Have you ever wanted to pick a fitness trainer’s brain on how to reach your fitness goals faster? Today is your lucky day, my friend – I’m spilling the beans on two of the BEST things you can do to reach those fitness goals of yours in a fast and efficient manner.
When it comes to working out, if you struggle to stay consistent and find that something typically always seems to get in the way of you showing up to your workout or run, you’ll definitely want to check out the first tip.
And if you are super consistent and disciplined with your workouts yet still feel like you’re not quite seeing the results you want, the second tip may really be eye-opening for you…and is one that most driven people overlook and underestimate.
Both tips will provide you with actionable steps to take so that you can reach your fitness goals faster, and in a more enjoyable way!
Have a Back-up Plan
Obstacles and hiccups in our well-intentioned plans to workout consistently are an inevitable part of life.
In fact, one of the most helpful quotes I’ve ever heard related to this reality is this: “disruption always follows intention”.
Work runs late, your kid is sick, you wake up not feeling well, you accidentally miss your morning alarm…these things can, and will, happen at multiple points in your life (hope I’m not the first person to tell you that!).
So what do you do in these situations? The way I see it, you have two options:
- Live reactively: throw up your hands and choose to live at the mercy of your circumstance
- Live proactively: think through a back-up plan ahead of time
The outcome of the first? Living like a victim, moving farther away from your goals, negative self talk and low self efficacy that bleed over to other areas of your life.
The outcome of the second? Living like a victor, moving closer to your goals, more positive self talk and greater self efficacy as you look for ways things CAN work, which then bleeds over to other areas of your life.
My guess is the outcome of the second is more of what you want, so let’s take a closer look at it, shall we?
The beauty of a back-up plan
The concept of a back-up plan isn’t anything new, but perhaps you’ve never considered it in light of your fitness routine.
It’s quite simple: you are thinking in advance about any potential obstacles you could encounter on the way towards taking a specific action, then coming up with a back-up plan that would allow you to overcome the identified obstacle should it arise.
Think of it this way: it’s a rainy Saturday but you’re driving to your beach vacation destination, when all of a sudden you turn the corner and hit some nasty construction. Your GPS promptly provides you with alternative routes that will allow you to still reach the destination so that you can enjoy your sunny beach retreat. Rather than feeling defeated and hopeless, you feel prepared and empowered.
With this type of planning in advance, you are helping out your future self. This type of “if/then” planning allows you to pre-decide what you CAN do in the moment “if” an obstacle happens to arise, so that if/when that less than ideal moment comes, you are MORE likely to perform the desired alternative action automatically with LESS effort.
And it should go without saying: the alternative action is one that should still move you towards your larger goal, though it may look a bit different than the original goal.
This is flexibility. This is a growth mindset. This is moving AWAY from the all or nothing thinking.
So, for example: say you have a goal of completing 4 strength training workouts a week, Monday through Thursday after work. You will want to think through, ahead of time, what obstacles could pop up that would inhibit you from achieving the goal of completing the 4 workouts, and what you could do if/when those obstacles actually happen.
Let’s break it down:
IF you get stuck in traffic and don’t have the time for your full workout, THEN what could you do instead?
- Complete what you DO have time to do?
- Go for a short walk outside?
- Bust out a quick 15 minute bodyweight circuit?
- Shift around your evening schedule to complete the workout at a later time?
Take a minute and think it through…what WOULD you do, or perhaps what COULD you do, in this situation?
While the back-up plan may not feel like the most ideal or effective option, it’s a heck of a lot better than throwing in the towel and being at the mercy of your fluctuating schedule or fickle feelings. And thats exactly why and how it can help you reach your fitness goals faster 😉
The equation here is essentially this: If X happens, then I will do Y.
The 4 most helpful words?
“What CAN I do?”
Try it on for size the next time a wrench gets thrown in your plans.
Prioritize Recovery
My next tip for reaching your fitness goals faster?
Prioritize recovery.
You’re not the Energizer bunny – you CAN’T keep going and going and going and going….especially if you choose to opt out of regular periods of rest and recovery.
