Part 1: Introduction to the Angst of Missing the Mark
If you’re like me, you began your gym career with begrudging avoidance. Over the past year, I have begun to realize that merely going to the gym building and mechanically going through the exercises really doesn’t see any of your goals come to fruition. It merely keeps you feeling proud for making false attempts towards those goals. So, I took it up a notch. I bought snazzy gym clothes, looked up actual bona fide exercise programs and took supplements that I secretly feared would make me look like the Hulk.
This change in effort definitely saw some progress towards the body changes I was wanting, but what I hadn’t anticipated is that I would go to the gym a little less begrudgingly over the course of months. I would even begin to look forward to working out, feeling proud when I ‘earned’ a sweaty face and calloused hands.
There are things about hitting the weights that you know are coming– you’ll have to prioritize your time, you’ll really really need to take a shower afterwards…. but there will also be things that catch you by surprise. Things that nobody seems to forewarn others about. I can’t meet you on your way into the gym and whisper in your ear, “Hey…. pssst…. if you stay on that stair climber longer, you really need to be aware of the possibility of butt sweat.” So, you’ll have to read all about the warnings over the remainder of the month. I’m sure there are more things that will wildly shock me as I continue to take things seriously and I’m also sure that some of these things won’t shock you at all.
If I leave some things out or if you have a funny story to share (you’ll have to try hard to beat a butt sweat story), make sure to share it so we can warn the masses, and perhaps amuse them a bit in the process. In the meantime, let’s start with the first of the warnings.
We all have those bucket list items and goals that we want to someday hit, whether it be at work, in our relationships or at the gym. I know, I had a lengthy list of things that I thought I would someday obtain at the gym, although not always confident that I would actually get there. But then, I started pushing myself and then I started to hit some goals that I thought were much further off in my future and then I looked in the mirror…. and I didn’t look the way I imagined. Not after hitting so many goals…. not after finally being able to not only master a regular push-up (no bench assistance needed) and not after being able to hold a plank for 2 1/2 minutes. I hit goals that I pictured taking so much longer to accomplish, yet, my body didn’t look like the ideal body I imagined it would take for me to be able to accomplish any of these goals.
This is something they never warn you about– that a certain body fat %, a certain body weight, or even being able to do more at the gym, may not look like what you imagined. Your arms could be toner, maybe your booty is finally starting to get firmer, yet you still have that lower ab ‘pudge’ that you you’ve been trying to get rid of for months. Maybe you can finally do that unassisted chin up, yet your arms don’t quite have the desired lines, indicative of the lean muscle mass you’ve been aiming for…. Sometimes, you can hit the mark, and yet still miss the mark.
So what now? What do you do when you hit a goal, yet somehow feel even further from what you want to look like. Well, after we stop wallowing, here’s what we’re gonna do:
- Assess. Exactly what is it that you want to see changed? Still want a few inches gone from your waist? Still want toner arms? Decide what it is that you still haven’t seen and try to be as specific as possible.
- Define. List out and make new goals. You’ve hit some, and no matter what, you should keep hitting some new ones.
- Plan. Get a gameplan going on what you’re planning on doing to try to remedy these issues and keep going.
- Motivate. Keep your head in the game and don’t give up just yet. You have to keep up the motivation and not give up. You’ve seen some success! You’ve hit some goals! And that’s why you have to…
- Celebrate. Don’t forget to pat yourself on the back for what you have done. Pause for a moment and celebrate the victory.