Overcome 3 Common Obstacles to Reach your Fitness Goals
with Stephen Beseda
CSCS & Owner of Functional Sports Performance & Training
It’s common for clients to come to me concerned that they cannot seem to reach their fitness goals; that they plateau every time they begin working out again. So today we are going to talk about a few of the most common obstacles people face along their fitness journey and how we can overcome these obstacles to reach our goals.
DIET
The most important factor that many people tend to be reticent to connect: nutrition. Nutrition is 75% – 80% of any plan, while exercise is anywhere between 20% – 25%. We may call this the first main obstacle in the fitness equation; however, once we understand this integral part of our fitness journey, many begin to make sense of the reasons why most people cannot seem to break out beyond their usual plateau to reach their goals. Oftentimes, the truth is most people choose and/or settle for a sub-par diet at best, which makes a huge impact in each person’s path to being able to reach their fitness goals. Eating the right foods as fuel to accomplish the tasks you are asking of your body is essential to your fitness success.
ROUTINE
Many people appear to get stuck in a routine that tends to work at the beginning for loosing quite a bit of weight. This Routine may have even helped with toning or increasing muscle mass, but there is another very important contributing factor to this part of the equation. It’s extremely important to keep in mind that the human body is incredibly adaptable and it is always trying to acclimate in order to conserve calories and meet the demands of any given environment.
Due to our busy, on-the-go schedules, our bodies tend to be in survival mode, which means if you’re not changing up your routine every 4-6 weeks, you will undoubtedly plateau. In an effort to move beyond this, you will need to make sure you do not hold onto one workout style that worked at the start. Instead, keep changing it up as this is a major component in achieving your goals.
SOCIAL MEDIA
We know what you’re thinking… how is social media a fitness obstacle? Well it can be an obstacle because there is a wide spread belief that social media fitness personalities and body builders are the answer. What we tend to forget is the fact that, off-camera, these people work out every day for hours. Between weight training and cardio, despite what they may claim, many are trying to sell you on their products and services. The truth is, unless you are going to dedicate hours of your daily life to transform your body at an accelerated rate, changes are going to take some time, especially lasting ones.
One last factor to keep in mind is just because something works for another person does not mean it will work for you. Moreover, if you do not begin to see and attain the results you are looking for, do something different. Focus on your personal goals and stick to the major muscle group exercises, but do not skip the lower body, which is extremely integral to attaining overall fitness.