A lot of the time we can jump into our fitness goals head first and go in guns blazing. This, of course, is a tiring process and something that requires a lot of effort and change all at once, so it's understandable that if we don’t see instant results for this great cost of time and effort we become discouraged and often give up. I’m here to tell you there is a better way!
How often do we focus on your ability to reflect on your training structure and progress and measure it in a way that isn’t based off how you’re feeling that day? I’m asking how are you currently reflecting on your progress or routine that isn’t feelings based? Because 3 weeks into a new all guns blazing training program, I can almost guarantee you will feel tired and sore at some point so without accurate reflection on the progress you have made and the routine you have or haven’t followed I’m suggesting it would be easy to feel unmotivated.
Ideally before setting out on your new routine, you commit to pausing and reflecting at certain points along the way no matter what and answering a prepared set of questions on your actions. Now this could be weekly, monthly or every 3 months, it's up to you but I would suggest weekly as each point of reflection allows you to inspect and make adjustments along the way. Leave it too long and the problem may get out of hand when you could have seen and dealt with it far sooner.
Weekly reflection sessions also give you enough information to reveal trends within your actions and routine weather it be snacking after dinner or skipping sessions on weekends everyone has them they just don’t reflect enough to know it. Even discovering positive trends, for example: those weekend sessions you're skipping might only get done when you have a training partner, so what you originally may have thought was just laziness is actually a need for socialization and when you include that within your weekend sessions you're more then happy to do it.
So, in that example we can also begin to understand the why behind your trends and correctly address them. One of the biggest mistakes I see in new gym goers is failing at a training or food structure and labelling it as lazy or unmotivated really, they have just failed to understand their attractors and detractors from tasks. Things are always either done or not done for a reason in this case we just need to use a tool that allows us to see that rather then putting our head in the sand and just “going harder”.
So next time your frustrated about your results and are feel like you’re forcing your next training session. Take that time instead to sit down and design yourself a reflection plan that you're able to do a weekly review on I promise the information you get from a reflection of your weekly actions will be far more valuable than that one gym session you were about to force yourself through, just continuing to train without working on a better understanding of yourself and actions is truly sticking you head in the sand.
