How To Overcome Them When Trying To Get Into The Best Shape Of Your Life

When making a goal or setting “New Year’s Resolutions” to lose weight or get in shape, it’s common for people to lose steam after a month or two.

Many of these people probably set outlandish goals or had a setback that they thought they simply could not overcome. Consistency is the name of the game when it comes to fitness so it’s important to understand that inconsistent effort will yield little to no results.

There are setbacks that are all too common when it comes to getting into shape, life happens and we can’t always control it! Fortunately, setbacks by no means make getting into shape impossible – they may just lengthen the process or require an alternate strategy.

Below are setbacks that we commonly endure and some tips on how to adapt and overcome them.

Hit A Plateau

Hitting a plateau happens to everyone whether it is a person trying to get into shape or a professional athlete trying to increase their PR on squats or bench press.

The good thing about a plateau is that it shows you that you have gotten everything you can out of a specific workout routine that you have been doing consistently.

When you hit a plateau in your body weight or muscle tone it is often a sign that you need to vary up your workout with new exercises or start focusing more on letting your muscles recover after exercise.

When you don’t let your muscles recover properly before lifting weights or doing squats again, it could be that you are hitting your routine too many times during the week or your post workout diet needs to be improved.

For this reason trying a few 30 or 90 day challenges over the course of the year can allow you vary workouts as well as diet. The last thing you want to do is get discouraged about not being able to lift as much or run as far as you thought you could at a certain point.

Goals are set and can be reset if you feel you have been working hard and don’t see improvements as you were before. Keep in mind, everyone’s body, endurance, muscle growth, etc, are different – so what works for your best pal may not work for you! Trial and error is a beautiful thing.

Injury (By No Fault Of Your Own)

Being injured in a car accident or by the negligence of someone else is far more frustrating than you injuring yourself. Not only can this impact you physically but it can also do a number on your financial health.

Hiring a personal injury attorney might be your only avenue to protect yourself financially as medical bills tend to add up quickly.

According to the Barnes Law firm, a car accident injury lawyer in San Diego, state personal injury law is very specific and can differ from by state due to varying car accident laws, insurance laws, etc., so it’s important to make sure to hire a law firm with case results to prove their legal expertise.

Injury (Your Fault)

Injuries happen if you push yourself too hard or sacrifice technique to lift more weight. Injuries can also happen from overuse so doing preventative exercises are important as well. For example, a pitcher would want to do injury prevention exercises for their rotator cuff as this is strained immensely when throwing.

Take your time getting back into the swing of things and start out slow as to not re-injure yourself. If you have hurt a calf or quad try to do sitting exercises for your upper body and vice versa. It is wise to use machine rather than free weights during this injury time as it reduces the chance of further injury due to control motions while lifting.

Breaking Your Dietary Plan

Holiday season, birthday celebrations, or simply having family come into town can throw off a dietary plan immensely if you are not careful. A few extra glasses of wine with your sibling might not seem like a lot but this can end up being thousands of calories over the course of the week.

The positive aspect to this is that more and more restaurants are beginning to serve healthy options on at least one section of the menu. If family is just coming in for the weekend using one of your cheat days can be wise.

The one thing that conflicts with a diet is the lack of desire to cook after a long day at work. Most options for delivery are not as healthy as a home cooked meal so meal prepping can help solve this.

The ability to throw something in the microwave or oven instead of prepping an entire meal can be relaxing rather than stressful. Take the time to put yourself on a structured meal plan and research the plan to make sure it aligns with your goals.

Gym Is Closed For Holidays/Remodeling

The holiday season or vacation can be a nightmare in terms of someone’s fitness levels. The gym being closed and only open during strange hours might not fit into your workout schedule.

If this cannot be modified, you can do body weight exercises or high intensity interval training (HIIT) by doing hill sprints at a park. This can actually allow other parts of your body that you use while lifting weights to rest as at time a week of rest for certain exercise/muscles is imperative.

Overcome any obstacles that you encounter in your journey to get into the best shape of your life. Hard, smart, and consistent work will make all of the difference!