Why You’re Not Reaching Your Fitness Goals And What To Do About It
Reaching your fitness goals is entirely possible, whatever stage you may be at right now. Whether you’re looking to lose fat, build muscle, get faster, or get stronger, you can do it with the right plan and some commitment. People often say that they lack the motivation to reach their fitness goals, but you either want it or you don’t!
Here, we’re going to explore why you’re not reaching your fitness goals and what you can do about it:
You Haven’t Set Clear Goals
How can you reach your goals if you haven’t set clear goals in the first place? You should have a good idea of where you want to be. Do you want to gain muscle, endurance, lose fat, or something else? Setting clear goals can help you to figure out what you should be doing and how often to get to where you want to be.
If you’re not sure how to start setting goals in the first place, read a book or watch a YouTube video to help you get started.
You Don’t Have A Clear Plan
Once you know your goals, it’s important you have a clear plan that will help you to get to where you want to be. Again, there will be a plethora of resources that you can explore on the subject. You’ll need both a training and eating plan to help you to reach your goals, depending on what they are.
Bear in mind that if it’s your goal to compete in some sort of competition, it may be worth investing in an experienced coach rather than trying to coach yourself. It can be tough to look at the bigger picture when coaching yourself.
You’re Being Inflexible
Sometimes, you must be willing to make small tweaks to what you’re doing to see if they make a difference to your goals. You should only change one thing at a time, and wait a couple of weeks to see if you get results before trying something else.
For instance, you may benefit from incorporating sprints into your routine, rather than steady state cardio. You might want to up your protein, or even your carbs.
You’re Not Expanding Your Knowledge
There’s always something else you can learn, especially in the health industry when so much is out there about training and nutrition. It will help you to know not only what you should be doing, but why you should be doing it. What are the benefits of certain types of exercise and foods? How can they work well together?
Make sure you consistently work on expanding your knowledge so you can improve your performance. Read books, watch videos, look at articles, test things out (safely, of course) and make your own mind up. You might also want to take a short course, or an online course of some kind.
Many people find that these courses help them to learn so much and improve their own training regimes, not to mention help others, if they choose to do that. If you do, you can check out fitness interview questions here to make sure you land a role. Helping others and watching them achieve their goals might be just what you need to stay focused!
You’re Not Being Consistent
Consistency is absolutely key. No, you don’t have to be perfect, but you do have to make sure you’re trying more often than you’re not. Allow yourself a treat a couple of times per week, but listen to your body and don’t eat until you feel sick. Have a day off if you need one – in fact, having at least one rest day per week is really important.
However, you can’t train once or twice a week and then sit on the couch the rest of the time. You don’t need to spend all of your time in the gym, but you do need to make sure you’re being as active as you can. Aim for 10,000 steps per day if you don’t have time to work out.
There are lots of things you can do to get your steps up; park further away from your destination, take the stairs, etc. Increasing your non-exercise thermogenic activity will help you to stay active without even realizing it.
You’re Not Eating To Support Your Goals
Eating to support your goals is so important; you can’t out-train a bad diet, unfortunately! Make sure that you’re in a sensible deficit if you’re looking to lose fat, and a sensible surplus if you want to gain weight or muscle. You can use a macro calculator to work out what you should be eating!
