Hi guys,  Kris from Custom Fitness here, your personal trainer in Amarillo, Texas.  If you live anywhere near Amarillo, you have probably experienced the bridge construction going on. I’m pretty sure their goal is to work on every major bridge in the city simultaneously to win the “most traffic delay” award.  Just kidding. Little did Amarillo know that their revamping of our city is a good segue into today’s topic.  If you have any questions about this blog or would like further information, please give my team a call: 806-322-3188.

In construction there are detours and there are side streets. The former will take you where you need to be, but in a very round about way. You may have to get off, get back on, turn in circles, or go backwards. If you take side streets, you will still get from point A to B albeit requiring a bit more attention to know where and when to turn.

I was sitting in traffic the other day, frustrated that I had missed my turn and was now forced onto the detour (which, for a while, took me in the exact opposite direction I need to go), I realized how much this construction applies to our fitness and wellness journeys.   Think about it.  

You are currently under construction. Your journey ahead is not an easy one. There will be potholes, there will be people standing by to encourage you along, there will be days that you will have to completely shut down to give your mental health a break.  You are a work in progress.

Just like any construction, detours are a way of life.  Perhaps you started off on your fitness journey really hot and heavy. You showed up gave it your all, posted about your progress on social media numerous times a day, counted calories til you became a human calculator when suddenly…you burned out.  The lure of your goals lost their luster and eating cheeseburgers became much more attractive. You found yourself going backwards on the scale.  Then it gets to be too much. Months or years later you saddle back up for your “seriously this time” fitness revolution. You may make more progress, but something happens that causes you to lose sight of where you are going. Lather, rinse, repeat. The on again, off again relationship adults have with fitness is a tough one to comment on.  Everyone has their own reasons for why a detour sways them from doing what they deep down know they need to do to in order to accomplish their goals. I am here to remind you that you can find your way back to the highway. A detour can be only a part of your journey if you’re willing to keep going.

Have you ever been driving and gotten so lost in your thoughts that you missed your exit and had to take some weird side streets to your destination?  That distraction is you going into auto-pilot mode. The human mind is an incredible organ.  Let’s say you were in a meeting where tons of deadlines were determined, you were put in charge of a lot of different tasks, and you are having to collaborate with others for the desired outcome. Whoa. Your brain will take that information and will slowly dowl it out you in small parts to protect you from getting information overload (though it may feel like you’re already there).  Your brain will continue to process the information, feeding it to your conscience, for up to 3 days aka mulling something over. In a world where life seems so hectic when trying to balance work, family, and social arrangements it is easy to get lost in your own head.  Unfortunately, going on auto-pilot while processing what we’ve experienced, doesn’t do us a lot of good on the highway or when we are working out and eating.

It is easy to become complacent with a workout routine or nutrition plan. You know what you do and when you do it. Do the same thing everyday and you’ll find yourself plateauing instead of pushing towards your goals (but you’ll have processed lots of information in the meantime).  To combat this we must be aware of which exercises we are doing and how our body is tolerating them. We should be taking a good look at new foods we can try and new combinations we can make to get our body all the nutrition it needs. Without challenging our minds and body’s to step out of the comfort zone, we’ll do nothing more than tread water and you will be leaving your goals behind. Instead of doing cardio on the elliptical for an hour, turn off auto-pilot and try to incorporate some heart pumping exercises into your routine.  Tired of eating hummus and veggies for lunch? Check out websites like Skinnytaste and Nomnompaleo for something healthy and doesn’t taste like cardboard. We have to get out of our head and comfort zones if we are honestly ready for change.

Side streets show up in our fitness journey too. If you know your regular route is closed,  you’re likely to find the back streets to get to your location. The same applies if you are doing well with your fitness progress when you are suddenly injured or need to take time away from the gym. You may not be able to achieve the results you want at the same speed as you were going before, but all is not lost.  You can still do things to encourage your progress.  Work with a trainer to see how you can recover from your injury or to develop a program that you can do when you can’t make it into a gym (I happen to know some really great personal trainers in Amarillo…). You can maintain  your nutrition plan. If you happen to find that you are allergic to something, you can find adequate substitutes that can still keep your body ready to go. Finding alternatives with the regular approach is compromised, is a great thing to practice in wellness and in life.

How can you reroute yourself while you are under construction?  How can you become the better version of you when life is speckled with detours, side streets, and auto-pilot inducing situations?

As always, if you have any questions about our personal training, nutrition counseling, or group classes and programs, please contact us at: info@customfitness.biz or 806-322-3188. At Custom Fitness we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas. Have a great day everybody.