In this article I’m not going to talk technique, tactics etc. Instead I’m going to take this opportunity to remind you that your health and fitness goals are completely reliant on how you live your life. All of the good intention, the hard work and the effort in the gym will be almost worthless if you spent the rest of your time living in a way that isn’t congruent with your health and fitness goals.
At a certain point, it becomes less about motivation and more about discipline. Motivation only takes you part of the way - it’s discipline that takes you the rest of the way.
Motivation and discipline - what’s the difference?
There’s a misconception in certain populations that fit and lean people are ‘motivated’ all of the time, when the reality is that’s just not true.
There are plenty of times when they’re tired, don’t really fancy the gym, would rather lie on the sofa with a blanket and a tub of biscuits, but they force themselves to get out and exercise, even for a short while. That’s the difference between motivation and discipline. A motivated person will exercise when the mood takes them. A disciplined person will exercise even when they don’t want to, because that’s how they’ll achieve their health and fitness goals.
I know lots of fit and lean people who would much prefer to live on a diet of pizza and cake, but they understand that as happy as they’d be in the moment, the aftermath of not feeling as healthy as they would be is a bigger issue for them. Feeling unhealthy overrides the pleasure they’d get from the food.
By the way, that’s not to say there’s no room for indulgences - there absolutely is, they’re just earned. You want to have a few drinks and a big meal? Go for it - just earn it first!
That understanding of disciple and motivation is the fundamental difference between being fit and healthy, or being unhealthy and feeling like it’s too hard, or nothing ever works. If you simply wait for the motivation to take over you in order for you to live a healthier life, then you may be waiting for the rest of your days. Unless you’re incredibly lucky, most people simply aren’t motivated all of the time… they just do it anyway.
Live in line with your goals
I’ll do some basic maths for you, so you can get a grasp of how important the ‘rest’ of your life is when it comes to your fitness goals.
A week is 168 hours.
Let’s discount time for sleeping - I’ll be generous and say you’re asleep for 56 of those hours (8 per night). That removes 33.3% of your week. (In reality though, most people sleep less than 8 hours per night).
You’re now down to 112 hours.
Say you train 4 hours per week (which is a good amount - lots of people do significantly less), it means there are 108 hours where you’re not training. You’re training for 3.7% of your week. It means there’s 96.3% of your week when you’re NOT actively trying to achieve your fitness goals.
If in that 96.3% of your waking hours you’re overeating, not doing ANY stretching, drinking too much, taking too few steps etc, you’ll be sabotaging your efforts in the gym.
In reality, it’s not too difficult to live in such a way that you’ll help your progress in the gym. The simple things are walk to work/on social engagements - try to hit 10k steps minimum per day. Eat your 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per day. Drink a couple of litres of water daily. Make consciously better food choices - all of these simple behaviours add up.
AdMac Fitness personal training - bridging the gap between motivation and discipline
One of the main reasons people hire the services of a personal trainer is to force accountability on themselves. They’re given a programme, help with how to train, how to eat and how to achieve their fitness goals.
A personal training session is an excellent accountability practice, because it means that even on those days when you don’t feel motivated, you have to turn up anyway because you’ve booked a session. It helps to force discipline on you when you don’t want it.
The good news is in this case, your discipline is the healthy sort! It’ll help you lead a fitter, healthier life in line with your health and fitness goals.
If you want your health and fitness journey to be guided by the best personal training team in East London, get in touch with us at AdMac Fitness. We operate from our private personal training studio in Bow, E3. Contact us on 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!