When it comes to fitness, we all know that if you put it off, it will never get done… and there’s always a reason to put it off.
If there is one slot on your daily schedule that seems so easily pushed back or even put off completely for the day, it’s your workout.
Do enough putting off and guess what??? You are not achieving your fitness goals and dreams.
Time passes, workouts become less frequent, stale or non-existent and then, you look up and there it is… a reason to get fit.
All of the sudden the sun’s coming out. It’s Spring and that means Summer is just around the corner. Weddings, graduations, reunions etc… Whatever it is, it’s just popped up and now you want to achieve a fitness goal.
What kind of pressure do you put on yourself and to what measures are you willing to go to achieve these short term goals?
What’s acceptable?
We all know that there are a ton of quick fitness fixes. Go to google and type in “get fit quick” and see what you find.
Cleanses, low calorie crashes, cardio til you keel over… the list goes on.
Short term pressure must align with long term fitness. If it does not, it must be tossed out.
Things like crash diets, unrealistic fitness regimens and detrimental supplements aka weight loss pills have got to be left behind, and… forgotten. They hurt more than they help.
Any short term fitness goal setting must take into consideration your life-long point of view.
Why?
Let’s say event X has popped up and it’s only two weeks away and you decide that you must lose ten pounds before attending. What’s wrong with this short term pressure and why is this a bad goal for you?
If you’ve had the opportunity to listen to me before, you know that I’ve repeated one to two pounds per week when in a weight loss mode (if not, just a little study will show that to be a very common and safe recommendation). Two pounds per week MAX!!! And that’s debatable because of the amount of muscle that could be lost (losing muscle is a big metabolic no no).
But you go ahead and pursue this bad goal (bad because it’s not in align with your long term fitness) and you actually lose ten pounds in two weeks. I can guarantee that a good amount of your ten pounds will be that wonderful, serve you so well, muscle that keeps us fit for the rest of our lives.
What happens after event X is over… you know after you’ve achieved a goal that didn’t take into consideration your long term health and fitness???
After event X is over, life is busy and the fitness regimen slips again and guess what? In no time, the weight is back. But this time, it’s not muscle. Unlucky for you, most of the weight has come back as fat (yes, this is what usually happens to those who choose crash diets, go on crazy cardio kicks or choose any other goals that do not match up with life long fitness).
Now, because of the goal you achieved for event X, your metabolic rate is lower, you have less energy, less muscle, you can’t burn the same amount of calories as you could and you definitely look worse. That’s no fun for anyone.
Feeling good is a part of being fit. Nothing in the above statement can be described as feeling good.
Feel bad long enough and you may decide that you don’t want anything to do with being fit at all.
Short term pressure is only helpful if it is in align with an overall goal of being fit forever. You must ask yourself if what you are choosing to do is healthy and whether or not there will be any adverse effects to your long term health if you choose to pursue a particular fitness goal.
If the answer to those questions are “yes it is healthy and there are no adverse effects to this goal” then you are on your way to an acceptable short term goal.
Let’s change the above mentioned bad goal. Let’s make it “Lose two pounds per week without losing any strength”.
That’s a good one because now we are shooting for a goal that will help us in the long run (by maintaining our muscle and keeping our metabolic rate as high as possible) and it will still give us some acceptable pressure to keep up with our weekly fitness regimen so we can achieve the goal.
Will it add up to ten pounds in two weeks? No. But it will add up to a lifetime of health and fitness and that means that sooner or later, you will never want to pursue a bad goal again.
Keep achieving those healthy goals,
and ask for help anytime you like…
Matt
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