Between work meetings, having kids, being in school, or whatever responsibilities you may have in your life, it is inevitable that you get busy. This may lead to finding it difficult to stay on track with your health and fitness goals. You might have said yes to one, two, or all of those things and while I have empathy for them, I must ask what you’re doing to work around them and achieve your goal?
Between work meetings, having kids, being in school, or whatever responsibilities you may have in your life, it is inevitable that you get busy. This may lead to finding it difficult to stay on track with your health and fitness goals. You might have said yes to one, two, or all of those things and while I have empathy for them, I must ask what you’re doing to work around them and achieve your goal?
Motivation Versus Discipline
If you think about fitness goals in general, the word motivation is often front of the mind. During this time of year, that only compiles.
You see these people in the gym, or this may even be you, and after two months that “motivation” feeling fizzles out. Life gets to you, putting you right back where you started from. That strong feeling you had to make changes slowly starts to fade as things start to happen around you that derail you from the path of your goals.
This is why I believe motivation to be an over-used, and over-relied on tool within the fitness industry. It is true that everyone has to start somewhere—every fire starts from one spark. I am not saying it’s a bad thing to have motivation. I am saying, however, it’s all about what you do to continue those habits the motivation creates.
Discipline is the big brother to motivation. It will always reign over the little brother—always reminding it why it is better. It’s the way you see the certain people every single day in the gym. It’s the way you follow someone on social media eating the same thing at the same time day in and day out, they learned discipline.
This can go for anything in life. I can assure you the best CEOs of the world, or Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan, or the amazing single mom or dad, all have one thing in common. That one thing would be discipline.
The way to stay on track when you aren’t feeling the spark of the motivation anymore is to learn and practice discipline. This is staying on your routine relentlessly, being able to find ways to work around obstacles that inevitably will come up.
Life is not an A+B=C equation, things happen along the way that divides, subtracts, and all the other crazy symbols math has provided us. Learning how to continuously keep finding the solution when life throws you for a complicated equation, will undoubtedly lead you to down the right path of achievement.
The importance of following a routine consistently, is not about being perfect every single day, every single meal, and every single workout, it’s more about creating habits. You don’t have to be perfect to create habits, just be consistent.
Those same people who stick to their diet, who go to the gym five days a week, who work countless hours on their craft, they all have created habits in their life. Everyone has habits, some are just different than others. When you create habits based on your health and fitness, they will be routine.
It won’t seem impossible to go to the gym five days a week or eat vegetables with every meal. That will be your normal life. These will be the things that you have done consistently over a duration of time, to create habits you can now have every day. Motivation is overrated, discipline is what sets people apart.
What will be covered below are some tips and strategies to ensure your nutrition, workouts, and mind are able to stay on track even when faced with adversity.
Tip 1 – Use Liquid Calories
The first tip is something people tend to forget a lot about, and that’s liquid calories. Now, some people do a protein shake, but they stop there. In reality, you can take that a step further, and create a whole meal. This meal can include all the proper nutrients to fuel your metabolism.
Take that protein shake a step farther, and add in a scoop of a greens powder supplement. Then, add one tablespoon of flaxseed oil. This creates a whole meal. Protein, greens, and healthy fats—a perfect recipe for a lean body.
Tip 2 – Easy, Edible Options
Whether you work at a desk or do a lot of traveling, or just are running around with your kids on a Saturday, easy things to grab and eat are crucial. Examples of these could be greek yogurt or low-fat cheese sticks for protein sources.
Packs of nuts or almonds can be easy. Preparing your vegetables overnight and keeping them in ziplock bags, or buy pre-packaged greens i.e. carrots.
Tip 3 – Research Your Surroundings
If you know you’re going to be traveling, or are in a new area, it’s a good idea to check what’s available. You can research restaurants to look over their menu. You can ask to get a macronutrient breakdown. Proper preparation prevents poor performance.
Tip 4 – Have a Time-Efficient Workout Routine
Various events during the day can lead to you may not be able to get to the gym or complete your regularly scheduled workout routine. This is why rather than just missing the whole workout day together, it’s a good idea to have a workout routine together that can keep you on track.
If your goal is to lose weight, an effective workout can be a 20 minute HIIT bodyweight circuit. If you want to build some muscle a 10 sets of 10 reps workout with push-ups, squats, lunge hops, and leg raises can be effective as well. These workouts are not to crush your personal bests, rather just keep you on track and be consistent.
Tip 5 – Plan Your Day The Night Before
It can be very helpful to take five to ten minutes to look ahead the night before and plan things out. If you plan ahead you will know what may hinder you from staying on track and that may make eating difficult—that’s when you know you may have to take those liquid calories.
Traveling is an instance that may necessitate one of those quick workouts.
