How To Prepare Mentally For Fitness Success

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Working out can be a tall order these days, with distraction after distraction poised to knock your fitness plan off course! From job related time constraints to family obligations, the list of fitness-destroying ammunition continues to grow with each tick of the clock.

It happens to all of us, from the fitness professionals to the casual gym rats. Inevitably, as the outside pressures of everyday life begin to mount, the workouts become less and less frequent until, if your not careful, they completely stop!

As this happens, it becomes more and more important to optimize your fitness plan for maximum efficiency. In effect, to learn how to exercise less and achieve better results than you are now.

Is this even possible? You may be wondering aloud.

Well……..Yes, it is possible!

Luckily for you, advances in exercise science over the past few years have given us virtually untapped and unlimited insights into the science and art of exercise programming, performance nutrition, fitness motivation, program adherence and more areas of interest to the fitness enthusiast.

In my opinion, the most exciting and promising advances, by a long shot, have been made in the previously neglected area's of fitness motivation and program adherence.

Until till now, most of the focus has centered around the physiological aspects of fitness training, like how many calories you need to burn to lose 5 lbs, how many reps to perform for muscle mass gain, how to eat for fat loss…etc. But very little emphasis has been placed on fitness motivation and exercise adherence.

I don't can who you are, how devoted you are, how inspired you are, or how experienced you are, if you are not prepared mentally for the challenges that you will face in your fitness life, or life outside the gym for that matter, there will come a time when your fitness program suffers.

• Maybe you're not having fun anymore.
• Perhaps you body is tired and achy.

Inevitably, you will face some sort of illness or injury, be it for one day or many weeks. Have you thought about how you're going to deal with this fitness down-time?

What will you do when you simply can't find the time to squeeze in a full workout? Try to go for it anyway and reorganize your entire life?

I hope not.

Or maybe you'll quickly run through an abbreviated version of your program.

better than nothing but still relatively ineffective.

Perhaps you'll rethink your goals and restructure your fitness plan to fit the needs of your life's current situation?

Chances are, your fitness success will be determined in a large part by how you answered the questions above. None of the answers are completely right or wrong, but each choice will lead to a much different result!

How To Prepare Mentally For Fitness Success

Mental preparation will make or break your fitness success! Yes, it is possible for some people to get lucky and find fitness success without working on mental preparation….for awhile! But most of these ill prepared people will eventually face challenges that will destroy any level of fitness success that they have achieved.

Naturally, increasing the results that you are seeing from your fitness plan should be at the top of your list as far as goals go.

When it comes to mental preparation, there are a few rules of thumb to keep in mind. Keeping these rules in mind when beginning a fitness program will help you achieve astonishing success!

Rule #1 - Nothing is more important than raw desire.

You can analyze and account for almost everything, but desire is not one of them. In order to succeed, your desire for success must be greater than any discomfort that you may potentially feel during your fitness program.

Take a look at what you want to accomplish, then think about why you want to accomplish these goals. What you find hiding behind the goal, is often times the actual seed of desire. Learn to think through your goals to uncover the seeds of desire.

Rule #2 - Desire must be nurtured to grow.

Take the initial seeds of desire that you have uncovered and incorporate these seeds into your fitness goals. Instead of writing a goal to lose 20 lbs by next month, write the goal using the seeds as if it were already happening.

I have high self esteem and confidence in the way that I look and feel, because I have lost 20 lbs during the past month. High self esteem and confidence are the seeds of desire hiding behind the original goal. In essence, they are what you will actually get in return for achieving your goal.

If nurtured properly, the seeds will grow into passionate thoughts and feeling that will drive you into action.

Rule #3 - Once you have uncovered what it is that you truly desire, write it down on paper!

I know that this step seems obvious, but you would be surprised how many people never write down their goals.

Rule #4 - Make a commitment to review and read your goals aloud 2 times per day.

Once in the morning upon waking, and again in the evening before going to bed. This simple process begins to activate your mind into accepting what you desire.

Every day, you will gain more and more confidence in your ability to achieve your goals, until you actually begin to believe that your goals are indeed possible for you. This is a very powerful exercise!

Once your mind has been programmed to believe that you will accomplish your goals, you actions will begin to take a new shape. Your body will begin to act in ways that support your mind. And your mind will begin to act in ways that support your body! This synergistic relationship will continue until your desires have been realized.

Rule #5 - After you achieve your initial goals and satisfy your desires, make a commitment to reevaluate your goals and desires.

Realize that your body is a living organism that does not stand still, it is constantly in a state of flux either moving closer to or further from your true desires. By committing to reevaluating your goals on a consistent basis, you are making a decision to constantly move towards your desires.

As you can see, mental preparation is an extremely important part of achieving fitness success. While well intentioned, most people do not possess the knowledge or self discipline to achieve fitness success on their own.

"If you're ready to get into amazing shape, but not sure where to begin check out the affordable online personal training packages that I offer. For a fraction of the cost of an "offline" personal trainer, you can have access to your very own certified personal trainer (me!) to help you stay safe, committed and focused on your fitness goals!"