Fitness Philosopher: 3 Keys To Survival If You Fall Off Track

One of the hardest things I encounter as a fitness professional is a client coming into a session lamenting a poor choice they've made, or distraught over the difficulty of adhering to a new lifestyle, even when they've been making great progress. It's not hard because I feel like I can't help them. It's hard because I wish they'd more easily see that the occasional blunder is not akin to turning months of hard work into a pile of trash. In fact, the occasional hiccup in their (your) training can turn out to be rather inconsequential. It's the mental recovery from that "hiccup" that ends up being significant.

If, during your fitness journey, you find yourself at the tail end of a poor choice or a bad day - and you're feeling that all your blood, sweat and tears have been shed for nothing - here's what I suggest to get you immediately back on track:

1. Remember where you came from. It wasn't so long ago when you actually were starting out from scratch. . . when you were completely naive to the challenges ahead. And you faced those challenges head on -- successfully no less -- to get to this point. Okay, so this particular challenge was big enough to knock you off course. So what? You got through hard times in the past, right? Allow the past to remind you that you can do it again.

2. Step back onto the track at the exact same point you got knocked off. As I alluded to above, sometimes the hardest thing to remember when you're facing adversity is that you don't have to go back to square one just because you made an error. It's not like you've literally forgotten everything you've learned or that your body has immediately regressed to your pre-training days. Pick yourself up and get right back on track. By virtue of your experience, let alone your physical journey, you're advanced beyond where you once were. Recognize that. Half your battle is having the awareness to objectively recognize your place at this moment.

3. Expect to fall again -- not that I'm advising you to go out of your way looking for trouble. Accept the fact that life is going to throw you the occasional hurdle that you just can't leap over, slide under or dive through as easily as you'd like. Your awareness, and acceptance, of the inevitable conditions you - desensitizes you, if you will - to comfortably handle any obstacle when the time comes to face it.

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You're going to make mistakes. You'll miss a meal. You'll have an uninspired workout or two. You'll make poor food choices. But making a less-than-ideal choice on rare occasion will not kill your progress -- letting your mind spiral uncontrollably into a cesspool of self-loathing every time you make a mistake will. The body goes where the mind takes it. Keep proper perspective as you encounter your challenges so you can jump back on course -- right where you fell off.