It’s that time of year again, most people have fallen off the wagon and conceded to the christmas kilos.
It’s also the time of the year where most people start searching for what’s to come in the new year. How are you going to fight back against the damage you’re planning on doing to yourself. Struggling to decide on your options just like most of us will be at the dessert table deciding between cake, pavlova or the healthier options of some fresh summer fruits.
You may be thinking;
“What about Yoga, running, bootcamps, crossfit, F45 or that really cool Newstrength place”
(Cheeky plug I know, but it is our blog right :P)
The problem is most of us when coming up with our plan for our training make some key mistakes that can end up leading to you not making the progress you like and giving up before you reach your goals.
Some of these mistakes are:
- Picking an awesome program that’s built for someone else
- Choosing the wrong environment
- Overcommitting
Since our priority here at Newstrength is finding the right fit of a plan to the individual, I’m going to quickly take you through each of these mistakes and help you to navigate through it to make 2018 your best year yet!
Right Program, Right Time, Wrong Person
Ever tried to drive a car with the seat out place for you?
If you have you would confidently say it’s not the easiest thing to do, nor is it very comfortable and it kinda makes the whole experience pretty shitty.
Training plans are just like this, it can often be a perfect program but it’s just not the right fit for you. Let’s say you go and get started doing crossfit with the aim of building muscle and getting stronger.
You’re definitely going to see some results if you stick to your diet and training but the thing is it’s probably not going to give you the best results you could get for your time commitment. Particularly when it comes to spending time learning the weightlifting movements that could be much better spent doing accessory work to develop bigger and stronger muscles.
On the other hand if your goal is to get to a lean and fit look, one of the big hits right now is HIIT bootcamps and F45 style classes. These are a great way to have some fun, lose weight and feel like your getting a solid workout in if you have a bit of experience in training already. But if you haven’t trained before, jumping straight into a large group setting at high intensity could potentially lead you to injuries that could be avoided if you were to spend some time first preparing yourself with some general strength and movement practices so you can maximise your results once you are ready to transition over.
Simply put, make sure what you are getting started in is appropriate for both your goals and also where you are currently at rather than just jumping straight into the fire and trying to make it out the other side.
Creating an environment for success
When was the last time you went to quit something only to have someone else pick you back up and keep you back on track?
Or had someone help you overcome your fear and help you grow?
These are both a result of placing yourself in the right environment with the right circle of people around you. It’s often the most underappreciated piece to your success but I can tell you, I don’t think I would be here writing to you about training and fitness if it wasn’t for people like my partner Jess, my training partners over the years and my family supporting my dreams and goals.
So there’s a few ways you can go about getting started on your new training journey:
- You go it alone and constantly be fighting an uphill battle
- You and a friend keep each other accountable
- Joining a community gym
- Hiring a personal trainer to keep you accountable
Now options 1 and 2 definitely can work, they cost you very little money but they force you to figure out all the details of what you should be doing and there’s often only so long until you slip up a little and hope you can bounce back quickly.
Joining a community gym is an awesome way to meet new people, who have similar interests, values and want to help keep you on track and feed off seeing you reach your goals. The only thing to be aware of when looking around is making sure that the focus of the training is what you are looking for to reach your goals as we mentioned in point 1.
Hiring a personal trainer is also an awesome option to help you stay on track, you get the individualised approach while also having someone keeping you accountable. The only downside is that 1-1 personal training is expensive and you can miss the benefits of the social interactions and connection of the community feel.
This is why we focus on meeting in the middle with our semi private personal training for 1-1 accountability and training design along with our tribe sessions to create connection within the community.
Knowing how hard to commit
One of the big problems we face when we get started either for the first time or coming back to training is our excitement.
Yes I wrote that right, our excitement to see the results and to make a huge change in our lives can often be our biggest obstacle. We begin to overcommit and often our bodies can’t keep up with the pace we want to push ourselves towards the results. We can start to miss sessions and then guilt ourselves over not having the willpower to stick with it.
Think about the first time you ever rode a bike. You didn’t jump straight to the top of the biggest hill and try to ride down that every day. And if you did you probably would have fell and before you know it you don’t really want to get hurt again so you decide to skip a day and try again another day.
We do exactly that with our fitness, jumping straight into the commitment of working out as hard as we can possibly go every single day. No wonder why most people fail not far from when they start their fitness journey.
Ready to make a move
If you’re looking to make it work this time and looking at your options of what will get you there make sure you consider whether the training is the right fit for your goals right now, make sure you find a supportive environment to keep you accountable and enjoying the process and lastly think about starting a little slower and building your way into it to make sure you don’t fall back into those bad habits.
If you want help finding the right fit for you, we are offering our FREE Motivation Breakthrough session to help you find your true motivations and set up your training to suit you. Click here and get in contact with us if your interested.