If you are the type of person who is looking to be Healthier, Fitter or Improve your Physique (the fact that you are on this site means I would hope that you are) then you are likely either working towards it through training – in the gym, at home or outside – or you are, at the very least, watching what you eat and trying to be a little more active. Even if you haven’t started yet, you are likely planning to make some kind of commitment to change.

If you are looking to make a difference, there was likely something that sparked that desire to change.

Change is not something that comes naturally to any of us and any forced change is usually resisted by your internal psyche, which is where the excuses are generated from that give most people licence to fail.

Your body is comfortable as it is. It likes the known, the familiar. Change is considered dangerous and is to be avoided at all costs (regardless of whether it is good for you or not). Willpower alone will never overcome this long term. You can’t just push through indefinitely. Hence why so many people join gyms with great intentions and after 3 or 4 weeks suddenly have something more important to do.

So if you have made the decision to make a change, tone up, get rid of the beer belly, build a huge chest, improve your speed or lung capacity or get a phenomenal six pack, there was likely some kind of emotional reaction that sparked that desire for change. Maybe you just saw yourself in the mirror one morning and the visual made you feel sick and the determination suddenly hit you. Perhaps you had a few people comment on the size of your gut, or some of your clothes no longer fitted. Maybe it was something more severe like a heart attack, either your own or someone close to you, which brought home how important your health actually is.

Whatever the reason – that emotional response is key to your attaining your goal.

If you are a subscriber to my newsletter you will have received 3 articles not available on this blog. One of them goes into this issue of goal setting in great detail, so I’d suggest giving it another read through. And if you haven’t signed up to the newsletter already, it would be worth your while doing so.

Keeping that motivation fresh is critical.

There is a reason why gyms are full of people who train consistently yet look no different week after week. There is also a reason why one of the most common things you’ll hear in the changing rooms of any gym is “I’ve not been in for a few weeks (or months)…” and it is a phrase that you will doubtless hear from those same people several times throughout the year.

Either something else becomes a priority, their training intensity isn’t high enough or their focus is not where it should be.

Over the next few articles I’m going to have a look at some of the most common problems, to make you both aware that they are happening as well as to suggest solutions that will hopefully help you dismiss your tired old excuses and start making some real progress.

And so you don’t reel out the excuse of not having time to read them, I’m going to divide them up into bite sized chunks and post them over the next few weeks rather than all at once. So again, if you are not signed up to my newsletter, do so now to keep informed as to their arrival dates and give yourself 10mins to have a read through.

Regardless of what you have on, if you really want to make progress, you simply don’t have the time not to read them.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this.

Have a think about what you actually want to achieve. What do you want to change about yourself and more importantly, why?

You may think you have already thought about this, but if it has been a while, take the time to review. Are your goals still the same? Is the motivation that got you started just as strong? Are there any new motivational factors you can grab on to?

Really think about this. Get right to the heart of it. Then keep a hold of that thought.

And for now, just look to keep the excuses to a minimum. Stay focused, make the most of your training time and of the nutritional input you do give yourself.

Remember, it’s OK to be yourself, just be your BEST self.

Part 2…  The Too Much Work Excuse
Part 3…  The I don’t Like It Excuse
Part 4…  The Too Tired Excuse
Part 5…  The Injury Excuse
Part 6…  Are You Giving Your All?

Tags: attaining your goal, don't have time, excuses, giving your all, Improve your Physique, injuries, motivation, Physique Changes, too much work, too tired, training

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011 at 8:50 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.