Fitness is a journey — in many ways, it mirrors the ups and downs of life. Success comes to those who simply keep going. There will be days when your feet don’t even touch the ground. You glide powerfully, effortlessly, through your workout — you’re almost tempted to do it again just for fun. Then there are those other days — when your body fights back, resists, and rebels against your efforts. No matter how hard you push, your body just isn’t on board. Possibly, it’s the heat of summer. Maybe it’s the outside stresses of work, family or finances. Maybe you have just completed a rigorous stretch of training for a race, contest or personal goal. You pushed yourself beyond and reached your goal — now without that motivation, you feel lost and uninspired. Even that favourite song that helped you blast through tough workouts has lost its motivational magic. What to do?
First, develop the ability to understand and take inventory of your body’s needs. There may be a good reason your body is acting like a sulky teenager when it’s workout time. Are you getting enough sleep? A solid, peaceful, uninterrupted eight hours? How about fuel? Are you eating enough carbs and healthy fats to provide energy to blast through training sessions? Are you drinking enough water for proper hydration? Getting your daily multivitamins, minerals, etc.? If not, identify and correct it immediately.
Second, see the big picture. There will be highs and lows — your fitness life will ebb and flow. Nobody can train at peak all the time. The goal should be to bend but never break. Enjoy the highs and uphold through the lows, but above all, maintain consistency.
Third, incorporate basic workouts like the Fab Forty. When you are suffering the blahs of training burnout the last thing you need is to force-feed long, elaborate workouts. Your body and mind will welcome the brevity of simple and concise workouts — especially after longer, more complicated sessions.
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