As a personal trainer in Maynooth I see this all of the time. Weeks of hard work and then suddenly something throws us off track with our health and fitness.
I can’t hit the gym work has taken over.
I haven’t got time to eat I have back to back meetings
I have a holiday coming up, I ll start after that
I’ll start on Monday. I have a party this weekend.
A wedding, a holiday, sickness, bereavement, change of job, kids routines, caring for a parent….
One day leads into two, then into a week a month and before you know it you are stuck.
“I’ll suspends things and get back to when I am less busy”
The thing is they don’t.
As a personal trainer we see the frustration, guilt, despair and that feeling that you can’t ever get on top of this and find some balance to health and fitness.
Life is always busy and if there is one episode dealt with it another will appear in its place quicker than you can say ‘run’.
So what can we do to break this cycle and find the trump card of consistency in what we do and stop suspending your health and fitness. By and large, this is what most people struggle with most of the time: finding consistency.
We know, if you stick at something long enough, that you will get the desired outcome you are looking for. So is it a case of jacking it in when the going gets tough? Or do you strategise and find a happy medium that enables you to sail any stormy sea no matter how rough.
There are few things:-
There is no ‘battle’ here
Your health is your wealth. How you eat, drink, sleep and move drives your performance. Performance governs output. Your health is like a garden that’s the envy of the neighbourhood. It needs watering, fuel and caring for each and every day.
It certainly isn’t a battle. A zero sum game of winning or losing that most of us view it as. There is no end result with your health and fitness.
Like all good companions it can give you all the tools you need to function at your best.
Tie your actions to something bigger
Take a weight loss goal for example. Most of us don’t really explore why losing weight is important to us. It is actually a small goal when you think about it.
I mean let’s face it there are plenty of fat and happy folks out there.
What is driving you to make changes? You lose weight and then what? Lose more? For some it is a bigger picture of feeling more confident. Or feeling like you have a sense of control over other areas of your life in which you don’t. These are all bigger purpose driven goals.
I know what would motivate you to get out of bed more often than not.
Healthy eating, daily movement, sleep and stress management can help you perform better in whatever life throws at you.
The Wheel of Life
Precision nutrition refer to ‘winding things up and winding things down’ with their excellent wheel of activities. You can see this here:-
You can’t hit the gym, so do a little 10 minute workout at home with your bodyweight. Can’t do that? What about some stretching today and try it again tomorrow?
Stuck for health eating today? What about have a kitchen clean out? Not up for that? What about heading out and grabbing something healthy from the deli? Or just focusing on your water intake today?
Get back to it straight away
Some of our most successful clients have had a weekend of poor eating and drinking and then just as easily drawn a line underneath it.
Fast. That is the key. It takes practice but it is important to realise it will take alot more than a few hours of partying to throw the train off track. It is a tiny percentage of your week, month and year and not enough to derail your long term vision (or enough to be overly concerned about…)
So get back on track with something simple, non-intimidating and easy to stick to. Go train. Drink some water. Go for a walk, jog or run. Hit the gym for a workout.
Not a juice fast or an enema.
One small action can trigger another
We call this compounding. Make change easy. It could be as simple as leaving your gym kit laid out in view for the morning prompting you to go for a walk, or not.
It could be booking a gym session and phoning a buddy to meet you there.
It could be boiling a few eggs for some snacks whilst you are preparing dinner.
It could be filling up a water bottle.
It could be going to bed instead of settling into 3 hours of late night netflix tonight.
It could be choosing a cup of tea instead of a beer or 3.
Whatever it is there are simple choices that can be made to help you moving better =, feeling better and performing better when you need to.
Poor nutrition, lack of exercise, movement, lack of sleep is another stressor on top of what might be being thrown at your already. This, you can control though.
Invest in Personal Training near you
Like any part of your health they need investing in and when there is a rocky patch that can throw you off the tracks then try personal training with our team here in Maynooth or online.
For busy working professionals this is the only way they can fit in their training routines and having a rigid appointment to stick to can pay dividends with better productivity, performance, less sick days and more energy for life.
Just like you would with an appointment you stick to it much better and Personal training provides a higher level of accountability in what you are working towards.
Stopping is the worst thing you can do for your health and fitness. There are always work arounds or plan Bs. Working with a personal trainer can provide that objectivity to your life that explores solutions to your health and fitness.
Sphere Fitness are a personal training team in Maynooth, Co.Kildare.
References
Precision Nutrition https://www.precisionnutrition.com/pause-button-mentality-infographic Date Visited 090622
