Are you fighting yourself?

Losing weight or increasing your fitness is tough.

It won't always be easy, you'll have setbacks - bad nutrition days, injuries, muscle soreness, time and life pressure, just to name a few.

A useful question to ask before you start a program is: are you making it harder for yourself than you need to?  In other words, are you fighting yourself?

Everyone has individual preferences when it comes to both nutrition and training.  For example, I can't really stand running long distances.  My knees hurt from years of abuse on the football field, but to be honest even when I was younger I wasn't too keen - I'll run after a football all day long, just don't ask me to run around a field for an hour and expect me to smile about the thought.

But get me into a gym and I love it.  I love the challenge of lifting heavy things, the focus it demands, and the visible progress in terms of the weights going up week by week.  

So why would I start a program which sees me running long distances multiple times a week?

It's important before you start a program to see whether there are any of these types of factors that will trip you up along the way.  

Is the program you've been written by a trainer going to work for you?  Ar there exercises in it that you can't stand?  Are there exercises in it that cause you pain?  If so then you need to speak up and ask them to be changed.  Otherwise it is one more thing that could derail you.

There are very few exercises that can't be changed out with something else, and if your trainer says you have to do an exercise, don't be afraid to ask why it can't be substituted with something else - they should have a reason for including it, which may make sense, but you shouldn't be afraid to ask.

The same goes for your nutrition.  Often people start a diet after seeing something on a website or a news article that makes it look like a great plan that gets good results.  But again, you need to ask will it work for me?

For me I like intermittent fasting, but that won't work for everyone.  For me, it removes all choices from the equation - I know that for the next x amount of hours I am not eating so it doesn't matter if there's only a donut or a healthy omelette on offer - I am not eating so I don't have to choose between the two options.  

Let's be honest - most of us would grab the donut!  But for you this might be the worst approach possible for your personality and health situation.

So before you begin your training or nutrition program, give yourself time to think about the program, your personality, and your preferences.  Will this work for you? Why? Why not?

Don't fight yourself, give yourself the best shot at achieving your goal!

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Let me know what your preferences are.  What works best for you in terms of a training program or nutrition plan.  I'd love to hear from you so let me know through my website.