Avoid the ‘February Fallout’

So, January looked fantastic for you and your goals! You were in the gym at least three days a week, you were paying closer attention to what your nutritional habits looked like, self-discipline was in check, maybe even getting a little more rest at night. However, once January passed and the full force of February kicked in, you got lost in work or school work, social events, what have you; and your workout routine began to get marginalized more and more. If this has ever happened to you or you are currently experience ‘February Fallout,’ here are some helpful tips to keep going:

1)  Fill out a schedule: Come to the gym knowing exactly what you’re going to do whether it’s a class or its your own workout. Create a physical calendar (like old school paper and pencil) and hang it up somewhere in your place that you will see it every day just to remind you, “Hey! You have BodyPump today at 7pm!”

2)  Bring a Friend: I’m talking about a friend that you haven’t normally gone to the gym with before. Chances are, they probably have some new moves you have not tried before or they will make you try a class you never thought you would ever see yourself doing before and you absolutely love it!

3)  Stay off of Instagram: This is the strangest, but biggest thing happening right now. So many people are flooding their Instragram’s with “Fitness Models,” for ‘motivation’ and it’s actually doing more harm than it is good. You don’t want to spend your days working really hard so you can look like one of the accounts you follow, yet come up short every week and then give up. Workout for yourself, not to compete with what you see on social media. We all have different body type and what works for some fitness models, may not work for you.

4)  Join a Group: More of social animal, yet don’t want to get lost in a huge crowd? Ask around about what your gym is offering for Group Training. One personal trainer, four to five other group members all working toward the same goal. The workouts are always fun yet challenging and your coach makes sure that each week you are making progress. Even if you all start out as total strangers, you may have some pretty close friends’/workout buds by the end of it… give it the ole’ college try!

5)  Consider hiring a Fitness Coach: Not only does your fitness coach design workouts based on your own goals, track your progress, and makes sure that you aren’t going to injure yourself in the process, but they also help with accountability. You make weekly appointments with them and they expect you to be there. So if you know that you do better if you have a set schedule, this may be your best option.

Lastly, keep moving forward. When you feel like giving up, look back to when you started and remind yourself how far you’ve come.

Michaela Youngberg
CSC Personal Trainer
Read my bio here