Table of Contents
Introduction
Maybe you decided that this year will be the year you get fit, or maybe you realized that summer is around the corner and you need to get your bikini body ready. Either way, there are so many people in your shoes who unfortunately struggle to reach their goal and stick to it.
Luckily, there are 6 common, yet detrimental, mistakes that you can avoid to be one of the relatively few people who actually stick to their goals and make them a reality. Avoiding these common mistakes by using the following suggestions will immediately give you a head start on forever improving your life.
Not Treating Fitness as a Lifestyle
Most people start their fitness journey with the mindset of fitness being an occasional activity that they magically muster the motivation to do. Unfortunately, motivation heavily fluctuates and to become fit or healthy, you need to be consistent.
Not treating fitness as a lifestyle means that once life gets hard, you get too busy, or you lose motivation, you stop exercising and your goals become distant dreams. Instead, you need to treat your goals seriously and develop grit to make your dream body a reality.
As James Clear explains in his book Atomic Habits, to stay dedicated and consistent, even when you aren't motivated, you need to treat fitness as a lifestyle and part of your identity. Once you see yourself as an athlete, runner, or gym rat, you'll start behaving as such.
Seeing yourself as a fit person makes exercising easier because as a fit person, that's just what you do, and exercising is no longer optional because it becomes required as part of who you are.
If you want to know more about how this works, check out Atomic Habits here.
Not Having a Plan or Specific Goals
A lot of people have the general desire of wanting to become fit, but don't write out a plan or research the steps to becoming fit. Without a plan, the desire remains as a desire instead of becoming a goal.
Once a goal and a plan are made, they act as stepping stones that get you closer to your goal. If you want to become a better runner, you set an achievable distance, time, or speed to run every day, twice a day, etc.
If you don't know what goals to set or what plans to make, do some light research, pick something you like, and try it out for a couple of weeks or months. As you try new things, you'll learn what works for you and what doesn't, so you can tweak your plan accordingly. Everyone starts somewhere and your plan doesn't have to be set in stone.
For planning my workouts, I like to use Under Armor's free MapMyFitness app for making custom workout routines I can modify and log. I can also track and share my progress, which is useful for the last two tips in this post. Under Armor also has other free useful apps for dieting and more that you can check out.
If you want an aesthetic and functional physical journal to keep you motivated, I like this one because it has everything you need to log your workouts, set goals, and track progress.
Also, don't forget that consistency can be a goal too, and arguably the biggest goal. If you don't see immediate results, just remember where you started and be proud of consistently showing up for yourself, because that is a big feat in itself.
Not Scheduling Fitness Into Your Day
We've all been there where we come home from a long day, relax a little bit, and before we know it, it's dark outside and we lost the motivation to go to the gym.
I get it, having motivation is hard, but if you schedule your workout into your busy schedule, you won't have the chance to consider a raincheck because you conveniently planned ahead.
James Clear actually explained this strategy in Atomic Habits where scheduling a habit into your day serves as a queue or reminder to do the habit.
For example, go to the gym on your way home from work so you aren't tempted to put on PJs and skip leg day. Scheduling a gym session right after work and using the drive home as your cue will help you stay consistent, even after a long day.
Trying Everything at Once
I've been guilty of this one so many times. I make a goal that I get really excited about and try to jump into everything, especially the hard stuff. Sure it works for a couple of days, but once you lose motivation, your unbearably long run starts to sound like torture.
Instead, start small... too small. If you want to go on a run every day, start by putting on your sneakers and walking to the end of your driveway. You may think I'm crazy because this sounds counterintuitive, but starting small plants the seed for a lifelong habit.
If you jump into running too fast and expect to effortlessly run a 5k in a week, you'll never stick to it because you never made the habit in the first place.
Starting ridiculously small makes the habit a no-brainer so even on the hardest days, you can still do it. Eventually, you'll start to like your walk to the driveway and decide to walk to the end of the street. After slowly building this habit, going on a mile run will feel natural.
I don't want to sound like a broken record, but James Clear explains this strategy in Atomic Habits. In case you can't tell, this book is the reason why I've been able to consistently exercise for over 3 years straight.
Not Tracking Progress
Since you see yourself every day, you don't see the gradual changes that lead to big results. Therefore, it can be disheartening to not see significant progress when in reality, you just don't see it, so tracking your progress can keep you motivated.
If you're trying to lose weight, an easy way to track your progress is with a scale, but be careful of this one if you're also building muscle. I say this because muscle is heavier than fat, so if you lose fat and gain muscle, the number on the scale may not change even though you went down a shirt size.
Instead, take body measurements around your waist, arms, or anywhere you want to see progress. MapMyFitness has a really nice feature for tracking such measurements and it shows graphs of your progress. Just keep in mind that the measurement will fluctuate from day to day, so treat it like the stock market and focus on the general trends.
You can also use this physical fitness journal to track your measurements and progress if you prefer using pen and paper.
Progress also doesn't have to be isolated to how your body changes. You can also track the progress of the weight you lift or distance you run to watch yourself become a better athlete.
If you really want to get nitty-gritty, you can also track your form and watch how it improves because even if you don't lift more weight or run as fast, you may instead develop better form, which is arguably more impressive.
Not Staying Accountable
Some people may need someone or something to keep them accountable like a friend or habit tracker. Of course, this differs from person to person because having either may add unnecessary stress or pressure.
Regardless, if you are someone who likes competition or needs external motivation, having regular check-ins with a friend or keeping a habit tracker may be the cherry on top to stay consistent and never skip a day.
If you don't have a friend in mind, Under Armor's MayMyFitness app has challenges ranging from a couple of weeks to a year to keep you motivated.
Conclusion
These 6 mistakes may not be the only reasons why so many people fall short of reaching their fitness goals, but they are definitely some of the most common with easy techniques to avoid them in the first place.
Not every fitness journey will be without mistakes, but it is important to learn from them and move forward. Best of luck!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through my affiliate links
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