Finding it hard to keep up your enthusiasm for the events on the calendar? Has this season not lived up to your expectations for a personal best? Maybe the new bike, new running shoes, new gear or piece of equipment has turned out to be more of an expensive hassle than the time-saver/performance improver it was supposed to be.

Maybe you’re discovering that you can’t get beyond a certain plateau in your distance or speed. How do you generate the enthusiasm required to continue training for your upcoming events without losing heart or getting sidetracked?

It might be a good time to try some new tactics to jolt yourself out of the rut you’ve found yourself in. There was a time, when new to training, the horizon was limitless, progress was swift and sure, improvement happened noticeably and quickly. Then as you started to get closer to your own definition of peak performance – a combination of both your goals, and physical and lifestyle limitations – progress inevitably reached a plateau. Incremental progress and even back sliding has become the norm.

How do you re-capture that initial enthusiasm and love of your sport or sports?

Take a big step back and open your eyes and mind up to the bigger world of sports and activities around you. Have you ever tried dance? Have you checked out your local Crossfit affiliate? Does your gym offer classes that you’ve ignored in the past such as Zumba or Fight yoga? Have you ever tried martial arts? Does your local Y have basketball or volleyball teams? Pick something that interests you and allow it to replace some of your current training.

Fundamentally you enjoy physical activity or you wouldn’t train so hard or even compete in the first place. When you try something completely outside of your usual training routine you start again at square one. Adrenaline courses through your system again and your body tackles the new activity with different nerve and muscle responses. All is fresh, all is new, the mind wakes up, the body responds and there are no expectations, just pure focus on the sport at hand.

It’s ok to let the new activity take the place of some of your training. The payback is in the fresh perspective gained while focusing on something new and challenging. Take your new mindset back to your competition sports and see what you’ve discovered. Certainly muscle aches in places you’re unused to, maybe a different way of approaching your training. If nothing else, an interesting new experience that gives you the opportunity to start at square one again and realize that the foundation you’ve already developed in your own sport is more impressive than you realized.

Written by Victoria Nordgren. Victoria Nordgren, the founder of nordgren – women’s performance activewear at http://www.nordgrenactive.com/ is an avid cross trainer living in New York City. Her weekly fitness blog can be found at http://nordgrenactive.com/wordpress2/ Please feel free to contact Victoria at [email protected]