How to Increase Your Fitness Self-Belief and Faithfulness

How does one go about increasing the belief in one's own ability ( self-efficacy ) and then being faithful to it ( adherence ) with consistent effort and discipline?

Well, I'm here to debunk this daunting question which plaques millions of people, especially when they're in the pre-contemplation stage. See, there is a model which lays out an individual's mental and physical preparedness to succumb to the many virtues that physical exercise can provide for you, as long as you make the decision to commit yourself to health and act on it.

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Note from Coach Moose: "I love this guest post from Thomas. Bang on. Reminds me of the TED Talk from Carol Dweck, check it out below." Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0mgOOSpLU

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With this being said, I'll now introduce you to a very advanced model, created by the brilliant Prochaska and DiClemente back in the mid 80's known as the...

The Transtheoretical Model (of fitness)

This model was designed to encourage clients to make healthy behavior changes, and to also help them to know where they are on the spectrum of readiness to begin making a training plan, implementing it, and/or maintaining it. I'll go into further detail below on the specifics of how it can benefit you and allow you to have a better understanding of how your way of thinking and exercise experience can greatly impact your results.

Phase 1: Pre-Contemplation 

• This is the phase where exercise and fitness are not even on the mind. They're not even thinking about it, nor are they even considering it. An individual in this phase is the very definition of sedentary. This is obviously not hinting toward laziness by any means. In fact, it can be the opposite. It is merely the lack of a fitness consciousness. If you fall under this phase it's nothing to be too concerned about because hey, you're reading this article right? So, you've already made the decision to ask about what it means to become a more consistent and active exerciser.

[tweet_box design="box_12"]"Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it" - Steve Maraboli[/tweet_box]

Phase 2: Contemplation

• This is the phase where the client begins to think of how exercise can benefit their sedentary lifestyle. They become conscious of fitness.  They are still living sedentary lifestyles, but are now dwelling more consistently on the many negative repercussions of their sedentary lifestyle. This is an important phase to be in if you're a beginner exerciser or if you've never worked out before, because it is the point where you begin to decide to start making life changing decisions to better your health.

Phase 3: Preparation

• The preparation phase is when the client is now both physically and mentally ready to begin an exercise program. The client is no longer sedentary once engaged in this phase. Whether walking your dog down the street or occasional visits to the gym, the client is now prepared to take part in exercise. However, a key  reason to consider while in this phase is that the exerciser is still not  truly committed, nor consistent with their efforts. The main goal of this stage is to prepare the exerciser to make healthier lifestyle choices.

Phase 4: Action

• The action stage is pretty much self-explanatory. Besides the later phase, to be in this stage of the Transtheoretical Model, one must have exercised for no more than six months. At this point, there should have been some sort of workout plan enforced and implemented specifically designed for the individual client's goals. The exerciser is now training much more consistently and has a higher level of commitment when it comes to training. They are now taking their health and well-being much more seriously.

Phase 5: Maintenance 

• In this phase, the exerciser has been training for longer than six months. The gym-goer is now focused on maintaining his/her health and physical fitness for the benefit of their well-being. The main thing to be concerned with once in this stage is the possibility of relapsing backwards. Note, that it is normal for you to fluctuate back and forth through neighboring phases slightly , but beware of completely relapsing for your health's sake.

How to increase your gym Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy is defined as one's belief in their ability to execute a task, such as losing weight.

Whether your goal is to lose weight, gain muscle, or just become more fit, gaining self-efficacy, over any other aspect in my opinion, will be the defining factor of your success. A large part of attaining a high level of self-efficacy is based on an individual's experience with physical fitness. This is true, and I can see how this makes sense. Nevertheless, even if you have a clean slate of exercise experience, I believe that can be just as beneficial as long as you are working with the right trainer or professional.

I say this due to the fact that people who first begin weight training, depending on what their goals are, see much faster results than someone who's been training for years. For example, if you're a skinny teenager who wants to gain muscle, assuming that your nutrition is right and that your training like a beast, then you will most definitely see big gains quickly. The same goes for someone who is overweight and wishes to lean up. If all is right (nutrition and training) then you should expect a quick surge of weight loss. As far as maintaining this type of success, this will depend on several factors, mainly self-efficacy.

If you don't have prior athletic achievements from your past that you can use to help motivate you to get back in the gym to increase your self-efficacy, then you should use this very popular technique that I not only use daily, but so do millions of other people across the globe as well. It's called visualization.

Close your eyes and visualize the end results of your dreams and aspirations as if they have already manifested themselves in reality. Try and take a small amount of time throughout each day to envision where you see yourself, whether physically or health-wise. Doing this will help to motivate and excite you for the results that are sure to come. Pessimistic thoughts can destroy your self-esteem. I know it's easier said than done. But optimism and hope are proven catalysts that will increase your self-efficacy and help you meet your goals.

After self-efficacy is gained, gym Adherence is inevitable

As before mentioned, adherence means "sticking to" or "being consistent with", such as with an exercise program. Once you have attained a heightened level of self-efficacy, you should now focus on keeping your gym adherence at a consistent level. Whether you have a trainer or areattempting to reach your goals on your own, nothing helps you to gain gym adherence than writing out (and sticking to) a weekly planned workout schedule. This may seem elementary, but you mustn't look over the obvious. For some reason, having things "scheduled" or physically written down where you can see or hold them (such as with a binder or on your phone) immensely helps with gym adherence.

Having the idea in your head that you would like to workout 3-4 times a week is a wonderful idea , but remember that it's just an idea. As humans we easily tend to forget things and get lazy sometimes, or even neglect the importance of prioritizing gym time for that matter. Going back to the Transtheoretical Model, we as trainers don't want you to relapse or lose interest in your health. Whether writing down your workouts on a calendar, binder, or even putting all of your gym gear in your car the night before you go the the gym, taking action is best for increasing gym adherence.

Furthermore, I want to add on to that last example because I feel as though that it may be the best way to increase gym adherence. Think about it. After a long day of school or work, the last thing that you want to do is have to drive to your home, get all of your gym gear and change, then drive all the way back into town. If you already have your gym bag, clothes, protein powder, and anything else you need to take to the gym already in your car once you leave school or work, then you can just drive there straight to the gym. A big part of gym adherence is convenience. Making your gym experience as convenient as possible will increase your gym adherence tenfold and help you to get closer to your overall goals.

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Author Bio: Thomas Hlubin

When I was little I was as skinny as a rake, but at the ripe old age of 18, I started lifting weights seriously. I trained and competed as a natural bodybuilder in the SNBF and NANBF organizations, placing 4th in the novice men middleweight division at the 2012 Atlanta SNBF Championships. A year later, I competed and placed 2nd in the collegiate men division at the 2013 NANBF Natural Southern States Classic in St. Louis, Missouri. That solidified my goal to help others achieve greater levels of fitness. Today, I'm an avid blogger focused on creating content to help people improve their physical and mental health. For more of my work, check out my website  Disorders.net  to get information on how to improve your mental health.

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