How to Stick to Training – Made Simple!
With New Year’s just around the corner and many eager people ready to start their fitness journey; I figured it would be a good idea to put out an article that will help people know how to stick to training. I can already start to see my gym getting busy, I went today and it was packed! I am afraid to see what it will be like on January 1st, but it is good to see people getting there! Although getting into the gym is great, you can’t expect to see results, or at least long-lasting ones unless you stick with it. That is what I am trying to help you with in this article. If you haven’t checked out my previous article, I suggest you do as it talks about sticking with your “diet” which is the most important thing for any goal. Anyways, let’s get into the article!
I first want to give a brief overview of what this article will be consisting of. Which includes, three main principles of sticking with your training that will be able to help you with your fitness journey. Let’s see what these are:
- Know Your Goal
- Build a Foundation
- Be Disciplined
Know Your Goal:
In order to travel the road to success, you need to know where you are going. Plain and simple. You need to know where you’re going because everything else will be based on this, how you train, your mindset, your focus, everything. This is the first fault in those New Year’s “resolutioners” who get their new gym membership and fall of the rails within their first month. They have a great mindset and attitude towards working out at first because they feel as if they have a fresh start. However, after the first month they lose that great attitude, the mindset and drive and they fall off the rails because they don’t remember their goal.
Knowing your goal will also give you a distinct direction in how you are going to train. With there being so many different types of training out there, all said to help with certain things, it can get a bit confusing. However, if you know your goal you can focus on training towards it and stay on track. You won’t have a bunch of distractions that can lead you down the wrong path and really affect many of the things that are important to your success.
Lastly, I want to give you some “motivation.” When you make the decision to start your fitness journey, you are making a decision to change your life. That may sound sappy, but it is the truth. You losing 50 pounds or gaining 20 pounds of muscle will have a dramatic impact on your life. Everything from your confidence, your mindset and attitude to your day to day life. Believe me, this is true. You need to keep that in mind and remember why you started and why you’re doing this. Don’t give up 3/4 the way through your workout, keep going so you can change your life!
Build a Foundation:
When I say build a foundation, I am referring to a number of things. Such as proper technique and use of weight, proper workout routines and most of all building a positive experience foundation. These things will lead you to bigger ideas, such as injury prevention, enjoyability and progress. This will help with your success. All of these things aid in you sticking to your training.
These 3 things work in a domino effect, if you build a good foundation of technique and proper usage of weight, your chance of injury will reduce. If you’re not injured all the time this will lead to you enjoying your workouts more and give you more motivation and room for improvement. What do you think all of these things lead to? More progression, if you aren’t hurt all the time your body will be able to perform better, and if you are enjoying the process you will likely be more motivated to progress.
As you can see, injury prevention and enjoyability are hugely important for progress. With that progress comes you being one step closer to achieving your goal. So when you’re looking to stick to a training plan, make sure you build your foundation first so it can set you up for long-term success. I talk a lot about building this foundation in one of my previous articles called “Fundamentals of Weight Training.”
Be Disciplined:
Now it’s time for the scary part, the no excuses and hard work. Why is this scary… well because it is hard to do. Especially for those that always make excuses as to why something didn’t work or why they shouldn’t do something… or those who are lazy. Well guess what, that needs to change in order for you to reach your goal, it doesn’t have to happen all at once, but it does need to happen.
There is something that will make this scary word of discipline easier though. This includes one of two things, already being someone who doesn’t make excuses and works hard, or remembering your goal. The two of these together would be the best, and practically unstoppable. The key to having these things… consistency. The difference is one already has it and the other is willing to apply it because they are hungry for success.
To put this all into context, you need to have discipline, this will translate to not having excuses which will get you in the gym no questions asked. Effort will get you results, especially if done smartly. In order to be disciplined, you need to already have consistency ingrained in you, or be so focused on your goal you have the discipline to be consistent and follow through and get what needs to be done, done! Bottom line is consistency leads to discipline and vice versa.
The Overall Message:
After reading this article what do you think you need to have to accomplish your goal? It starts with knowing your goal so you can stay focused, then building a foundation so you can go about your journey and see long-term results. However, in order for all of this to happen, you need to have the discipline to get it done. Simple as that!
I thank you for taking the time to read this article and wish you luck in achieving your goals. I am excited for you to be able to benefit from this information! As always, if you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to leave them below and I will be sure to reply!
Support is much appreciated if you benefited from this:
Thank you for your enjoyable article,
I can definitely relate to the being disciplined part of your article. As someone who has had a gym membership for a number of years, my attendance has been sporadic at best which often leads to my gym sending me emails enquiring as to why I have not been attending on a regular basis.
As a result I have got fairly out of shape and lethargic therefore my ambition for the year will be to build a basic level of fitness and ensure that I have routine for attending the gym in an attempt to not fall off the wagon again.
Hi there, unfortunately falling of the wagon happens, but it isn’t about what happens at that point, it’s about what you do next! I would say your goal for this year is definitely a good one, it sounds sustainable and building a good foundation will definitely help set you up for success down the road! Good luck!
Hello Kohl and thank you for this inspiring article. It was really a pleasant read. I will definitely get into working more after the holidays because this is where we tend to gain some weight.
I had trouble keeping myself motivated for working out last year, but this year – I decided I will make it out no matter what. That is why I am so glad I found your post. You really got me in a good mood. I think I am going to write my working out goals, what shall I do each day to reach my goals, and this will help me stay disciplined and motivated.
I really appreciate it.
Strahinja.
Hi Strahinja, although avoidable, holiday weight gain definitely happens. I saw a a post on Instagram that said “What you eat between Christmas and New Years is not even nearly as important as what you eat between New Years and next Christmas.” You can check out antidiet_dietition on Instagram for more great posts like that! Sounds like you have a good plan to help you stay on track and achieve your goals this year!
oohh I have quit gym so many times 😣. When I start, I’m motivated but after a while I just get lazy and stop going to the gym. Probably this is what I’m missing, a clear goal and a good foundation.
Another thing is that I never know if I’m doing exercises the right way, do you know a good app I can use? Maybe one with videos I can use when I’m at the gym?
I feel like a clear goal and foundation would definitely be beneficial for you! Just make sure you are disciplined to keep going, but if you have a good foundation, then your goal should be a motivator to help as well. You can look at various sources on Youtube to see how to properly perform exercises. I suggest Athlene-X, Squat University or TechniqueWod for this. Squat University is primarily on Instagram, however, they do have helpful content on YouTube as well. I don’t know of any good apps to teach form.
Hello, there!
First of all, I want to thank for your quality content!
I started many times to work out, but it didn’t last more than 2 months. Most of the time this happened because I was very busy or I think this is just what I liked to believe. But now, reading your post, I realized that those was only excuses. Most of the time, we think too much before acting, instead of knowing our goals and just act at the right time to reach them.
We need a sort of “self sacrifice”, but in a positive way. We have to sacrifice ourselves now, so we will thank ourselves later.
Most of the times I try to motivate myself, but it doesn’t always work, because the lazy in me just can’t be convinced. But the way you talk about it is just perfect for me! Clear, simple but strong!
I will save your post and every time I want to give up, I will read it again, until the lazy me will stop finding excuses. It will get bored at some point, right?
Thank you again! Very good content!
No problem! Great job recognizing that those were just excuses! Just getting out and doing is huge, if you have your goals then you should have a focus and a source of motivation to achieve them which will greatly help your cause! Also, at some point I do believe the lazy in us will go, but I think there will always be times where it will creep up, haha. Discipline is what is needed to push past that! Good luck!
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~ Kj
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~ Kj
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