The Psychology of the Starting Line: How to mentally prepare for a fitness journey.
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We don’t know what motivated you to start your fitness journey. You might have seen one too many “transformation” inspiration videos on TikTok and have thought “my turn now”. You could have medical issues exacerbated by lack of physical activity and you’ve decided enough’s enough. Maybe a friend’s wedding is coming up and you want to upstage the bride (we don’t judge).
Whatever it is, we don’t care. Here at Vitasole all we want to do is take this wave of enthusiasm a sudden health kick can bring and harness it into actual long-lasting changes.
Before you dive in head first, it’s important to do some preparation.
Mental Hurdles
Taking mental steps before stepping on that treadmill is one of the best things you can do to make sure you stick to it. There will be doubts, challenges, unseen obstacles. But with the right mental outlook you’ll jump over those hurdles no problem!
Fear of the unknown
If you’ve never exercised before, it can be daunting. It can feel like the gym is filled with muscle bound mean-looking people in expensive spandex and that any movement past a pushup may as well be in hieroglyphics. But that is okay!
Don’t worry about anyone else and focus on you. If you’re a bit nervous to go to the gym (you shouldn’t be, most gym’s are actually super welcoming and lots will offer a free personal training session on sign up to help you learn what to do), don’t go to the gym. There’s plenty of exercise you can do on your own to get your confidence up.
At the end of the day, focus on what’s good. You’re learning new things, you’re embracing a new lifestyle and you’re going to find out what your body is really capable of. Good on you!
Negative self-talk
That voice in your head telling you you’re not enough can be one of the hardest to silence. At times it’ll be screaming doubts, comparing you to others and rejoicing when you stray from the course. In a nutshell, it’s a real asshole.
There are a few ways to shut up that inner critic:
- Practise positive affirmations - You might feel a bit silly doing it, but the best way to combat negative self-talk is positive self talk. Make it an exercise of itself. Remind yourself regularly that you’re awesome. “Im strong and capable”, “my body is resilient”, “I’m proud of my progress and want more”. Go on, do a few now!
- Remind yourself of your goals - Go back to WHY you want to get healthier. This is why it’s important to do some digging on what’s important to you (and we recommend going a step further than “I want washboard abs”). Do you want to be fit enough to play with your kids for years to come? Do you have a history of diabetes or heart disease in your family you want to side step? Set goals around something real, visit them often.
- Celebrate your small wins - You may have done poorly in that last fitness class, but you were there! That’s a win. See that cheeky little new muscle winking at you in the mirror, that’s a win! Did you actually FEEL like the salad you brought to work for lunch today? WIN!
You’re doing great, you legend!
Lack of motivation
You may be tempted to skip this one. After all, you’re more motivated than you’ve ever been! You’ve come to your limit and you’re bloody doing something about it! You’re pumped, you’re ready, the gym is your temple and you’re the priest.
Trust us, that’s early days of a health kick talking.
There will come a time when this new lifestyle you’ve adopted becomes difficult. Your bed will just be too warm and snuggly to get out of early in the morning, or you’ll be simply too tired after a long day. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Here’s some ways to pre-empt and overcome waning motivation:
- Find something you actually like doing: “Work”ing out is work, that’s why they call it that. Finding exercise that doesn’t seem like “working out” is the best way to stick to it. Enjoying the view on that awesome walking track, getting barreled by that monster wave or scoring the game winning try for your touch team can be far more motivating than “lifting heavy things repeatedly”.
- Do it with someone: Letting yourself down is one thing, letting down your gym buddy is something completely different. Having someone to keep you accountable is not only motivating, it makes the whole journey more fun. We wrote a blog on why this is important here.
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Join a community: No-one succeeds until we all do! There are all sorts of communities which can do huge work to hype you up and keep you on the right track.
- Join a walk club or fitness meetup
- Myfitnesspal or Fitbit forums
- Facebook groups
- Strava clubs
- Reddit (if you haven’t used Reddit before, it’s surprisingly wholesome at times. Those “strangers on the internet” actually have a bunch of answers and advice and will be your ultimate hype team if you lean into it.)
IMPORTANT NOTE - prepare for diminishing returns: When you first start working out the changes are drastic. All of a sudden you’re much stronger and you’re jogging on those stairs you used to get puffed on. This progress is HUGELY motivating, but it’s fleeting.
Eventually you won’t be doubling how much you can lift every other week (because you can lift a lot more now) and you won’t be noticing those fun new muscles in the bathroom mirror (because there’s too many to notice!)
When this happens it’s important to take stock about how far you’ve come. You’re over that fitness hump and your journey has begun. Now comes the tough part (sticking to it), are you up for it?
Gear up
No-one has ever climbed Mt Everest in flip-flops. Having the right equipment can be the difference between a fleeting health kick and a proper lifestyle change. Here are our recommendations:
- A proper pair of shoes - This is a non-negotiable! Trying to exercise in the wrong kind of shoes can cause injuries, slamming the breaks on your progress before it begins. As you’re just starting we recommend a sturdy pair of all-rounder shoes that do it all. The Vitasole Walkers are a great place to start. They’re built solid with arch support, Rocker Sole technology (to literally push you forward) and are a very decent price.
- Workout clothes - We don’t recommend getting the most expensive stuff right off the jump. You might have heard of the phrase “all the gear and no idea”, don’t be that guy. (Save the fancy activewear as a reward for hitting some smaller milestones). What you will need is some clothes you don’t mind sweating in. The gym isn’t a fashion show (it might seem like it sometimes, but it isn’t), wear what you’re comfortable in.
- Smart Watch - Monitoring your progress can really break down those goals into data and trust us, there’s nothing more motivating than being a short walk away from your daily movement goals.
- Water Bottle - Hydration is KEY! Staying hydrated makes such a huge difference in this journey and having a great reusable water bottle not only helps with this, but is also great for the environment.
- Healthy food - McDonald’s tastes awful after a big workout. Couldn’t tell you why, it just does. You’re doing the rest of the work, may as well assist yourself by fueling your body properly.
- Gym towel - The start of your fitness journey can be a really sweaty time. Subjecting everyone around you to that is a simply awful way to make friends. Opt for a moisture wicking quick dry option and wipe down those benches!
Good on you for getting this far! By making your health a priority you’ve taken great steps into improving so many aspects in your life. When you’re healthier, you feel better, when you feel better, you get more out of life.
Vitasole will be with you every step of the way! We’re not made for the elite trying to make it to the finish line half a second faster. We’re for those just trying to make it to the finish line at all. Good luck on your fitness journey, you’ll do great!