How To Find Your Personal Fitness Identity

ByNellie

Knowing who you are when it comes to fitness is super important, here is how to find your own personal fitness identity.

How To Find Your Personal Fitness Identity

It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day onslaught of fitness articles and images that tell us why we should be running/swimming/cross fitting—you name it.

Last weekend I had a couple of great conversations at Fitbloggin—more to come on that later—and we were talking about the effects of social media on normal people. When I say “normal” I mean the people who like to workout but may feel pressured by images on social media to be the “fastest runner” or the one who wakes up the earliest to workout.

Here’s the thing. Your fitness identity must be dictated by YOU and only you. These are some easy and practical ways to identify your journey and not get caught up in the social media fitness jungle.

What is your personal fitness identity?

Be Real With Yourself

Are you running every day because your favorite fitness people are doing it? Because that person has a 50K Instagram following? Look at your why before you make the choice to do that thing—is it influenced by how you think your Facebook friends will react? Or are you doing the fitness activity for you.

What Works For You

For me personally, I know I am not a fan of running on back to back days unless absolutely necessary. I know this doesn’t work for me personally. However, because I don’t like running on back to back days, it doesn’t mean that I don’t workout on alternate days. I know I need to hit the weights once a week. For you it might be cardio dance, or crossfit. Figure out what makes your heart smile for fitness and do it often.

Identify Your Weaknesses

There is nothing quite like being self aware. I know that if I don’t scoot out the door when my husband takes my kids to camp, there is a strong likely hood that I will talk myself out of going to the gym. I prepare my workout clothes from the night before because something as simple as not having my clothes ready could throw me all the way off. What is it that deters you from getting up and getting going? Is it Netflix? Is it getting too busy with housework? Figure out what the road block is and figure out ways to make it a non-issue.

Identify Your Strengths

Can you get up for a run everyday without fail? Can you do yoga every other day without fail? Do you have a SoulCycle class that you simply can’t miss every week? Build on that. I am a strong believer that there is SOMETHING for every person. I’ve met people who think Zumba is the end all for fitness, then there are other people who live to swim like a fish. Whatever your strength is, hold on closely to that because that will be the one thing that keeps you anchored when you lose the motivation.

What are some other fitness posts to check out?

So now I’m curious, what is your personal fitness identity?

Hi! I'm Nellie. I am an entrepreneur, a busy mama of 3 and a wife to my high school sweetheart. I have been sharing content for over 12 years about how to cook easy recipes, workout tips and free printables that make life a little bit easier. I have been featured in places like Yahoo, Buzzfeed, What To Expect, Mediavine, Niche Pursuits, HuffPost, BabyCenter, Mom 2.0, Mommy Nearest, Parade, Care.com, and more!

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9 Comments

  1. Yes, yes and OMG YES!!!! Everyone gets caught up in the comparison game. Everyone. I won a local triathlon yesterday but then woke up to pictures of some friends who completed an Ironman yesterday and started with the “that is so much more amazing,” and “all I did was…” and then immediately stopped myself. I love this and I hope everyone who reads it really takes it to heart. Fitness is such a personal thing and your accomplishments and your daily grind are just that – YOURS. Own it. Be proud. Don’t compare.

  2. Totally great advice and you are so right that we have to own our strengths and weaknesses when we think in general about working out and cannot thank you enough for the advice here on this and more!! 😉

  3. I find that people compare themselves (A LOT) on social media and that is so dangerous! Like you said, there is something for everyone and once you figure out what works for you, just do it!

    For me I am a morning person as far as working out on the weekends, but it’s hard for me to do that during the week since I start work at 7am. I’m going to commit to doing one morning weekday run a week and see how that feels.

    I’m also not a fan of running back-to-back days but that will be my reality for the next 15 weeks during marathon training (Monday and tuesdays are both run days)!

  5. I am really a person who runs because it’s good for me not because I love it. Ironic because I was a runner(sprinter) in high school. However, I think my workout personality would be multifaceted. I run, I lift and I stretch.

  6. I’ve struggled with this. I thought the ultimate fitness goal was a half marathon or running a complete 5k, so basically I thought I just had to run to be healthy. I have fallen in love with hiking, like total and complete love. And it’s lead to more yoga for cross training and weights for carrying my pack. LOVE this.

  7. I love this and this is so true. I’ve always been different so why would my workout life be the same. I tried the be likens and so and that motivated me for maybe an entire day. I think you just get to the point where its all about you and you may share it and hopefully you inspire someone else to be who they are. As long as they are doing the best for the body and self. Such a great message!

  8. I think at this point I can only compare myself to myself!
    I did have a nice conversation with two other runners today, in which we all admitted that summer’s heat is slowing us, and then gave each other easy tips for balancing running with heat and kids!

  9. Well said, Nellie! I hate it when people try to tell others that they “have” to do something a certain way in order to get fit. Fitness is like relationships…it’s all very personal and there can be many ways to do it ‘right’.

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