Are you having difficulty attaining your fitness goals? Striving hard yet you feel like there's no progress! Worry no more and implement these hacks in your lifestyle to get the best out of yourself.
Do It for Yourself
YOU are responsible for your life! And if you are sitting around waiting on somebody else to save you, to fix you, or even help you, you are wasting your time. It’s simply because only YOU have the power to take responsibility to move your life forward. If you want to achieve that fitness goal of yours, you are the one who must work-out, eat healthy, be consistent & never back down from any challenge that life throws at you.
"You Kinda owe it to yourself to do all the things you've dreamed."
Have A Strong Support System
You will not feel motivated and be excited to work out every single day. You will not be at the best of your physical and mental states every day. You may find excuses to skip the workouts & binge eat from time to time. That's the truth. We are human and that’s okay! But having a support system in place will help you to push yourself on the days when you feel like giving up. These could be your family members, friends, work colleagues, or anyone who inspires you to become the best version of yourself every day.
"If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together."
Meditate
Mental health is as significant as your physical health. To succeed in any aspect of life, you need your mind at the right place. A new study by the Journal of Americal Medical Association shows that the athletes who meditate regularly are far more motivated to exercise periodically & tend to be more satisfied with their workout. They also sleep well & therefore recover well from their brutal workout sessions.
"Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm & insights."
Set Small Attainable Goals
Chasing a dream can get overwhelming sometimes. It gets difficult for you to stay motivated when you don't see the kind of results you wanted and you tend to give up easily. Your mind has a funny way to give up on your goals if it seems too impossible to attain it in the first place. Therefore, always set small goals for yourself where you don't have to push yourself to the brink every time.
E.g., If you are an athlete with a goal to deadlift 500 and currently you are at 350, keep your mind focused on lifting 375 next month. The smaller incremental growth is within reach and will feel more achievable.
Five hundred is too far off, while 375 is something that you can feel is achievable. Once you reach 375, create another realistic, attainable goal that will keep you inspired & focused on carrying on with it.
One day, after weeks & months of reaching these smaller, more realistic goals, you'll find yourself deadlifting well over 500 pounds. Mission accomplished!
"A little progress each day add up to significant results."
Reward Yourself
Fitness is a lifetime process; more precisely, it's a lifestyle itself. You will face obstacles hit plateaus from time to time and it could feel like you are amounting to nothing. But don't worry, it's not just you, it happens with every single person who is into sports & fitness. So, it becomes imperative that you enjoy the process and reward yourself for every small goal you achieve. It helps to maintain the enthusiasm & keeps you motivated to do well in future as well.
"Reward yourself for the work you've done daily; it'll keep you working harder."
Develop Better Habits
Having discipline in life is essential, but you can't stay disciplined every single day of your life. Therefore, it becomes crucial to form good habits that would make your life much more comfortable. Habits are something that we often tend to do subconsciously, without much thinking about it. So, invest your time in developing good habits to ensure success in your fitness endeavors.
"There's nothing you can't do if you get the habits right."
Get Good Sleep
If you don't sleep well, you undermine your body. When it comes to fitness, what you do in the gym is important. But what you do outside the gym — what you eat, drink, and especially how well you sleep, is just as important.
A good sleep gives your body time to recover, conserve energy, and repair and build up the muscles worked during training. When you get sufficient, good quality sleep, the body produces growth hormone. "Growth hormone is essential for athletic recovery." Therefore, if you're not getting the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep every day, you need to modify your routine so you can make sure you do — and then you have to think about how to blend in your regular workouts without sacrificing that sleep.
"Everything you do, you will do better with a goodnight's sleep."
Track Your Progress
It's easy to overlook and lose track of where you are and where you want to in your fitness journey. Whether you are someone striving to lose weight, put on lean muscle mass, or enhance your athletic performance, tracking fitness progress is an essential piece of your ongoing success. Tracking your progress regularly makes you more likely to reach & surpass your goal. It allows you to be more efficient & effective in your workouts & helps you understand whether a change is needed or not needed in your training schedule. And lastly, it keeps you committed to the process.
"What gets measured, gets managed."
Don't Be Obsessed with the Scale.
Does the reading on your weight scale determine how the rest of your day is going to go? If yes, then it's high time for you to get over this obsession. That number on the weighing scale doesn't tell you the full story & is often misleading.
A 6ft guy weighing 85 Kgs can both be a muscle monster or an obese. So, the number on the weighing scale does not describe how a person could look. There are many more critical measures that you must be focusing on, such as your body fat percentage, fat-free mass, BMR, etc.
"Being healthy isn't about the weight you lose, it's about the life you gain."
Patience Is the Key
Working out day in and day out & but still haven't reached your fitness goals? Do you have trouble losing fat or building muscle? Do you feel your dedication is not reaping results at all? Don't freak out! In fitness, as in life, patience is a virtue.
No matter how hard you work, the results won't ever come overnight. Your body needs time to grow and achieve the results you are chasing. Sometimes, it can take months or even years to get dramatic results. So, always trust the process & keep working on your goals.
"Be patient. Some things take time."
Resist The Temptations
You often get pounded with the temptations around yourself. It could be snacking, overeating at gatherings, or giving in to the sugar cravings. You must learn to resist the temptations to achieve your fitness goals. Always giving in to these temptations would hinder your progress and could land you just where you started. Therefore, it becomes essential to change your lifestyle & form better habits to stay on track. It doesn't mean you need to live a boring life and insulate yourself from all the fun. You only need to make sure not to make it a habit of spiraling out of your routine.
"We gain the strength of the temptation we resist."
Drink More Water
Water is the lifeline of your body and has endless health benefits. It is an essential nutrient your body depends on to maintain optimal health and fitness. It keeps you hydrated and supports all the vital functioning of your body. A study on water-induced thermogenesis suggested that it also helps in boosting the metabolism of your body. The FDA recommends that the minimal water intake for active adult women should be around 2.7l, whereas, for active adult men, it goes up to 3.7l.
"Thousands have lived without love, not one without water."
Proper Warm-Up & Cool-Down
The next time, before you jump on that treadmill or start lifting weights, consider warming up & also a quick cool-down session post-workout. It sure may add few minutes to your workout routine, but it is as important as your workout itself. A proper warm-up session reduces the risk of injuries and improves athletic performance. Warming up preps your cardiovascular system by raising your body temperature and increasing your blood flow to the muscles.
Post workout, cool down sessions allow for a gradual slow-down of increased heart rate and blood pressure. A quick cooling down session may be most important for competitive endurance athletes, such as marathoners, to regulate blood flow.
"Practice every day & warm-up before you play."
Bottom Line
Reaching your fitness goals is a long & enduring process. You will be battling a lot of ups & downs throughout your journey. And at the toughest of times, remember "why you even started in the first place," & you will get the same motivation to keep going. Use these hacks to improve your life & fitness constantly & keep progressing.
