With that said, here are 5 fitness mistakes that may be holding you back and stopping you from getting the results you want.
1: Spending Too Much Money
Loading up on all the latest gadgets, equipment, and workout apparel you can find won’t help you lose weight or get fit any more quickly. In fact, the only thing that will be getting lighter is you wallet. A few late night infomercials and that new Ab Blaster 3000 starts to look like the solution to all your fitness problems. Seeing ripped fitness models using that great new equipment might give you some temporary motivation but after you’ve bought the Iron Gym, Perfect Pushup, and whatever else is the newest craze, and you haven’t actually used any of it, you’ll start to realize it was just a waste. Instead of buying more and more equipment, focus on just using whatever resources you already have available. All you have to do is start putting in the work and the results will come.
2: Over-Planning
Planning ahead and scheduling is great, but when something throws your schedule off it can ruin your entire journey. Don’t stress over being exact and getting everything down to the tee so much. I think having a schedule as far as what areas you want to focus on is great, but breaking it down to the exact exercise you want to do and limiting yourself to just those is over-planning. Get a general idea going and then go with what feels natural. Let’s say you have a schedule of going to the gym Monday-Friday. You create the schedule down to the hour of when you’re going to go, but something comes up on Monday and you have to go a little later than you planned. So you miss that day and say you’ll just go Tuesday morning. But then you don’t wake up on time and end up missing that workout. Before you know it, it’s Friday and you haven’t been to the gym once. This is the damage that over-planning can do and why you should try to avoid it.
3: Socializing Too Much At the Gym
The gym is not a nightclub or a hang-out spot. You should be going to the gym with one thing on your mind, so give it all you have. Standing around socializing will severely hold you back in your fitness journey. Going to the gym with a friend is a great way to keep you motivated and get you through the workout, but you shouldn’t be spending more time talking than working. If you leave the gym without a drop of sweat on you but you somehow managed to plan out your entire weekend while you were there, you’re socializing way too much. A great tip to avoid this is to wear headphones while you’re there to keep your mind on your workout and block out everything else.
4: Being Inconsistent
Consistency is key when you’re trying to get fit, and working out one week but going M.I.A the next is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. You have to get some sort of consistency going in order to make sure you get great results and don’t end up giving up. The longer you go without working out, the less likely you will be to return. This is probably one of the reasons I like the idea of paying for a gym membership so much—you’re much more motivated to consistently go to the gym if you’re paying for it. Otherwise it’s like you’re throwing money away each month. Once you start going regularly, you’ll start to feel weird when you miss a day. That’s because you’ve made the gym a part of your regular routine and you almost need to go in order to function properly.
5: Being Too Scared
Fear is probably one of the biggest things holding you back. You might be scared of:
Being judged Giving up Failing Not getting the results you want quick enough
You have to overcome these fears if you ever want to reach your full fitness potential. You have to keep your eyes on the prize and just keep working. Fear not only stops you from going to the gym, but it can also prevent you from giving it your all while you’re there. What’s stopping you from getting the body you want?
