Are You Standing In Your Own Way?

Self-Sabotage

You’ve been training and staying clean with your nutrition for weeks. Everything is clicking. You feel great. You feel motivated. Until…wait…what happened? You have one bad day. Then another. Now you’re back sliding. Nothing is working. Nothing is going right. Ahhh screw it…you knew it was too good to be true. Where’s the ice cream? Snooze the alarm…I’ll hit the gym tomorrow.Does this sound familiar? I’ve seen too many times clients self sabotage their training and progress. It’s happened to the best of us coaches as well. The truth is, self sabotage is us standing in our own way. Sometimes we are too close to the situation to even know it’s happening. Sometimes WE are our own worst enemy. It doesn’t have to be that way. You CAN overcome self sabatoge. You CAN get back on the wagon without getting run over by it.

Quick Tips

These are a few strategies that I practice to keep myself moving and grooving:

1. Are you working for weight loss or to feel great? Do you focus on the scale or how you feel? The work you put in at the gym and in the kitchen should make you feel BETTER. The WORK should make you a better person. The scale won’t do that for you. What happens when you reach your weightless goal? More times than not, you still have to face your feelings. You’re still the same person. If you don’t face those feelings on the gym floor and overcome them, the scale is just a number waiting to derail you.
2. Are you “working out” or are you “training” towards a goal? Do you “practice” a skill? Most people I know HATE working out. Try consistently practicing a kettlebell skill and watch how you’ll soar. When you have a deadlift or squat weight you’re training towards, you won’t disappoint yourself or the bar every week. Try changing that one word in your life and see how it makes a difference. You’re NOT “working out”, you have a “practice” to keep up with. You’re in TRAINING.
3. Do you HATE everything you’re doing? Are you stuffing kale down your throat and feeling dissatisfied? Are you bored to tears with your gym routine? Find the healthy habits you love. Find the strength training system…there are tons…kettlebells, barbells, weightlifting, power lifting, etc…that makes you feel ALIVE and EXCITED! Not everything needs to suck. You can have fun in the process. In fact, loving the process will make all the difference. BUT, you have to experiment and try new things to figure out what that is for YOU. Then and only then, will the cliche, “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey” make sense to you.
4. KNOW THY TRIGGERS! We all have them. I cannot have chips in the house…I will eat them…and before I can count out 12 chips, I’ve eaten half the bag. This will make me feel like crap afterwards. Guaranteed. Soooo, I avoid the chip aisle. I won’t keep them in the house. I have chips only on special occasions…sometimes with restraint…sometimes not. The point is…know yourself. Know what will set you down a dark path and avoid it as much as possible. And don’t even try telling yourself you need to buy it for the kids. It’s a sure way to derail all your goals.

Here’s a video discussing the tips I mentioned above.

These are consistently practiced in my life to keep me on track and I hope at least one of them helps you. When you do fall off the wagon, AND IT WILL HAPPEN, you have to get back on before you start beating yourself up. You just have to. Otherwise, you spend way more time than necessary in the WOULDA COULDA SHOULDA mentality. Just let it go. It’s done. Now all you can do is focus on today’s training session.Know that us coaches ARE NOT immune to self sabotage either. We just have better strategies at getting back after it. Now you will too!

Until next time,

Coach Angela

Coach Angela Pettenon

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I believe that all of us should lean into what we are “bad” at to realize our own potential at any age.