How To Deal With Setbacks
It’s completely normal to suffer setbacks with health and fitness, whether it’s with exercise, nutrition, injuries or just not feeling motivated.
They come in different forms and it’s important that we learn how to manage them in order to stay on track…
Don’t throw in the towel
We understand that when things are not going well, you just want to give up and stop trying. This is a very normal response and it can feel frustrating when you are working hard and not seeing results or you are unable to train. Our best piece of advice is to just keep plugging away. Changes can come in peaks and troughs with exercise and it’s essential that on the days when you are feeling low, you push through as this helps to build mental resilience.
If injured - seek advice
Injuries can be one of our biggest setbacks as it can prevent us from training. Dependent on what your injury is, there may still be ways i which you can keep active so we recommend speaking with the relevant health professional to understand your limitations and how to work with them in order to come back to exercise feeling strong again.
If you have a bad day - don’t let it become a bad week!
It’s very easy, particularly with diet and nutrition, to let a bad day turn into a bad week. An example of this is if you had a piece of cake when you are trying to cut out sugary foods - instead of thinking “well I’ve ruined the day now so I may as well start again next week”, choose to put that indulgence to one side and continue as you have been, making healthy choices.
The classic phrase “I’ll start again tomorrow” is one that hinders progress often so we have to be resilient and remember that we probably won’t be perfect 100% of the time.
In summary, setbacks are very normal and it’s something that we all suffer from no matter what our training schedules or goals are. The important thing is that we don’t let those setbacks take control of our health. Managing them as isolated incidents will help you to continue moving forwards and making progress!
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