Have you ever wondered why you could never maintain your fitness lifestyle or what may be affecting you to not work out even though you know it’s important? Read more to find out!

1. The “Pre-Contemplation” Stage

All of us will come across this stage in life at least once where no matter when it comes to fitness or otherwise, we feel that something is not important AT ALL, even though everyone around us suggests that we should do something about it.

For example, a friend of mine who has been leading a sedentary lifestyle for almost a decade eats whatever he feels like everyday and do not exercise at all, I worry for him. However, no matter how much you try to advise people in this pre-contemplation stage about the importance of exercise and improving their eating habits, they are not even thinking about or seeing a point in making a change. More often than not, they may just say, “Life is short, enjoy while you can.”

To this group of people, why not ask yourselves again? Don’t you want to have a longer life to spend quality time with your loved ones? To be able to support them financially? Or are you only waiting for something bad to happen first and then do something about it?

2. Tried To “Workout” But Did Not Last

What most of us do when we want to “kick start” a healthier lifestyle:
a. Sign up for a gym membership
b. Watch fitness videos
c. Start going for runs
and so on…

What actually happens/may happen:
a. You have absolutely NO IDEA what to do in the gym other than using the treadmill or doing a few bicep curls (Really? Why would you pay a large sum of money just to run on a treadmill when you can run outdoors FOC).

b. Do you know which muscles are you supposed to activate or “feel” when working out whether training in the gym, during exercise classes or from watching fitness videos? No? Then say hello to pains/injuries in your lower back, knees or neck three months down the road, and would consequently have to spend money seeing a physiotherapist to fix it. This could have been avoided if you had used just a portion of that money to learn the proper techniques from a qualified personal trainer within a few sessions, which will bring you a long way to a pain-free lifestyle.

c. Ask yourself again, are you running with proper form and technique? Do you have a good training program to follow? Do you have the right running shoes? Are you putting more weight on your dominant leg when running? Are you slamming your feet? The list goes on and on… (Read: Run Injury-Free)

All that I’ve mentioned above would discourage and ultimately lead you to end up in the same place; you will stop exercising and lose motivation because either you are unable to see any results and have no idea why, or you are suffering from some injuries from your new lifestyle change which eventually brings you back to square one again.

Researching and investing in learning proper techniques, in addition to having a proper training program to achieve your goal is critical to kick start your journey and make it last!

3. Negative Environment & Social Support

If the people around you (e.g. colleagues or family members) do not work out or take care of their health, smokes and drinks regularly, and you are exposed to such a negative environment daily, will you be affected/influenced?

To a certain extent, definitely.

One of my clients who approached me and wanted to lose weight had started making a positive change in her eating habits by ordering meal prep services delivered to her office every day. It really saddened me when I heard that she was ridiculed by her colleagues:

“You won’t last long one, very fast sure give up liao!”

“Your meal prep also can get from mixed vegetable rice stall what.”

This made me so angry and upset for my client. Won’t you feel demoralized when people judge you for trying to lead a healthier lifestyle? Remember that these people are trying to pull you down because they see you putting in the effort to make a change and they are not doing anything positive for themselves. So just sweep it off, keep going, and see who gets the last laugh, muhaha.

The things that you do, you do it for yourself. As time goes by, you might actually influence and make a difference in others when they see your results.

4. NO TIME

Oh my god, I don’t know how many trillion times I hear this throughout my career as a fitness professional. If people you know say this and are not even thinking about making a change (they are in the pre-contemplation stage as mentioned in point number 1), save your saliva and let them be. On the other hand, if they are in the contemplation stage where they already recognize that leading a healthier lifestyle is important but they just have not started doing anything about it or only doing it once in a blue moon, this one got hope, can help. If you do not place your own body and health as your priority, then what is? Which leads me to my favorite quote:

5. “Later I Get Bulky”

This point is specially targeted to all my sisters out there, bulking up is not as easy as you think. You ain’t getting bulky even if you beg me to unless you have reached the super saiyan mode of lifting 100kg or more, and maybe add that extra steroids into your body then you come back and tell me, “See, I told you I will get bulky”.

Ladies, resistance training (lifting weights) is very important for us because it reduces the risk of getting osteoporosis (weak bones) when we get older. And of course not to mention that it improves our posture and makes us feel and look younger. Now who doesn’t want that? Besides, you can get many other benefits such as achieving toned arms, bellies and many more. But at the end of the day, if you are talking about looking “slimmer” or basically smaller in size, you should also keep in mind your daily food intake and cardio workouts because only lifting weights alone may not be enough. However just from doing resistance training alone, you have already taken that one extra step to increase your metabolic rate (more calories burnt during rest), so you can achieve your slimmer body faster!

Are you all pumped up and ready to do something about your health? Remember to do your homework first and plan for the long term!

Credits to: https://www.sgfitfam.com