Stuck

As we go along in our fitness journeys, we will have times when it seems like our progress has stalled completely.  We work and work and nothing changes.  We can get stuck for lots of reasons.  Here are a couple of things to think about to get unstuck.

It’s possible that we’re not doing as much as we think we are.  Sometimes our attention lags and we are just going through the motions of our workouts rather than digging in.  We might be lifting weights, but we’re actually thinking about the errands we have to do on the way home and what’s for dinner and what those people at work were talking about in the break room.  Tuning in to what we’re actually doing can clue us in.

 

Another way to check what we’re doing is to look at our records, if we’re people who keep them.  A glance at the food log might reveal that we’ve let our calories creep up or that we’ve been visiting the ice cream shop too often.  We might notice that what we’ve been doing for cardio has been exactly the same for the last five months and we might do well to pick up the pace or the difficulty or both.

 

Taking a look at things like our stress levels and our sleep also can indicate where the issue is.  Overstressing and undersleeping do not help us get fit.  (It might not be possible to change those things right now.  That’s all right.  Recognizing that they’re an issue is a really good start and can help us keep from putting more pressure on ourselves.)

 

Maybe we just need to be patient.  Sometimes reaching the next level is about failing over and over again until suddenly we don’t.

 

Finally, sometimes we just need a change.  Maybe we’ve been focusing on strength training and we’d do well to step up our cardio for a few weeks.  Maybe we’re in a yoga rut and need to pump iron.  Maybe we just need to take the workout outside for a while.

 

The one thing we don’t want to do is give up.  We can do this.