How do you hold yourself accountable with your fitness routine? If you’ve been working out for a long time you know that motivation is unreliable. You need to be aware of what your biggest obstacles will be for your fitness accountability. Playing to your own weaknesses and strengths when it comes to sticking to a fitness routine is crucial. In this article I’m going to give you all the tools you need to be successful with your accountability in fitness.

What Does Accountability Mean?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of accountability is: “an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or account for one’s actions.” This is arguably one of the more challenging states of being for us humans. Taking accountability. It carries a heavy essence. It’s uncomfortable. But nothing good comes easy. And that rings true with accountability.

Why Is Accountability a Crucial Piece of Your Fitness Routine?

Holding yourself accountable is a crucial piece of your fitness routine. Without accountability, you’ll struggle immensely with sticking to your routine, making progress, and getting results. Your consistency needs to be the foundation for all of your health and fitness goals. 

You can have one wicked strong workout lifting heavy a** weights. But if you only do that once every other week, you won’t see any progress. You can eat perfectly within your nutrition goals for a whole day. But if you’re eating way too many calories all other days of the week, it won’t matter how perfect that one day was. Without holding yourself accountable to the changes that are necessary for you to reach your goals, you stand very little chance of getting there.

Tips for Holding Yourself Accountable to Your Fitness Program

Holding yourself accountable to your fitness program is going to be the most difficult at the start. It’s exciting when you first begin something, but sticking to it even after excitement and motivation wears off is what really matters. Documenting your progress, being clear with your goals, celebrating wins along the way, and having a support system are all ways in which you can increase your accountability in fitness. 

Document Your Progress

Documenting your progress might be the most important factor in keeping yourself accountable. Take progress pictures from day 1. Take photos from the front, back, and side wearing a bathing suit or sports bra and shorts. Measure yourself around your stomach, thighs, glutes and biceps. Weigh yourself as often as you can first thing in the morning after you go to the bathroom but before you eat or drink anything. Record these measurements somewhere safe so that you know you won’t lose them.

If you don’t document your progress from day 1, you’re making a huge mistake. It might be uncomfortable. But that’s another part of holding yourself accountable. If you don’t have progress to look back on to see how far you’ve come over time, it will be much easier for you to talk yourself out of continuing with your fitness routine when it feels like progress is stalling.

Set the Right Goals

You may remember at some point in school hearing about setting S.M.A.R.T. goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Based. As cliche as that term might feel for you, setting S.M.A.R.T. goals is a great idea for your fitness journey. 

And don’t just set one, set a few. Write them down. Is your goal to lose weight? How much weight? How will you measure your weight over-time? Is it a realistic goal weight? Why is losing weight important to you? And what’s your time-frame? 

You should take yourself through this framework with every goal you create: performance goals, weight loss goals, nutrition goals. It’s going to take more work on the front end, but it will increase your likelihood of achieving those goals. Don’t go too crazy – keep your priorities in check when goal-setting – but do set more than one. It’s important to have both big and small wins to celebrate along the way.

Celebrate All Your Accomplishments (Big and Small)

Not everybody likes the term ‘Fitness Journey,’ but I do. If you think of a journey, you think of a time filled with challenges, change, and growth; lessons learned and conflicts navigated. It’s about the journey not the destination. So how does that relate to fitness? Isn’t it about just losing those 30lbs? 

It’s easy to get tunnel vision on your fitness journey. If you only focus on the end goal, such as losing 30lbs, you’ll find yourself feeling discouraged and disappointed until that number on the scale is exactly where you want it. It’s important to set small goals on the way as well. One of my favorite goals to set with my clients is a performance goal; hold a handstand, deadlift 2x your bodyweight, do a pull-up. 

Documenting your progress is also a great way to be able to celebrate small wins. Sometimes when progress feels slow, being able to look at your pictures from 2, 3, 4 months ago and realizing how different you look, how much has changed with body measurements, or how your clothes are fitting differently can make a huge difference. When motivation is lacking, being able to step back and look at your results thus far will help you keep yourself accountable and stay consistent at your most dire times. 

The final suggestion I have to set yourself up for success with your fitness routine is having an accountability partner.

Find an Accountability Buddy

When I’m beginning the coaching process with somebody, one of the questions I ask is if they have a good support system. If the people you see the most in your life –roommates, partners, family, friends – are not supportive of the life changes you want to make, your journey is going to be a lot more difficult. 

One of the biggest obstacles that can happen for some people is when a loved one is feeling resentful of the new choices you’re making. For example, if you live with your partner and cook dinner together, you might want to make changes to those meals such as adding more protein or fiber, and if your significant other is not in favor of those changes, that’s tough. 

If you usually see your mom for brunch on Sunday morning, but now that’s your ideal time for working out, she may not be pleased. My suggestion is to first try and have a conversation with your loved one; explain how staying accountable with your fitness is important to you. Go one step further and involve them by asking them to be your fitness accountability partner. If you have a healthy relationship with this loved one, they should be able to overcome how the change has impacted their life and see that you are trying to help your own health and well-being, which they should also care about.

Work With a Coach

Of course, not all family, friends, or significant others can be counted on to keep you accountable, especially if you’re really struggling. You need to make sure you aren’t putting an unfair amount of pressure on that loved one. It’s okay to have high expectations for yourself, but you shouldn’t end up in a situation in which you’re blaming somebody else when you fall off the wagon. If you do, it may be time to work with a coach. 

A fitness coach’s biggest job is to do whatever we can every day to help you not quit. Because we know that the only thing that will stop you from reaching your goals is if you stop. Progress might not be as fast as you want it to be. You may feel like you screwed up or fell off track every so often, but as long as you don’t quit, as long as you get back on track tomorrow, you will reach your goals. There’s nobody better than a coach to help you get where you want to be with your health and fitness.

Start Holding Yourself Accountable Today

If you’ve read this far, you’re interested in changing your life. It’s time you stop on relying on things like motivation to keep you going. Holding yourself accountable with your fitness routine requires a plan, priorities, preparation for obstacles, and discipline. 

My suggestion for your first step of action today is to head to my inquiry form. Fill out this online coaching application so that we can connect and have a conversation to see if working together would be the right step to take for you and your fitness goals. It would be an honor for me to be your accountability partner.