It’s very easy to set fitness goals, but it’s nowhere near as easy to actually stick with them.
That is, unfortunately, a fact that everyone who has ever set a New Year’s resolution is probably well familiar with.
When you set fitness goals you are generally going to be in a motivated and proactive mindset, but when it comes time to actually pushing through with your workout goals day after day, week after week, and month after month, motivation can easily dry up, and it can become tricky to maintain the right kind of momentum.
Here are a few good ways to stick to your fitness goals, whether those involve prohormones and bodybuilding shows, or the ability to run a marathon in good time.
Pre-commit to some kind of competition
Often, a big part of the reason why motivation wanes for pursuing a fitness goal, is because those goals tend to be largely arbitrary.
In other words, people generally set themselves fitness goals that they like the sound of, but that they aren’t really “committed to” in a deeper sense. Such as “I will weigh X amount by Y date,” or “I will be able to lift this much weight by next January.”
A great way of keeping your goals more tangible and focused, is to pre-commit to some kind of competition at some point in the future, which will then motivate you to keep on track with those goals.
You could, for example, sign up to a Tough Mudder race or a marathon due to take place next year, and you will then be quite motivated to keep your training on track so that you don’t flounder or drop out of the event.
Start small, and focus on getting the habit entrenched
Any good fitness routine has to become a habit in order for it to stick, which means that you need to get used to, and comfortable with, going through the motions every day.
One mistake that people often make is to try to do too much too soon, and so they burn themselves out and stray off track before the fitness habit has been established in the first place.
Instead, start small – very small, even – and focus on getting the habit entrenched before actually “doing work.” That could mean doing a certain number of situps as the entirety of your workout for the first week, and then adding more elements as time goes on.
Choose forms of exercise that you actually enjoy
When all is said and done, you are a lot more likely to stick with a fitness routine, and with fitness goals, if the forms of exercise that you are focusing on are things that you actually enjoy, as opposed to just being things that you “think you should do.”
So, find ways of working out that you can feel genuinely invested in, and that you can take genuine satisfaction in. That might mean taking up a martial arts class instead of jogging, or it might mean rucking over the hills instead of cycling on a stationary bike.
Disclosure: this is a collaborative post