievable goals that will eventually lead you to the end result.
You’re looking at the scales everyday – Many clients are so fixated on the weight blinking up at them from the scales. They weigh themselves every day of the week and never ever see major results as the scales seem to take forever to move. If you are one of these people that fixate on a number then, STOP!
Put the scales away pull them out on a fortnightly basis. Remember when training with weights or light resistance training you will gain lean muscle, which weighs more than fat. A body composition change is much more representative of hard work then numbers on the scale. Look in the mirror and check out the measurements over the scales. If you like the change you are seeing, regardless of numbers, then don’t stop!
Not having the right nutrition to support your training and goals – The gym is only a part of the complete picture when it comes to hitting your goals. “You can’t out train a bad diet”. Some simple tips can be found on 5 Changes You Can Make to Your Nutrition for Successful ‘Dieting’
All the tools you need are there to ensure you do succeed so why not use them? Seek the advice from health and fitness professionals (such as dieticians/nutritionists). Your diet is what will determine how many kilograms you will lose, how much muscle you want to gain and definitely if you will have that six pack come beach weather. The more help and support you have the less likely you are to lose motivation, so get your nutrition and training program sorted for quicker results.
There is no variability in training – Getting bored with your training? Results are slowing down? Then use variability in your training! If you don’t know how, then seek the advice from a personal trainer.
Training a lot with weights? Then simply up the amount of cardio you are doing. Try some HIIT training, which are short and sharp bursts of cardio based activity that may only take 10-15mins at the end of your next workout but result in a huge number of calories burned. This is only one very simple example. Don’t be afraid to try something new as this may be the secret ingredient you are missing.
I’ll leave you with the most important takeaway from all of these tips: When motivation is gone, HABIT will keep! So just keep at it, doing the absolute best that you can to make it part of your lifestyle.
All4Fitness – Making a Difference.