When you want to challenge yourself and get ahead in the fitness progress you’re achieving, competition can be a fantastic motivator. It’s one of the reasons that so many people buddy up when they want to drive themselves to reach higher goals.
Still, competing against a friend isn’t always the answer. Our friends don’t always have similar goals to our own, they may not be as dedicated as we are, or they may be so competitive it just isn’t worth it to try. But just because you don’t want to compete against a friend, it doesn’t mean that you can’t use competition to your best advantage. You can always compete against yourself!
After all, you know exactly what your goals are and how dedicated you are. Now it’s time to see if the person you are this month can beat the person you were last month! Use your natural sense of competition to drive yourself to be better than you used to be!
The only tools you really need are a calendar and a fitness tracker; preferably with a nutrition tracker built in, too, since nutrition is heavily linked to fitness results.
It’s up to you how you will want to compete. For many people getting started, fourteen day challenges are fun, allowing them to build up to monthly goals. The purpose is to set a goal for yourself, achieve it, then beat that goal the next time.
Use the first span of time to establish a baseline for your performance. After all, if you don’t know what you can achieve, how can you compete against it and know if you’ve beaten it? Keep track of your fitness and nutrition for a month to see how you’re doing right now. Don’t go easy on yourself just so that you’ll be able to beat your achievements with less effort during the next month. You’ll only hold back your results!
Use your fitness tracking platform to keep track of when you work out and what you do when you exercise. Did you walk for thirty minute? Did you use the elliptical at a low intensity or were you using it pretty vigorously? Did you work out the number of days per week you wanted to?
After you’ve established your baseline, it’s time to set your goals to beat your previous achievements. Maybe you want to see if you can do yoga every single day for fourteen days. Perhaps you want to do a complete month where you finish five workouts per week no matter what.
Don’t forget to come up with a reward so that you can celebrate your achievements when you beat yourself! Then, once you’re done celebrating, it’s time to set your next goal!
