What ACTUALLY Works When it Comes to Fitness Goals
As a Personal Trainer, Nutrition Specialist, Group Fitness Coach and Exercise Programming Specialist, I hear and see a lot of bad advice when it comes to fitness and nutrition (doesn’t it sometimes seem that EVERYONE is a wellness coach on social media??).
I’m here today to set the record straight with an unfiltered, no-BS explanation of what it takes to ACTUALLY achieve your fitness and health goals - and a few tools and questions to assist you through the journey.
#1 Find a Deeper Why
As humans, we are programmed to seek meaning behind what we do. We crave purpose, fulfilment, and connection.
This goes along with our desire for physical change - in order to stay focused throughout any health journey, you need to know what’s driving this need. This is important so that when the discomfort hits along the way, we can pull from and tune into the deeper purpose.
Ask yourself: WHY is making a change important to you, right now? Are you working to prevent a hereditary risk of heart disease or cancer? Are you setting a positive example for your kids? Are you creating a strong foundation of habits that will allow you to age gracefully and maintain your mobility into your later years? Are you tired of feeling stressed, tired, and sluggish, and ready to re-gain control of your life? Whatever the answer is - write it down, lock it in, and return to it when you need a boost.
#2 Have a Support System
One of the main reasons group and boutique fitness has taken off is because of the relationships we form along the way - the Coaches, staff, and sweat mates who help keep us motivated and accountable. The same goes for having a social support system - if your friends, family members, partner, or roommate are aware of your goals, they might suggest a weekend walk instead of a happy hour, and you might find yourself more inclined to make healthier choices when you’re around them.
Ask yourself: Who is in your wellness support system? Do you have someone you trust who can commit to sweat dates, recipe sharing, or weekend wellness adventures?
#3 Commit to Consistency
This is arguably the most important factor when working towards ANY goal: health, fitness, or other. Without consistency, our bodies have a much harder time adapting or getting into any sort of habit or routine. Making any big health or fitness goals require changes to both eating and exercise habits, and what is going to be the hugest incorporating factor to both: consistency. This is exactly why ‘yo-yo’ approaches aren’t long-term. Because they aren’t consistent and they aren’t sustainable. They are referred to as being a ‘quick fix’ for exactly that reason. And a lot of the time we end up worse off because these approaches also affect our hormones and our metabolism - making it harder and harder to change or improve our health every time.
Ask yourself: What have you tried in the past? What worked? What didn’t? If you quit, why?
#4 Work Towards Building Habits
Living a healthy and active lifestyle isn’t and shouldn’t be a ‘bleep in time.’ It should be an ‘always’ thing. A habit. A routine. Built into our brains the same way brushing our teeth is, or grabbing a coffee before heading out the door in the morning, or having a shower, washing our face, etc. Do we think about these things? No. We just do them. Why? Because they have been programmed into our brains from days and years or repetition. I can guarantee you that people with the best success stories come from those that formed new habits. Those that made healthy living automatic, realistic and sustainable.
Quick tip: schedule the same fitness class every week to create a habit. Trying to break a habit that isn’t serving you? Instead of QUITTING a habit, try to replace the habit! (ie bubbly water with lemon for your after-work wine, and grapes or carrots instead of your evening chips!)
#5 Set Realistic Goals
Over the last few years in the industry, I have noticed an evolution when it comes to goal setting - and this is great! I found there used to be an obsession with not only workout intensity (aka burning as many calories as possible and as many days as possible), and on continuously focusing on our ‘past selves’: (ie ‘at my fittest I was 22 years old and dancing 5 days a week, playing soccer the other 2, and in the gym an additional 3 times per week) What's wrong with this picture? For starters, your 22 year old self didn’t have a job, or kids, or bills to pay, so there was all of this additional time to play sports and be active. Secondly our bodies haven’t reached full development at that age. We continue to grow, change and evolve until age 25. Thirdly… you simply are not your 22 year old self anymore (and thank God for that - with age comes wisdom, amiright?!?)
In more recent years, I’ve found we have all grown and changed as individuals and are able to be a lot more realistic in our approach to health and fitness. We have realised that fitness is more than just our physical being. It’s our sanity, our energy and our happiness. The goals I hear now are now more along the lines of:
I want to be strong
I want to feel powerful
I want to have energy to keep up with my children
I want to gain muscle to support my joints as I age
I want to protect myself against illness and injury
This is not to say you can't have weight loss or aesthetic goals - but they need to be realistic in relation to your current body, your schedule, and your willingness to change.
For example, for a relatively sedentary woman with a body fat percentage of 35% and no underlying health concerns, losing 15 pounds over 8 weeks is likely a manageable and achievable goal with slight shifts to her nutrition and exercise program.
For a woman who is already 20% body fat and active, incremental weight loss will be considerably more challenging, and may require substantial lifestyle changes that frankly may not be worth it. (Remember - drinks with friends and big family dinners fill social and mental health cups!) Need help? Talk to a certified professional about what goals are realistic for you, and what a plan to achieve them looks like!
Which brings me to a VERY exciting announcement! We are putting the finishing touches on our Spring 2022 Wolf Pact Transformation Challenge, which kicks off May 9th! if you’ve never been part of a WPC before, this is our signature 6-week challenge that combines SUSTAINABLE Movement, Nutrition, and Mindset habits with a healthy dose of coaching (both 1:1 and group), community support, and accountability, to create lasting transformation! Doors don’t officially open until next Monday, but click here to join the wait list and you’ll get first access to earlybird pricing and 1:1 goal consultations with ME!
Let’s f*cking do this!
Christina Ollivier
Head of Programming + Coach, CrushCamp
National Academy of Sports Medicine - Certified Personal Trainer (NASM), Precision Nutrition Sport & Exercise Nutrition Specialist (Pn1), CPR Level C & AED, TRX Training