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Saturday, July 4, 2009

4 Obstacles Preventing You From Reaching Your Life Fitness Goals

I've been getting a lot of emails lately from people who feel like they're going around and around the same mountain with their life organization and wellness challenges.

Underneath the frustration at either not achieving their goal at all or sliding after they'd reached a certain baseline (no judgment here, we've all been there!) what I see they almost always have in common is one or more of these 4 obstacles. They keep turning up like ducks in a shooting range so let's blast em one by one. Let's face it, all change starts with being aware right?

1. Inability to push yourself. Guilty as charged! It's easy to convince yourself that you don't need to crank out those last few reps with the weights, or you can stop your cardio session 10 minutes early today (you'll make it up tomorrow, yes?) or you can leave the kitchen counter buried with mail and get takeout (again). Rationalization is easy when you're all alone - it gets harder when you've got someone else to answer to. The solution? Get some accountability - with a trainer, coach, friend, mentor, group - whatever it takes. When someone else is pushing us to do just 1 more lap around the track, we dig deep and do it! And I stand accused - yesterday without my swim trainer I ended my lap swim early (a little boredom crept in, I confess!) fully intending to make it up at my next session. Shame on me, but there it is - thank goodness I'm human!

2. Not having a plan. If you were planning a trip to California from Rhode Island you wouldn't just gas up the car and start driving. You'd probably eventually get there but it would take a lot more time, energy and money than if you had a roadmap and itinerary. This is especially true for fitness goals. Do you know what you need to do to get the results you want? How often/how long and what kind of workout is best for you? What to eat and when? What's your goal? Weight loss, muscle gain, cardio endurance or just getting off the couch on a regular basis? There are very specific (and simple) ways to get there. The same is true for eating healthy or organizing your home. With a plan your actions become very clear and focused. You save time, energy, and money because you know what to do and how to do it!

3. Lack of time. This is one of the most oft repeated excuses I hear, and I know it's a real one. We're more time crunched now than at any other time in history. That said, we can't use it as an excuse because we're not going to get any more than 24 hours in a day anytime soon. The good news is - small steps yield big results and things like getting organized and committing to a fitness program don't need to take longer than 30 minutes a day. In fact, as far as workouts are concerned an inverse relationship exists: the longer you work out the lower the intensity has to be to enable you to keep going. The higher the intensity, the shorter the work out - but you get great benefits because you burn more!

4. Lack of consistency. Of the 4, I think this is the biggest frustrator and dream dissolver. And again, I plead guilty here! Let me give you an example. You decide (right now) that you want to get in shape for the summer. Or you want to clear out the dead weight of winter clutter still lurking in the garage or basement. Great idea. You make your plan and begin with a bang. You work consistently for 2 weeks or a month and achieve a level of success. You feel pretty good about that so then you take a little break. Soon you've fallen off your commitment wagon a few more times and then you start to lose momentum. Maybe the weight starts to creep back, the clutter piles you didn't quite finish begin to spread. . .Or maybe you've set a 3 month goal for yourself and by the end of that time you don't see the results you had hoped for and you get discouraged and give up.

Remember - if you're not consistent, you're non-existent. Lack of consistency will steal your joy. You don't deserve that!

Robin_Stephens

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