With the beginning of the new year, many of us are creating goals for 2017.  Some of these goals will undoubtedly be revolving around personal fitness improvements.  Making personal health and fitness a priority is always a noble goal.  However, we need to be mindful regarding common internal battles that appear and gain momentum in order to stop our progress towards Stronger Leaner Faster Self.

Many of us buy a new gym membership or attend a local recreation centre in order to get “the pump” on.  With positive energy surging through our veins and spirits high, we begin the exercise endevour in pursuit of an ideal physique that was repeatedly visualized.  However, for many of us this high road to fitness prowess is short lived. 

So, why do some of us simply can’t reach our fitness goals?  In this article, we’re going to share some common pitfalls that lay along the road to personal health and fitness glory.  At Science and Strength we believe that awareness results in preparation, which translates into progress.  So, here we go.

Excuses

Now, this is one of the first things that usually happens.  The excuses build through a double sided effect.  This is where you begin to realize that your fitness goals including, a lean body and washboard abs, will not happen in the next week.  Subsequently, as you begin to lose interest in consistently going to the gym and “pumping iron”, the surge of reasons previously unbeknown to you begin to emerge from the shadows.  Some of these reasons come from valid backgrounds of busy schedules and prior commitments.  We often create an internal debate in our minds through statements such as “I barely got any sleep last night”, “the work was super busy”, “helping kids do homework”, and so forth.  Others excuses are more lame in their reasons for not going to the gym. These include reasons like “I partied too much last night” or “I’m stressed and need a day off”.

The reality is that what ever the reason, whether it is life worthy or lame, these are mere excuses.  There is a simple litmus test that you can do whenever the mind generates any kind of thought.  Regardless of the thought’s content, ask yourself whether it is going to help you or distract from your specific goal?  In this case, it’s the fitness glory that you are after.  If the conclusions show misguidance from your direct path of physical success, then it is just an excuse disguising itself in some noble reason. 

The reality of fit people is that they stay on target regardless of obstacles along their paths.  They put their head down and commit to the process.  Staying on target produces results and these successes do not allow excuses to muddy their environment..  This process includes, diligence of not missing training days, eating clean food and getting required rest.  This is a grind, and the reality of life is anything worth doing is never easy.

So if your mind begins to play tricks on you, be ready, don’t listen, control your thoughts and commit to this fitness journey.  A well written plan made up of step by step process will guide you to victory through rough waters of psychological turmoil. 

Consistency

Consistency is the key factor in any successful goal.  Changing your body and mind into Stronger Leaner Faster version demands repetition.  Through this training program your body undergoes mechanical overload where it is challenged physically in order to produce force.  Continuous exercise sessions produce physical and metabolic stress for the body to overcome and adapt to.  Overtime these adaptations lead to physical changes within the body itself, more lean mass and less body fat.

Some of us, also begin yet another internal debate regarding how much effort is needed to achieve results.  Often, the common opinion is that if we complete 70% of the training, we should receive 70% of the result.  We begin to negotiate and attempt to settle for the figures believed to be satisfactory both physically and psychologically.  Again, this is simply not the case.

Anyone who has ever developed a successful training program, understands that physical stress has to be continuous in order to accumulate fatigue.  Physical fatigue is the defence entity of the body by lowering or seizing its physical performance.  Within any program, rest periods (days) have already been programmed in order to generate a specific stimulus for desired adaptation, be it hypertrophy, strength, speed, endurance or a hybrid combination.  If you decide to randomly decrease the overall protocol by 30%, you run the risk of rendering your program ineffective or, significantly less effective.  Long story short, get into a habit of completing all of the designed training in its entirety, as there’s always a reason behind every madness.  Otherwise, don’t expect the promised results.

Effort

To achieve anything in life requires effort.  From beginner trying to lose weight, to elite athlete competing in the Olympic games, every aspect of physical fitness is hard work.  This is the area where many begin to fade, and we really need to be honest with ourselves.  Achieving any goal requires work, either long or longer term.  Whatever the goal is, it demands your best effort in order to achieve it.  Every successful person, from top level athletes to CEOs of fortune 500 companies talk about effort.  Some of us may come up with “excuses” regarding our genetics, resources or circumstances.  All these things don’t stand a chance when faced against effort.  Hard work can overcome any life challenges and obstacles, as well as bypass natural talent along its path.  So, accept the fact that any goal is a journey, which will have its barriers, and all is possible when you work hard.

Compare and Contrast

On this journey towards Stronger Leaner Faster self, there will be times when you compare your training statistics to someone else.  In this day of age, where everyone has numerous social media accounts and logs their every move several times a day, it’s hard to avoid such exposure.  The popular trend of keeping video progress logs has changed the way we communicate and view information.  Besides training success or lack there of, we further compare ourselves to others’ timelines, genetic abilities, and rate of progress amongst other things.  This is another form of distraction that simply takes you away from the main focus.

Believe in yourself, your goals, and success to be achieved.  Looking around at others is natural, it can and should be done, but only for motivational purposes.  For any other reason, just focus on you, your program and your success.  Keep a training journal recording your exercises and achievements along the way.  During challenges or plateaus, your training log will serve as an analysis tool breaking down weekly volumes, identifying and rectifying possible issues.  By focusing on you, and comparing your own weekly progress, the channeled efforts and energy translates into productivity.

Final Thoughts

With beginning of the new year, many of us desire to get back into a better physical shape.  However, along the way we face numerous factors that may lead us astray from set goals.  To stay on track, we need to stop making excuses, and comparing ourselves to others.  We also need to create a strong mindset, that this journey will have challenges requiring consistency and hard work.  Now, we are ready for fitness ascend towards Stronger Leaner Faster self.  Lets go.  If you don’t have your training yet, be sure to learn more about Stronger Leaner Faster HER, Stronger Leaner Faster HIM and The No-Diet Book.