The Key to fitness is "Directionality"

It can be overwhelming to think about the prospects of getting in shape if it’s been a while since you’ve exercised. It can seem unreachable when your trainer, coach, or the individual in the YouTube workout videos are all in phenomenal shape.

How will you measure up to these impossible standards?

Instead of thinking about the entire journey to becoming your fittest self, it helps to think about fitness in terms of directionality. Basically, what direction are you pointing?

Rather than asking yourself “am I where I want to be?“ Ask questions more like “am I going in the right direction?“ Ask questions about directionality. 

The main reason for this is obvious, that it takes pressure off of your shoulders and you don’t have to worry so much about accomplishment, Rather, you just focus on taking the next right step.

I often say that fitness is just a two-step process: figure out where you are, and then take one next step.

In addition to easing the psychological tension, Approaching fitness in this way also does two other things.

First, it greatly minimizes the chance of injury. If you are more focused on where you are and mastering that, you’re much less likely to get injured than if you are always trying to do professional athlete workouts. If you are not ready, you are not ready.

And another thing that thinking in terms of directionality does is it keeps it fun. It’s been shown that people who enjoy their fitness programs have so much more fun than people who find it drudgery. Keeping that enjoyment alive depends on rewarding yourself for going in the right direction, even when you have not reached the final goal yet. By the way, there really is no final goal, we are always progressing.

So, my call to action for you today is for you to begin letting yourself off the hook. Don’t let yourself off the hook in terms of showing up for the workouts, but let yourself off the hook in that you don’t have to achieve a certain external benchmark that was arbitrarily created by somebody else (like “OK guys, today were going to do 25,000 Burpee‘s“). 

Keep it simple. Just do a little bit more than you did last time. And know that sometimes you won’t even be able to do a little bit more than last time. There are going to be some days where progress seems to stall out. That’s OK. See the big picture, and take it one step at a time.

Need additional help? I am here for you! Let me know how I can help you achieve your fitness goals safely and sanely, without injury. Email me at chris@mycorebalance.com or feel free to text me or call me at 408–883–4442.

Let’s be fit let’s be healthy let’s be happy. If feels good to move. So keep moving.