Make challenging, yet realistic goals that your body can achieve!
There is a fine line that health and fitness trainers have to maneuver when talking to clients. We definitely want to motivate you. And we want to challenge you to become a better you. That's our job—and we love it. But we don't want to promote health in such a way that pushes you over the line and towards an unhealthy view of yourself: a view that says you need to look a certain way to be acceptable.
But everyone has a different line, a different threshold for encouragement and challenge, and a different body type that requires specific actions to transform them.
That is why it's time to take a good, hard look at your goals and personalize them to you. Together, we are going to make them attainable, yet challenging. Specific and realistic. Below are four ways you can scratch the guilt-driven workouts and diet plans so you can turn towards a motivating and enjoyable way of working out and eating right.
Seeing photos of female athletes in commercials, social media posts, and posters at the mall can be simultaneously motivating and discouraging. Women, especially, are susceptible to feelings of inadequacy when they fear they can't attain "the look."
But, that's not fair to your body. Don't let these photos tell you want you should look like. It's time to turn the tables on your health and fitness goals. You are no longer going to let the idea of "the ideal body type" loom over you as you eat and workout, shaming you into feeling unattractive in the dress size you currently wear. No way. It's time to discover what healthy means to you at any age or stage of life.
Now that you have gotten rid of someone else’s goals for your body, it’s time to make your own. If you want to see specific results that are personalized to your body type, create a workout schedule that sets all of this into motion.
For example, if you want to lose 10 pounds, try to incorporate more cardio and HIIT exercises to torch the calories. If you want to slim down and tone up your legs, maybe work in more supersets instead of throwing more weight onto the bar. If you want more definition in your triceps and less in your shoulders, make sure to remove some of the shoulder work in exchange for extra tricep exercises. It sounds basic, but I often see athletes following a general workout plan rather than personalizing it to their goals.
You might have had the time before marriage, kids, or your career-launch to spend hours a day in the gym, on the bike, or in the pool. Don't be so hard on yourself now. Working out is a lifestyle choice that you can fit into your schedule with the time you have. Maybe you have to get up half an hour earlier to fit in a run before the kiddos wake up. Or fit your spin class in during your lunch break.
You can make choices to increase the amount of time you spend exercising, but you must make it realistic. Write your workout into your schedule and see it amongst your daily to-dos. Then, tweak the amount of time you can spend exercising accordingly.
Think of the journey to healthy like a bumpy, uphill road. There may be times when you feel like you are descending and negating all the work you have been sweating for. But, once you make it to a lookout point, you will notice how far up you actually have come. Step back from your tunnel vision of the daily grind and see the big picture. You might be a lot closer to achieving your goals than you think.