Majority of the people focus on external mechanics of health and fitness in terms of proper training, nutrition and supplementation. However, our ability to actually execute those things on a consistent basis is highly dependent on having the right mindset to begin with. Here are some tips to adopt that will increase your chances for having a healthy lifestyle over the long term.
Personally I would consider development of “Right Mindset” before Exercise, Nutrition and Sleep to have a fit and healthy life.
#1
Every strong and fit person was once a beginner too. It’s a normal tendency to look up to an experienced lifter who has already spent years gaining strength, following a strict diet, having a disciplined lifestyle and to then think their results are out of reach for you. In reality, everyone started out at square one at one time and even they would have had these kind of thoughts. Remember that if someone did it, we can do it too. There’s nothing stopping us from achieving the same results or even better results as long as we are willing to go down the path of hard work and perspiration with unwavering discipline. Only thing that could stop us is our limiting beliefs and negative self talk.
#2
We need to start with a reason and purpose behind our fitness journey. Start with ‘WHY’. We need to have a long term vision and value the return of investment that our overall fitness can provide in later stages of life. Being strong and fit is not something we need to just be doing for the next few months or few years. This is a lifelong journey that will pay dividends for literally the rest of your life. Remembering the long term returns like being independent in old age, being a role model to our kids and pillar of strength to our family, doing the things that many others may not be able to do and having the joys that others may not have – would give us that initial motivation to grind through initial stages. We need to be our own cheerleader during the initial stages and keep doing things that are hard and difficult. Once we gain momentum to keep up these good habits, they become our daily rituals after which we do not need extra motivation.
#3
Develop patience and do not rush through the process. We can build a strong building only with a solid foundation. Natural bodybuilding and muscle growth takes time. The more we hurry through the steps, the slower we reap the benefits. Why? Because muscles become stronger and bigger only when we strain them and put resistance on them through lifting or training. Next with proper nutrition and rest, those damaged muscles cells will be repaired to adapt to the resistance we applied, hence muscles grow and become stronger as we progressively overload. If we try to accelerate this process by over training or eating a lot of food, we either would get injured, burn out or gain unwanted weight. Becoming fit, strong and healthy is a gradual process and we need to adjust our mindset to think of bigger picture rather than in terms of instant gratification. It’ll probably take around 1 year to gain 50% of our total genetic muscle building potential, and it would then slow down by about half for every year after that.
#4
Consistency is the key. It is the process we adhere to and what we become during the journey that is important. Focus on consistency and progress rather than perfection. There would be minor bumps in the road, and we are not going sail through smoothly in our journey. Our life is not just our passion and goals. It also is attached to a lot of other things and challenges will inevitably pop up here and there, and this is just a normal part of everyone’s life. We need to accept this at the beginning your fitness journey, and that way we would be much less fazed when those obstacles do show up. Take a brief pause if needed or do the best you could do in that situation and start over. We must not think that a small break is end of it all and lose the momentum. Just look at the days, months, years we have ahead. The amount of time we lost due to a break is meagre compared to the copious life ahead. We can do a lot more than what we think we can do in our lifetime.
#5
- We need to be inspired from within, instead of relying on external motivation. Motivation may not last for long if we are not inspired from within – to do something by attaching a real meaning to it.
- If we have a strong purpose behind why we are in this journey, that becomes the pivot to pull us through hard circumstances. We need to love what we do or else there are many distractions in this world that could deviate us from our goal.
- We might feel motivated by listening to an inspirational speech given by someone, but it may not last for long unless we believe in it, believe in ourselves and take immediate action.
- We won’t always feel like going to the gym or sticking to our proper eating habits. It is hard to wake up early to put ourselves through rigors in gym, it is hard to eat healthy and stick to a diet resisting our temptations , it is hard to go to bed on time by switching off our mobile or TV. Here, it is our discipline and respect towards our ambition that keeps us going and not the external motivation.
- When motivation fails us- discipline saves us. Discipline is simply doing the things that are right and that are in our best interests in spite of how we feel. Discipline is not falling for instant gratifications but doing stuff (sometimes boring and mundane) that results in long lasting happiness and long term wellbeing.
- It is all a matter of time and consistent efforts we put in, to get that momentum. Consistency is the key.
- It is those small insignificant actions and activities that we do daily, are the ones which would convert into major success some day. Once we gain momentum and when we start seeing fruits of our labor, we get into groove and there is no stopping.
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