The health and fitness industry is completely over-saturated with quick-fixes, weight-loss products, ‘do what I do and you’ll look like me’ influencers, and so much more. But the truth is none of these work. And you might know this if you’ve tried multiple things to get the results you’re looking for.

What it really comes down to, and always will, is YOU. Your mindset, your commitment, your hard work.

A big conversation topic I often have with clients is that they are not motivated to get to the gym on their own, they’re not motivated to do their meal prep, they’re not motivated period. I find that this is generally because they have lost their ‘WHY’. Their reason. Their key goal or key motivator. Or it can even be the reason why clients come to see my in the first place. They can’t achieve their goals on their own, or they can’t get themselves to exercise, etc. Sometimes this even happens because they have achieved their initial goals and don’t know where to go from there so they drop their habits and fall back into old ways that first lead them to their previous unhealthy lifestyle.

Not having a goal, or a reason, or a why, can be like walking around in the dark. You don’t know what’s in front of you, you don’t know where you’re headed and you don’t know how to get where you want to be. It is very difficult to achieve the results you want when you don’t really know what they are.

When I meet a new client I ask “Why are you here? What are your number top 1-3 health and fitness goals?” and 9/10 times the answer is “I want to lose weight. I want to be toned”. But what does that look like for you? Is that 20kg or is that 5kg? Because those two goals are very different. What is being toned? Is it putting on 5kg of muscle mass, or is it leaning down so you can see some of your muscles in your arms? Is it getting a 6-pack?

We need to move away from the vague-ness of everything. We need to define things. Create a plan. Figure out your pathway to success by first figuring out what you actually want.

I find the SMART tool very useful when figuring out your goals. It allows you to determine whether or not you’ll be able to actually achieve your goals and be able to tell that you have. It can guide you to create a solid picture of what you want.

Once you’ve figured out your big goal/s, you then need to create your stepping stones. Sometimes, it can be hard to stay on track or disciplined when you know it’s going to take you months to achieve your goal. So breaking it down and giving yourself little bench markers along the way is going to be so much more rewarding.

A few examples:
Goal - Squat 50kg for 5 reps in 10 weeks time - you would periodise your lift over those 10 weeks to ensure your progressive overload enables you to reach that goal. Week 1 - 40kg, week 2 - 42.5kg, week 3 - 45kg, etc.
Goal - lose 10kg in 3 months - we want to see a 3-3.5kg drop per month

Tackling your goals in this way also helps to avoid the ‘all or nothing’ approach which is what most people find they fall into. You’re either all in and completely on track, restricting yourself on weekends, giving up your social life, etc. and then once you’ve achieved your goal it’s done. You don’t do anything at all except maybe train here or there.

Creating those stepping stones and building your habits one by one is what makes it a lifestyle and a commitment that gets you consistent results, rather than a fling.

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PLANNING IS KEY