Everybody aspires to live a healthy and active lifestyle. Even though there’s been plenty of challenges popping left and right due to the global pandemic, countless people are finding ways to reach their fitness goals despite the drawbacks. In fact, some have even gone as far as to build in-home gyms or starting a full home workout routine from scratch, both of which are truly inspirational and role models for many others to follow as well.
However, one common challenge that often slips past everybody’s observation is that achieving a healthy and active lifestyle is just as much a mental battlefield once you consider all the troubles of staying consistent and keeping motivated for that next workout. And so, before you start giving up and doubt your ability to reach your fitness goals, it’s about time you consider the mental aspect that could be holding you back in the first place.
#1 Expecting Overnight Body Transformations
Firstly, the most common mistake many newbie fitness enthusiasts commit is expecting overnight body transformations and believing that all of their newbie gains will keep up with all the work they’re putting in for the first few weeks. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with hyping yourself up and seeing active changes in your body during your mirror shots, but expecting the same thing to happen always is unsustainable and will cause you to crash and burn!
- Do Away With The All Or Nothing Mindset: To combat this bad mindset, you want to do away with the all-or-nothing mindset of needing to carry the heaviest loads and running the farthest distances from the get-go. Yes, there’s merit to challenging your body’s limits, but doing so every time you visit the gym will damage your body and send you to an urgent care facility.
- Go At A Steady And Comfortable Pace: Fitness is all about consistency, so we strongly recommend that you go at a steady and comfortable pace that will motivate you to gradually increase the load and challenge yourself. Remember, this is your fitness life we’re talking about, so no one else gets to decide how fast or slow you take it but you.
#2 Forcing Yourself To Do Things You Don’t Like
Secondly, when people look up workouts online and associate the fitness instructor’s physique with the workout routine, this often results in forcing oneself to do things you don’t like for the sake of keeping fit. Of course, there are benefits to trying new movements and exploring different workloads, but if you have to force yourself and haul your body every day to get it done, you’ll only find it mentally straining in the long run.
- Giving Into Laziness And Temptations: One immediate effect you’ll start to see taking place is the laziness becomes unbearable, and temptations keep luring you in at every corner you turn. Most people take these moments as inherent weaknesses in their personality, but what’s really happening is that your body and mind are just responding that way to things it doesn’t want to do.
- Choose Workouts You Find Fun And Exciting: An excellent way to alleviate the need of forcing yourself to do stuff you don’t like is by simply choosing workouts you find fun and exciting. Far too many people think that keeping fit is limited to the four walls of a gym, but going out for a hike, aerobics through Zumba, and even cycling through the countryside are all valid ways of staying healthy.
#3 Overwhelmed By A Lot Of Other Things In Life
Lastly, you might just be overwhelmed by other aspects of your life that fitness cannot take a priority seat with just how impactful all the other moving parts are to your current situation. And while many often promote exercise as the all-purpose intermediary to alleviate stress and redirect bad energy, everybody takes in the world differently, and our ways of coping with stress and problems are also unique.
- Take It One Step At A Time: Instead of pressuring yourself to get fit and be active ASAP, why not just take it one step at a time and work through all the other problems that are holding you back? Remember, achieving your fitness goals is by no means a race; it’s a lifetime commitment that doesn’t have any deadlines, so feel free to take your sweet time reaching them.
- Understand That Setbacks Are Part Of The Process: Let’s be clear that setbacks will happen, so when you do fall, understand that it’s just part of the process of getting better. And if you ever feel that it’s too much to handle by yourself, don’t hesitate to reach out to friends or maybe even learn a thing or two from famous icons such as Lauren Cohan beating out her inner demons.
A Healthy Body Starts With A Healthy Mindset!
Overall, never forget that body and mind will always go together, so don’t expect to make any real progress with your fitness if you’re not keeping your mental well-being in check. It’s all about maintaining balance and harmony in your life, and there’s no better way to do just that than by starting with a healthy mindset.