Those hours you’re clocking in the gym? You’ll only see results from that hard work and effort if you are recovering enough between training sessions. Sufficient and efficient recovery = further progress. When recovery is put to the wayside, performance and health will be put on the backburner.
You lack energy. Workouts feel harder. Fatigue skyrockets. The last thing you want to do is look at a dumbbell. And you can’t shake that feeling of soreness.
So, what is recovery, in the context of working out, exactly? Why is it important? How can you implement it?
What is Recovery
In the context of working out, “recovery” refers to the period of time between workout sessions, where you are ideally engaging in actions and practices that facilitate the rebuilding and, well, recovery of your body after undergoing the stress of said workout.
Simple put, the goal with recovery is to aid in repairing damaged tissues while also replenishing nutrient stores after your workout.
Recovery can look many different ways. We’ll look at specific ways to implement in a moment.
Why is recovery important?
My motto is train hard, recover harder.
This is because proper recovery allows your body to repair and adapt to the stress of the workout, so that you can continue to show up, keep progressing, prevent injury and illness, and achieve those fitness goals of yours!
Without sufficient recovery, you are at an increased risk of injury and illness, which will make it more challenging to progress at the rate you want to.
Slacking on recovery can also contribute to hormonal imbalances within the body, which can further stall progress – as you place more unchecked stress on your body, your cortisol levels will continue to rise, having a negative effect especially on things like body composition and fat loss.
Further, not making time for recovery makes just about every other aspect of your day to day life more challenging. Less energy. Possibly more insatiable hunger. Hard time sleeping. Feeling achy all the time. More anxiousness.
In a society where productivity is praised, recovery can seem lazy – like you’re cutting yourself too much slack. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
And for what it’s worth, recovery doesn’t mean you just lounge around on a couch with someone waving you with palm branches (though that would be nice sometimes, yeah?).
Let’s look at what recovery practically looks like:
How to implement recovery
This blog post won’t go into the nitty gritty details of the multitude of recovery modalities, but we’ll definitely highlight the ones that tend to be most needle-moving when it comes to reaching your fitness goals faster.
Remember, the goal with recovery is the aid in repairing damaged tissues while also replenishing nutrient stores. With that in mind, here are 4 places to start:
- Nutrition – specifically, eating enough minimally processed whole food overall (even on rest days!) to provide your body with the nutrients it needs to prioritize repair and recovery processes and lower inflammation. Plenty of protein (aiming for at least 100 grams a day), pairing with healthy carbs, fats, and fiber-rich veggies, and eating a balanced meal or snack every 3-5 hours.
- Sleep – if you want to maximize your recovery, do whatever you can to prioritize getting to sleep at a reasonable hour, ideally being in bed and asleep by 10 to tap into the highest amounts of growth hormone to facilitate more muscle growth and faster recovery.
- Gentle movement – movement like walking, mobility, yoga, or pilates can be gentle ways to move the body and get the blood flowing to muscles to facilitate recovery without adding more stress to your body. The goal in these types of movement shouldn’t be to max out or challenge yourself. We don’t want to OVERtrain.
- Parasympathetic supportive rhythms – these are going to be activities that tap into your “rest and digest” state of your nervous system which will promote healing and recovery. This could be sitting in the sunshine, deep breathing practices, taking a hot bath, engaging in a relaxing hobby or leisure/play activity, reading, journaling, listening to music, etc..
That may sound like a lot, but in reality they are pretty simple rhythms that you can weave into your day to day routine with minimal effort:
- Adding a little more protein to your lunch plate
- Getting in bed 30 minutes earlier
- Squeezing in a 15 minute walk at lunch outside
- Deep breathing exercises upon waking up
Choose ONE to start with this week!
Ready to Reach Your Fitness Goals Faster?
I get it, these tips may not sound like they’d be the most efficient way to reach your fitness goals faster upon first hearing them, but hopefully you can see how with more flexibility in your approach to your workouts that get derailed, and with more intentional recovery woven into your week, you actually can move closer to your fitness goals than you have in the past…and dare I say in a way that may even feel a bit less effortful?
Don’t believe me? Try them on for size for a month and see how you feel, then get back to me 🙂
