I wanted to share a quick thought for how I approach recommitting to fitness when I have fallen off track.
You see, fitness is important to me. It has been one of the most consistent pieces of my life for the past 30 years.
I remember when it all started… I was 13 years old and my father got me a membership with him at the town’s popular “Health Club” and now, well, the rest is history!
More recently, I have fallen a little off track with being as consistent as I have in the past.
But like you, I’ve also got a LOT going on.
2 businesses, 2 boys at ages 10 and 11, and 10 employees can make for busy days.
So it’s only natural there are some ebbs and flows in my focus on fitness.
In fact, just a few weeks ago, I was feeling a little lackluster with my training sessions. I usually am training towards a specific goal, and with our Upgrade Your Life Challenge past us, I was a little unmotivated to say the least.
Here are 3 things I found helpful to get me back on track:
1) Identify what I can STOP doing.
Fitness is partly a time management problem.
A careful analysis of my overstuffed schedule always finds stuff to cut, or at least, reduce.
And not just work tasks that are low value.
In fact, one of the biggest time sucks for most people is low value non-work activities.
For me, examples include:
- Compulsively reading the news
- Mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and Facebook
- YouTube rabbit holes
Of course, the poison is in the dose. A bit of any of these is fine.
But if I do TOO much, they detract from high quality rest and time with loved ones. They also “displace” higher value non-work activities that replenish my energies: like fitness!
2) Focus on behaviors, not feelings.
If I don’t have momentum, I’m less excited about my fitness. I don’t feel the “high” of being on a streak.
So when I recommit to fitness, I don’t expect working out to be fun.
It doesn’t feel as good.
And that’s ok.
When I’m getting back into groove, I just put my head down and do the work.
I showed up for the workouts with literally no standards for how it will feel OR how I will perform.
And sure enough, if I put together a streak of a couple of weeks, I start to feel better about myself and my fitness. And this becomes a virtuous cycle that makes it even easier to keep showing up.
3) Have someone else tell me what to do.
This one is often surprising to people.
I mean… I own a gym. I’ve been in the industry for almost two decades. I know how to write a program.
But whenever I work out using my own programming, I feel listless.
I second guess what I’m supposed to be doing, and usually go off the program I wrote to do what “feels good” that day.
Worst of all, I have to use my mental capacity to think about what to do in the gym. Ugh!
And I don’t want to use my mental capacity to think about what to do. I just want to focus on doing the thing.
With 2 amazingly busy boys, two businesses, and both my wife and I working full time, I’ve got plenty enough to think about!
Perhaps you can relate? 😉
By getting someone else to handle WHAT to do, I made it that much more streamlined to return to an upleveled fitness focus.
So in closing, if you’re looking to get momentum in your fitness:
- Make space. Identify what you can cut out of your days.
- Focus on showing up, no matter the feeling in the moment. Trust that “feeling good” will come later.
- Get a plan. Outsource the details to a trusted source. Hire an expert that can help you fast track your progress.
Ready to take the first step? We would love to be that support for you. Hop on a call with us to see if we could be a potential good fit. You can schedule a 5-10 minute discovery call with us HERE. We look forward to seeing you on the other side!