One Very Important Thing You Need To Know To Reach Your Fitness Goals
Master This and You’ll be crushing it in no time
So you’ve decided to make plans to improve your health and wellbeing for the better, and you took a vow to commit and put your best foot forward. Awesome decision!
In the beginning, you would need some guidance. You either hire a personal trainer to guide you through the process or you surf the web to search for answers to your fitness goals (like I did)
Or you can do a combination of both which is ideal. However, one very important thing you need to know when you decide to enhance your fitness levels is to KNOW YOURSELF! (or thyself)
To Know Thyself is the Beginning of Wisdom — Socrates
In everything you do, you must build self-awareness to maximize reaching your goals. You cannot always copy what others are doing, you have to know what works best for you to make the most out of your fitness journey.
Don’t get me wrong, I had to copy pros at the outset of my fitness journey, but as I was training I realized that some things just don’t work for me.
Through trial and error and self-reflection you can reach your goals faster.
What does Knowing Yourself mean in the realm of Fitness? Well, you need to know the sport that you enjoy doing. If you find the gym boring, then either find a fun way to do resistance training, or look for another sport.
If you find bodybuilding is not your thing, then switch to another type of training like powerlifting, strength and conditioning, and CrossFit among other training types and stick to it.
If you are the athletic type who cares about endurance and explosiveness, then go for HiiT (high-intensity interval training). If shape and aesthetics are your thing, then bodybuilding is your ticket to your dream physique….
If cardio burns you out, then lessen the time you do cardio and stick to strength training instead. In the end, it all boils down to how you want your body to be and how you want to perform.
In terms of Nutrition, do not force yourself into eating food you generally dislike. Find food that is tasty and healthy enough to keep you on track with your nutrition goals and you’ll be able to consume daily.
For instance, if you hate tuna, then skip it and go to other sources of protein like eggs, chicken, or meat. If you find a certain food group hard to digest, then skip it and look for an alternative.
If you have an aversion or harbor some skepticism towards artificial sweeteners, then by all means do not consume them. If you like to eat 5 times a day instead of 3, then go with that. And the list goes on and on….
Also, what you do outside of the gym can dictate your ability to reach your goals. This area is highly overlooked but this can make or break your fitness journey.
For example, if you barely get enough sleep, then your training will suffer. So you need to prioritize sleep by knowing how many hours are optimal for you to augment your training quality.
If you lead a stressful life in general, then you have to know ways to alleviate that stress while still finding ways to get your training done.
If training five times a week is too much, then regress it to 3 days.
If your job entails lots of movement and you find doing extra cardio is leaving you drained, then cut back on the cardio and stick to weight lifting, and vice versa.
The last point is highly dependent on your goals, and goals are aligned with your preferences that stem from knowing yourself! So do your job and find the ways that work best for you to capitalize on your fitness plan.
When it comes to training clients, I take into consideration their training preferences. If an exercise doesn’t bode well with them in terms of stimulation or joint feeling, then I resort to an alternative.
If they find the training regimen to be boring, then I play on the fun factor while making sure that they put in the necessary effort. Training can be fun but must be hard as well.
In the end, through self-awareness, you’ll be able to find the right formula that helps you reach your goals more efficiently. Make sure you prioritize this aspect of training for better outcomes.
In addition, self-awareness is the reason that will help you lead a better life. Through this medium, you’ll be able to know what subject to study, which job to apply for, and which partner you’d like to have.
Always work on knowing yourself. Take any piece of information you find and question it. See if it is in line with your values and preferences, and then take action. Know Thyself and don’t you forget it!
Wish you Strength and Wisdom ✌️
