Are You Ready?

Are you ready to reach your fitness goals? You may have signed up to a gym membership or bought the finest training equipment but that doesn’t necessarily prepare you for a fitness journey. It’s the reason so much money has been wasted on unused gym. It is estimated that over £500 million is wasted on unused gym memberships in the UK each year.

There’s a saying ‘fit body, fit mind’ but I believe it’s the other way around. You see, to gain a fit body you have to first be mentally prepared. Getting fit is a lengthy process. It takes patience, a strong work ethic, and mental fortitude and you won’t find that by buying the latest Nikes.

“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” (Muhammad Ali).

I remember when I was preparing for exams in high school, my English teacher would actually encourage us not to study if we were procrastinating. The reason for that was we were just wasting our time then feeling guilty about it later. Instead, she thought it was better for us to take the day off and try again the next day.

That generally happens with exercising; however, we don’t try again the next day! The difference is that we have a set date for the exam and we have the support (or pressure) from family, friends, and education institutions to succeed. Therefore, that motivates us to do it – whether we want to or not. On the other hand, with fitness, there is no external pressure. No one really cares if we work out or not. It’s solely down to ourselves.

A workout program or a personal trainer are great ways to help you on your journey. But they can only do so much. There will be times when you feel like giving up because of tiredness or you’re not seeing results. A trainer will encourage you to keep going but at the end of the day the choice is with yourself. And if you don’t want to reach your goals bad enough well, you probably won’t reach them.

So how do you mentally prepare? Well first you can set a goal. That includes a target (e.g. dress size) and a time frame (an upcoming event such as a wedding).

You then need belief:

“If you can believe it, you can achieve it.” (Your parents probably).

To believe you can reach your fitness goal, whatever it is, start filling your mind with success stories. There are thousands of amazing fitness transformations online. That means if they can do it, then you can do it too!

The final factor is desire:

“We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day.” (Richard G Scott). 

Desire can override anything in your way such as doubts or temptations to procrastinate. But you can’t buy desire or find it on the internet. It comes from within yourself. And that is the most intriguing aspect of fitness; it is totally objective in that you get out what you put in.

Another thing my English teacher taught me was that: “All things are ready if the mind be so” (William Shakespeare).

 

So… are you ready?