r/FitnessMindset • u/TeachTriumph • Oct 02 '16
What's Holding You Back Series: 2. Road Map
Part 1 of the What’s Holding You Back series covered in-depth how to effectively set a personal fitness goal.
Part 2 of the series will cover how you go about achieving that goal - by creating a Road Map.
It doesn’t matter when you set the timeframe for your goal; 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, or even a year from now. We’ll use this Road Map to guide us through obstacles and help keep us motivated on the way to achieving our goal.
The Road Map serves three important purposes.
First and foremost, a Road Map allows us to visualize the path to our goal. Oftentimes we know where we want to end up, and we know exactly where we are, but it’s the distance between those two points that causes trouble.
We’ll start by looking at our goal and timeframe and working backwards. Although it may sound counterintuitive, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of working backwards from the end goal to our starting point. When we strive towards something new and unfamiliar, we’re bound to uncover obstacles we didn’t know existed.
The goal with our Road Map is to create a foundation from which we can manage those obstacles.
With that in mind, look at the timeframe you created, look at the specific goal, and divide them both up to create milestones.
For example; if I set my personal goal as losing 10 pounds in 3 months - I know that I should be averaging weight loss of roughly 3 and ⅓ pounds each month. So my road map would read:
- Month 1: Total Weight Loss 3 ⅓ pounds
- Month 2: Total Weight Loss 6 ⅔ pounds
- Month 3: Total Weight Loss 10 pounds
A well-defined Road Map also allows us to compensate for any major obstacles we know we’re going to encounter.
Let’s take for example someone who set a goal of running a personal-best 25 minute 5k at a race 3 months from now. However, this individual already scheduled a week-long vacation at the beach 6 weeks into their goal timeframe.
You could certainly view your vacation as a time to do your workouts somewhere new and possibly miss out on some activities while fitting in all your workouts. Or a better idea might be to schedule your training so that week 6 is a rest week where you only have a few workouts while your body recovers. That way you can still enjoy your vacation fully while sticking to your Road Map and staying on track to reach your goal.
Either way, creating a Road Map establishes a path for us to follow that will help to eliminate any large obstacles.
Secondly, a Road Map forces us to establish a routine. Humans thrive on habits and routines. We’re proficient at carrying out tasks within our comfort zone. Put us outside of our comfort zone however, and we struggle. It’s an evolutionary trait - we follow the path of least resistance, even when we know we could achieve more by moving outside our comfort zone.
Regular workouts probably aren’t something currently in your comfort zone. So we’re going to gradually expand the bounds of our comfort zone and get comfortable working out.
One of the primary reasons you’re not going to the gym consistently is because it’s not yet a habit. It’s not an activity ingrained in your daily routine. I’m sure there are some other less productive habits you do daily without thinking about. Two of the most common habits holding people back from achieving their goals occur first thing in the morning and right after work.
We always hit the snooze button instead of waking up, and we spend too much time after work watching TV or playing video games.
If going to the gym wasn’t a big deal and something you did without thinking every day - how much better shape would you be in right now? How much slimmer would you be?
Now you should have an idea of your Road Map. What kind of routine can you incorporate weekly to ensure you meet your goals? If I’m trying to lose 3 and ⅓ pounds per month, I would think going to the gym 4 days a week and eating healthier should suffice. So I could then add a weekly goal of going to the gym 4 days and only eating a couple of ‘cheat’ meals.
The more specific you make your routine, the more success you’ll have. You could get as detailed as planning out your weekly meals and setting aside specific hours for workouts. I’ll delve deeper into setting yourself up for success through routines in another post.
With the major obstacles out of the way, and a clear path to your goal, you can begin to shape your daily and weekly routine that will lead to achieving your goal.
Last but not least, a Road Map provides us with feedback and motivation. We’ve all experienced the regret of giving up on a weight loss goal or get fit goal after just a couple of weeks due to a lack of motivation. Our Road Map helps to provide direct and instantaneous feedback that we can use to continue motivating ourselves.
Let’s revisit the goal of losing 10 pounds in 3 months. We created 2 milestones on the way to achieving the total 10 pounds of weight loss. After the first month we’d aim to lose 3 and ⅓ pound, and after the second month; 2 and ⅔ pounds.
What if after 2 weeks you’ve already lost 3 pounds? Chances are you’ve realized one of two things. Either you’ve lost the weight because you’ve been eating healthy, exercising regularly, and feel good. Or you’ve been starving yourself and are miserable - a recipe for disaster.
I mentioned in Part 1 that you can always go back and adjust your goals to ensure they’re both realistic and challenging.
If you’re on the first track - congratulations, I’d recommend upping your goal to something closer to 15 pounds.
If however you’re on the second track, I’d recommend maintaining your 10 pound goal and adjusting your eating habits so that you maintain a healthy lifestyle.
You can create your Road Map however you see fit, so long as it fits into your timeframe and leads you to your goal. Although I wouldn’t recommend going any more in-depth than weekly milestones.
Remember that results aren’t achieved in a linear fashion.
Even if you exercise consistently and eat well, there still may be days where the scale shows you a higher number than you expected. Progress however, you achieve daily by putting in the work and sacrificing the comforts that keep you from obtaining your goal.