Are your fitness goals kind and realistic?

I have this conversation with people I train, and with myself, all the time. What would it take to achieve the level of fitness we desire, and what would that require from us in terms of freeing up the time and energy?

If you’re not a professional athlete, chances are you have a job, maybe you have a family, you probably have social connections that need time and care, and hobbies and then all the normal life admin stuff like dentist visits and mechanics, and going to the bank and checking in on your parents etc. Oh and you need adequate sleep, time to prepare and eat meals, time to just relax, etc.

Aside from the hours you put in at work, working is tiring, physically and/or mentally. Are we taking this into account when we think about how fit we should be? Can we just do what we can and recognize that it’s not laziness getting in our way, it’s being a human, and perhaps what’s really getting in our way of feeling good about what we’re doing is our unrealistic or unkind expectations?

Are we expecting ourselves to forgo sleep or magically not be drained after a day of work in order to fit in extra training? Are we remembering that extra training time might mean less socialising time, or less time to cook, or less time to read, or to go on dates or have sex and weighing up how that fits in with the other things we want out of life?

By all means, have goals if you want them, but do check in with yourself as to whether they’re kind and realistic or just another stick to beat yourself with when you’re doing your best.

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