Challenge Yourself!
Creating a challenge in your fitness journey to boost motivation
Whether you are just starting working out or you are well into your fitness journey, there are times when motivation can be a problem. One of the most effective ways to reignite your motivation is to create a challenge for yourself! This could be something like signing up for a race or lifting a specific weight for a certain lift. Other examples include climbing a specific grade at your climbing gym, learning a new calisthenics ability, or riding your bike on a long trip. Think of a challenge you can strive to overcome, and make your goal something that you can be proud of.
Make these goals about personal development and not about competing with others. When you make a goal of running a race, make your challenge about doing the longest distance you’ve ever done or about achieving a personal best on a distance you have, rather than having a goal of winning the race. There are too many variables when competing with others, but with personal development, the only variable is you!
Next, when you are setting your challenge, focus on improving your abilities rather than changing your aesthetics. Improving your physical fitness goes way further towards better health than trying to hit some arbitrary number on the scale.
Once you have set a challenge, think about a realistic timeframe in which you will complete it. Something like running your first 10k after you have had some experience in running might just take three months of training, but if you are learning to do a handstand, it could take over a year. Look around online and see what more experienced people have to say about realistic timeframes for your challenge.
When looking for tutorials or workout plans for your challenge, try to look for quality, in depth guides and don’t base your whole workout plan on one short form video on tik tok. Get your information from a variety of sources including articles, forum posts, books, and in depth youtube videos.
So if you are looking to increase weight in a certain lift, find information about progressive overload. If your goal is to do an endurance race, find 3 to 6 month workout plans for the distance that you want to complete, whether it’s a 5k or an ultramarathon. You can find online resources and help for anything that you want to achieve. So if you are feeling burnt out or having trouble finding the motivation to get started, set yourself a challenge and you’ll be surprised at what you can achieve!