When we set out to accomplish a health and fitness goal of some sort, we all have a starting point. A point where you’ll potentially never be at again, IF we go about it the right way.
Its at this start point that you want to do a ‘self-audit.’ An honest, no holds barred look at your lifestyle. Things like your food, exercise habits (or lack thereof), sleep, social life, discipline, commitment, all the types of things that can have a huge impact on your health and therefore, could determine the result of successfully achieving your goal or not.
To do this, ask yourself some tough questions. “What am I willing to do to get the job done?” What am I NOT willing to do to get the job done?” “What level of commitment do I have?” “What am I willing to sacrifice?” “What am I willing to change to do this?” What am I NOT willing to change?” Answer your audit questions truthfully and honestly.
The start point also gives you an opportunity to take snapshot of you right there, right then. By that I mean, take a photo. Take some measurements, do a body scan, write down how it is you feel right now, at that point in time. Again, be honest. Don’t be afraid of the answer. In a few weeks, months, years, you can do it again after having achieved your goal and see just how different your answer will be this time around. That will provide motivation in itself!
And speaking of measurements, and body scans, do them regularly! The old saying goes, “What you don’t track, you can’t measure.” and what can be measured can be managed! A photo showing as much skin as possible every 8 to 12 weeks or whatever, will provide plenty of feedback as to how you’re progressing. Take note of how your clothes feel. Is a pair of jeans that a few weeks ago were fitting perfectly, now a little tight around the hips or waist? Keeping tabs on all of these things can become extremely useful in keeping you heading in the right direction, or whether you need to adjust and reset your goal/s.
And on that, don’t be afraid of a reset. Not everything works out according to plan. Life happens. Take the Covid situation for example. This set a lot of people back in their health and fitness goal. So is it realistic that your initial goal is still within reach in the same time frame… probably not. So rather than let that get you down or disheartened, do a reset. Recalibrate, if you will. This will more than likely provide new motivation and drive to knuckle down and get fairdinkum again, and get you pushing hard towards your target.
If you feel like you need to get back on track and reset, talk to your TNFC coaches about setting some new goals and taking some current, up to date measurements and or body scan. Think of it as your new baseline. Your new ’start point’ so to speak. This will ensure you have direction and purpose and could quite possibly be the kick in the bum you need!
I Will leave you with 3 things you need in order to get your best results:
1. Progressive
A training program must enable progression. Here’s why. The human body is a remarkable thing. It will do its utmost to ensure that something which it once deemed difficult, becomes easier. Now, when things become easier, progression stops. The body has no reason to adapt or change when things are ‘comfortable.’ This is counter-productive to ones results! Example, in week 1 of a program, 4 sets of 8-10 reps may have been spot on. But after doing that for a few weeks, that may become nowhere near enough. So we need to increase the intensity (load) OR amount (volume) of work we do.
Same goes for something like running. The body will adapt to the same 5km course repeated over and over. At that point its time to either run further or run the 5km faster.
2. Balanced
Having a training program that is well balanced is also very important. If we’re always focusing on or prioritising one area of the body more often over the course of the week, then we run the risk of creating muscular imbalances. This can spell disaster in the long term as eventually it may lead to an increased chance of soft tissue injuries and/or muscle tightness, and if we’re looking to stay consistent, this is something we want to minimise the chance of as much as possible!
Which leads me to my next point…
3. Adherence
Now, all of the elements that make up a quality training program are pretty much useless if you don’t actually do the program! As the saying goes, consistency is key! Sure, life happens and circumstances out of our control may pop up occasionally, but if you’re finding that you’re regularly missing sessions for little things (I won’t go into examples because there are plenty and I’ve heard them all), then I can almost guarantee that your result may take 2-3 times longer, or more, to reach. Another fave saying of mine, “A bad program done religiously will always trump a perfect program done sparingly” sums this up beautifully!
Coach Channy