It's February. You had a fresh sense of motivation in January, your goals were set, your plans were put into action, now suddenly you've hit a wall. Progress isn't being made, you feel stuck and are unsure how to move on. It's ok, it's normal, you've hit a plateau. The following steps will help you get up, move on and continue progressing towards your best self!
1. You need to revisit your why!
Problem:
In order to continue progressing towards your goals, you need to take the time to understand why you want to achieve them. I talk about this a lot. If you don't have strong enough feelings regarding your end result, what's going to make sure you put in the work to get there?
Solution:
Grab a pen and paper, write down your goals & then write down how you would feel and what it would mean to you if you were to achieve them. You can do this any time you’re lacking motivation or need an extra boost to re-establish those feelings.
2. You're lacking knowledge and understanding!
Problem:
Most people know exactly what they need to do to get started with working towards their goals. The thing that differentiates success and failure however, is the knowledge and understanding required to take you all the way. It's likely that you've plateaued in your progress because you don't quite understand the next stage. For example, with fat loss, most people know they have to eat less/move more to lose body fat, but where they fail is keeping the weight off as they don't understand how to maintain it. Solution: If you’re unsure whether what you’re doing is right for you and is still helping you progress toward your goals, ask someone who does know. You wouldn’t try to fix your broken sink without consulting a plumber, so why treat your goals/body any differently? This is where coaching comes in especially handy. Rather than plodding along, hoping to see progress each week, you can have somebody you trust telling you exactly what to expect at each stage, adapting your program and guidance as you progress to ensure that progress continues.
3. You need to get uncomfortable!
Problem:
Put simply, you've allowed yourself to get a little too comfortable. For example, if you write your own workout plans then it's likely that you avoid movements you don't enjoy/aren't very good at and you always put in the exercises that you enjoy/are comfortable with. Although not always a problem, this could mean that you're missing out on conditioning certain body parts. Many women avoid chest workouts because they think they don't need to work on those muscles. In reality, if you avoid your chest muscles and just work on your back muscles, you'll eventually end up causing an imbalance which could lead to injury. The same goes for many of your other body parts.
Solution: Change doesn’t happen in your comfort zone. You need to be willing to take a few risks & explore new areas in order to grow (physically, mentally and spiritually). If you're plateauing in your food, try implementing new food combinations into your diet, maybe even shop at a different supermarket. If you're plateauing with your workouts, then there are a few things you could try, you could hire a Personal Trainer to write a new program/take you through a new workout or you could try new forms of exercise i.e. dance, kickboxing, yoga and/or swimming (whatever you do, stay away from influencers creating new moves for likes, the chances are, the more complicated the workout, the least effective it is!).
4. You’re working towards the wrong goal!
Problem:
Oftentimes, we make the mistake of working towards what we think will make us happy rather than what will actually make us happy. For example, we often think that losing body fat will help us feel more confident when in reality our confidence has nothing to do with our physical appearance, instead it's down to how we view ourselves. Another common scenario is that your goals have changed. A lot of clients come to me for coaching on fat loss. A lot of the time however, they realise that they actually enjoy building strength and muscle. In turn, their goals change to being more strength oriented.
Solution:
The obvious solution is to keep revisiting your goals to ensure that they still align with your views and fit into your lifestyle. This is something I do with my clients all the time, ensuring that they're not overwhelmed by goals that don't suit their current lifestyles. Another thing you can do is set goals that revolve around a feeling, these may still then lead to a physical goal in the end. For example, rather than aiming for fat loss, aim towards feeling confident in your body regardless of it's shape/size. This way, you'll be content for longer. On this point, it's also important that you really focus on enjoying the journey. Goals are set so that we accomplish something we desire and ensure that our minds are continually engaged and growing. If you don't enjoy the journey, you're likely not going to enjoy the end result. For example, most diets fail because they're not enjoyable. You're taught to cut out food groups and fill up on things like broccoli. If you have to do these things to get to your end point, how will you maintain and enjoy your end point when you get there?
5. You need accountability.
Problem:
You don't have anybody/thing keeping you on track, reassuring you when you're down, motivating you when you're just not feeling it and helping you overcome the obstacles you face.
Solution:
In short, this is where I come in; hire yourself a coach! You’re much more likely to succeed if you have a professional who genuinely cares about your success (as much as, if not more than, you do) in your corner, cheering you on. A coach will provide you with everything you need to get your results, along with valuable insights into the process and more knowledge than you knew you needed to help you understand your journey. The most important thing I can provide my client is the accountability. It's about being there for them when they feel like they've failed, helping them get over the bumps in the road and pushing them to achieve more than they even knew they were capable. If you're serious about making progress and want to keep that progress at the end, take the leap and enquire about coaching today. If you have any questions, or want to discuss anything in this blog post, send me an email at Beth@bethlavisfitness.com! Always here,
Beth x
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