The biggest issue that we see that causes people to fail at achieving their fitness goals is failure to layout a realistic plan. Most people don’t really have a plan at all, and those who do typically have some very loose goals with no real plan of action to achieve them besides saying the typical “I’m going on a diet and I’m going to workout more.”
While eating better and exercising more is definitely a great idea, it’s not a real plan of action that is going to motivate you to reach your goals and keep you on track.
It’s rare that we see people that have SMART goals laid out, and action plan to achieve those goals. If you would like to learn more about goal setting, check out this resource on the CFR Online Website here.
http://completefitnessresultsmembers.weebly.com/goal-setting.html
What I want to talk about today is a portion of the big picture of reaching your goals that most people NEVER work on, developing a yearly training calendar.
You see, there are going to be certain times during the year, that you will be able to really focus on your workouts and nutrition. At the same time, there will be times of the year that will just have to focus on maintenance. The key is to know ahead of time when those periods will be. It’s also important to define what you will do during those periods of intense focus, and what is acceptable to maintain your current fitness level during the other periods of time when extreme focus on changes are more challenging.
For example:
If you are an accountant, the months of January – April may not be the best months of the year to do a detox, focus really hard on cutting body fat, and working out 7 days per week. This is one of those times were it’s best to have a plan to just make sure you maintain what you have, and stay healthy.
During the slow season the accountant should mark off any periods where workout intensity and nutrition efforts are going to make major change.
Laying this out schedule will undoubtedly set you up for success by making sure that you don’t sabotage yourself during the hard times in life, and you get the most out of the times that are best for you.
Here are some tips to ensure that you make the most out of laying out a yearly training calendar:
- Allow yourself 4-5 nutrition cheat days per month at most and put an X through those days on your yearly calendar now.
- Put a line through weeks that you know that you will not be able to workout as many times as you would like, and nutrition will be more challenging
- Make sure you mark out holidays and vacations
- Plan what your workouts will be during the times of planned change and also the times of maintenance
- Plan your nutrition strategy for the same time periods
- Set a goal for each month or time period now
- When unexpected things happen that alter your calendar, make the necessary adjustments to assure success
Failing to plan is planning to fail, so mapping out a yearly training calendar can only help set you up for success.
The best success tip I can give when it comes to getting results is to expect that you will get results. You can expect that if you map out a step-by-step action plan to achieve your results you will be successful, and more honest with yourself in the process.
Steve Long