12 Common Fitness Problems and How to Solve Them
Problems are like old pairs of shoes — there’s too many lying around and they usually stink.
Problems are unavoidable. You’ll wake up tomorrow and have problems for breakfast. You’ll open your email and read a problem in your inbox. Everywhere you go problems follow.
Let’s lessen the load shall we?
Here are solutions to your 12 most common fitness problems.
You don’t know where to start
“Do I pick up a gym membership or a Peloton? Yoga classes or trail running?
Start with related interests (and disinterests) and go from there. If you hate running don’t train for a marathon. If you love being outside with friends try a softball league. Fitness isn’t limited to lifting weights in a dark basement with a bunch of sweaty dudes.
Starting somewhere is better than not starting at all. You can always make changes along the way.
You don’t have time
“Life is crazy. I barely have time to eat, sleep and work. How am I supposed to find time to get fit?”
Look in the cracks.
In 2019, video gamers played an average of 3.25 hours per day. In 2020, people watched 3.2 hours of Netflix per day. In 2022, users are spending 2.5 hours per day on social platforms.
You’ll have to sacrifice a few episodes of Ozark each week, but there is plenty of time to be found.
You can’t decide on a goal
“Weight loss, muscle gain, speed, performance — too many damn options!”
Avoid analysis paralysis and ask yourself some simple questions: what feels right? What’s most aligned with your related interests? Are there underlying health factors requiring consideration?
Having a clear-cut goal narrows your focus and increases your odds of success.
Which begs the question…
“What if I have more than one goal?”
One step at a time friends.
For example, it’s extremely difficult to gain muscle and lose weight at the same time. Super-human levels of dedication and commitment (and genetics) are required. You’re better off working towards one first then the other. Decide which is more important and go from there.
You have bad health habits
“Ordering takeout is fast and easy.”
“My job requires me to be sedentary.”
“There’s too much distraction to go to bed on time.”
Building fitness is more than just physical training. It’s establishing good habits and reducing bad habits. While this sounds simple, it’s by no means easy.
Let’s continue our theme: one thing at a time. Identify the habit with the largest negative impact and start there. For me, going to bed on time is tough, so I have my internet router automatically turn off at 10:30 pm. A bit extreme perhaps, but it works.
Once you’ve broken one habit, start on the next. There’s always a bad habit waiting in the wings.
You have no motivation
“I’m too tired.”
“It’s too hard.”
“I’m not interested.”
Building fitness is tough. Really tough. It requires consistent effort over a long period of time.
If you’re not properly motivated you don’t stand a chance. Problem is, many of us look to the wrong things to motivate us — negative external drivers like fear, jealously and envy.
No amount of outside (or fear-based) motivation will keep you going long-term.
Motivation must come from within. Fitness only has staying power if you love it. If you’re not motivated you’re not loving it.
If this describes you, switch things up! Don’t try and force the square peg into the round hole. Especially when there are so many awesome activities to choose from.
Every workout feels the same
“It’s the same thing day after day, week after week.”
“Training feels like a chore.”
“I don’t get the same lift I used to.”
Piggybacking on our last point: switch things up. The cure for boredom is variety.
If you find yourself turned off during a workout, if things feel the same day after day, chances are A) you’re not working hard enough or B) you’re in need of a change. Both of which can be (and often are) true.
When I need to add spice to my distance running training I’ll throw in some intervals or team sports to break up the monotony.
You’ll find a little goes a long way.
You can’t get your nutrition right
“Eating healthy is cumbersome and time consuming.”
Meal preparation is your best friend.
Make your food in advance. Set aside time on Sundays to cook dinners for the upcoming week. That way when you’re tired and hungry throughout the week reheating is all that’s required.
Keep healthy snacks at your fingertips. Veggies and hummus, apples and peanut butter, and salted almonds are a few of my favorites. I keep protein bars in my desk as well.
“I don’t know how to cook.”
Learn. It’s not hard.
You don’t need a rotation of 15 gourmet meals to call yourself a cook either. 3–4 solid choices will suffice.
Your friends and family aren’t supportive
“My friends and family aren’t on board. They resent me for bettering myself.”
This is a tough one.
The people closest to you expect you to behave as you “normally” would. Any deviation is a shock to their worldview. They see the changes you’re making as a personal attack — “Is what we have not good enough? Am I not good enough?”
They think you’re leaving them behind. You’re chasing the dreams they wish they could, either because they can’t or because they won’t.
So they hate you for it.
Don’t let that distract you from your mission. There will always be doubters and naysayers. Most people aren’t capable of meaningful self-improvement.
You are.
Training is too stressful
“Working out is too demanding, both physically and mentally.”
Physical training stresses the body. That’s the point. The body’s response to this stress results in bigger muscles, lower body fat, and increased athletic performance.
But be careful, it is possible to push too hard.
If you find yourself physically fatigued or emotionally spent, take your foot off the gas. Turn down the intensity. Recover appropriately until you feel more like yourself again.
Start back slow and work your way up to speed. Fitness is a process. The same way we learned to crawl before we learned to walk, before we learned to run.
Scaling back when necessary is like restarting your computer, fixing 90% of the problems that arise.
Injury rears its ugly head
“This always happens. I finally find the groove just to be sidelined with an injury.”
Injury is fundamental to the fitness experience.
Every fitness enthusiast deals with injury in one form or another over time. The degree to which we suffer varies greatly, but we all suffer none-the-less.
Stop looking at injuries as bumps in the road. Start looking at them as teachable moments.
Pain is the best feedback mechanism we have. If something is wrong, if something isn’t working right, the body supplies us with the appropriate pain response. And if that response stretches too far, the levee breaks, resulting in an injury.
Don’t just wallow and sulk as you recover. It’s easy to do, trust me I’ve been there. Instead, ask yourself why you’re injured. Chances are good there’s a particular reason(s) that led you to this point. Identify the reason, identify your steps to recovery, and take the necessary precautions in order to avoid injury in the future.
It’s too expensive
“Everything is so expensive these days. I don’t have enough money for costly gym memberships and equipment.”
Time to delete Instagram friends.
Fitness isn’t limited to CorePower Yoga or Peloton bikes or Lifetime Fitness memberships, no matter what their marketing departments tell you. It’s not overpriced Nike t-shirts or Lululemon joggers or Vital Proteins supplements or any of the other commoditized nonsense they want you to buy.
Fitness is about vigor and energy and vitality. About working your body and mind in such a way to improve health, performance and longevity.
You don’t need overpriced crap to improve health, performance and longevity.
With a good pair of shoes you can walk and run yourself into tremendous shape. With a pull-up bar you can sculpt and strengthen your upper body. With a $10 frisbee you can have a fun, healthy outing with friends.
Just because something’s expensive doesn’t mean it has value. Just because something’s (basically) free doesn’t mean it has no value.
A fear of failure is standing in your way
“What if I fail? What if I don’t reach my goal?”
Let me clue you in on a little secret: you will fail.
Probably (hopefully) not catastrophically, but at some point you’ll miss the mark. Fitness is not an exact science. Trial and error is inherent to the process. What works for some won’t work for others, what worked for you in the past won’t work in the future.
Let me clue you in on another little secret: failure is a good thing.
Failure develops grit, resolve and determination.
You think Michael Jordan made every game-winning shot he took? Nope. He shot 50%. He failed half the time. And he’s the greatest basketball player of all-time.
He took the shot, failed, learned, took the next shot and succeeded.