How to Combat This Common Fitness Struggle, According to a Personal Trainer

Everybody’s fitness journey is unique. From how much experience you start with, to your age, to your goals, you’re going to have a unique set of variables unlike anyone else. Yet while your journey is unique to you, you’re still likely going to experience some common challenges, like not gaining or losing weight quickly enough, being set back by an injury, or, one of the most common challenges according to Athletic Strength & Conditioning Trainer Seth Crowell: not having enough time. 

There’s Never Enough Time 

“I think we’re all experiencing different degrees of the same struggles all of the time,” Crowell, the founder of SAGE Stength & Conditioning, says of everybody experiencing different yet similar struggles on their fitness journeys. 

“We all have a relationship with time, and this tends to be the number one reason most people give when they stop training. They ‘don’t have enough time.’ Then there is money and energy, which people tend to feel like they also don’t have enough of,” Crowell continues. 

With all of life’s responsibilities, it’s no surprise that many people feel like there’s just not enough time in the day for fitness. Even experienced trainers like Crowell struggle with making the time.

“One year I grew my gym’s revenue by 42 percent. I was pretty pumped, so I sent a text to one of my closest friends to tell him the news. He replied simply asking me how I’d done it. ‘I gave up 42 percent of my fitness,’” Crowell says he replied.

How to Combat the Challenge of Time 

While it can be easy to get frustrated and throw in the towel altogether, Crowell says managing this common struggle comes down to mindset more than anything else. 

“If I’ve learned anything in the 15 years of coaching and 10 years of fitness business-owning, it’s this: everything in life is a trade. I’m a relatively firm believer that most people can have just about anything they want if they want it badly enough, but almost no one can have everything they want,” the trainer explains. 

“When people get started with something new, they mostly look only at the upside: what they are adding to their lifestyle. They rarely think about the downside – what they will need to give up in the process. Being or becoming anything is as much about what you don’t do, as what you do,” he shares. 

For you, maybe that means giving up an hour of watching TV each day, or an hour of sleep in the morning. It’s no small feat to give up certain things in your life that you enjoy, but Crowell recommends looking at it less like “What am I giving up,” and more like “What’s going to help me achieve my desired outcome.” 

“Combating this is about putting it out in the open, and problem solving for the desired outcome. Start with the end result and work backward to where you are now, making decisions as if you’ve already attained the prize,” he explains. 

Simply put: there’s no magic formula to give yourself more time each day. Everybody, even fitness professionals like Crowell, gets 24 hours to budget. How you choose to spend those 24 hours comes down to what you want to see your future self accomplishing. If that’s becoming a fitter, healthier, happier person, if you want it badly enough, there’s nothing that’ll stop you from making that happen.