Often times you may have fallen ill, had an event to go to, or simply were too tired to "hit" the gym and you gave into temptation and ate a whole bag of chips or ate a huge piece of cake at a party. For many, that's the end of the road to their journey. Without even realizing we believe that because we missed ONE day at the gym or indulged ONE day that it's all over and we have ruined ourselves and deserve to fall right back into our old patterns of living an unhealthy lifestyle.
I'm here to tell you that IT'S NOT TRUE. You didn't ruin anything and you deserve better than eating nonsense everyday and feeling bad not just about how you look, but how you feel. What happened wasn't a situation to end your journey. Simply put, LIFE HAPPENED. Life will always happen and you have to learn to deal with it.
Here are some tips that I have gathered over the course of the last few weeks that I believe will help us all learn to deal with what life throws us without giving up on our health. I struggle just as anyone else does. I have had to travel for work a lot lately and was struggling with fitting my normal routing into my travel schedule, but was able to pull myself together by implementing the tips below.
TIPS FOR FITNESS SUCCESS
1. PLAN! Planning your fitness and eating routing is extremely important, if not the most important key to success. Writing down a plan will make it official and help you keep track of your progress. Schedule and view your fitness plan like you would any other appointment. Make time for it. FIT IN TIME for fitness.
2. FLEXIBILITY. So, you missed one day. You are sick, have a family event to attend, are just too tired. That's ok. It happens. Learn to deal with missing a scheduled day to workout. We all need breaks and view this as a time to relax and become stronger for your next workout session. You can make it up if you have time or just pick up where you left off and get it in on your next scheduled day.
Also, if you find that your workout plan says you need to dedicate 45 minutes, but you don't have 45 consecutive minutes that day, break up your work out. Do a portion in the morning and a portion in the evening. Don't be afraid to change things up. The important thing is to get something in.
3. CREATIVITY. Find activities you enjoy and include those into your plan. Do you love to hike, swim, garden, bike, dance, etc? Fit it in. Find creative ways to stay active that bring a smile to your face. Fitness doesn't have to be boring and it doesn't have to include a gym membership. Go online, find a group in your area in the area you enjoy. Meetup.com is a great place for finding groups.
4. PACE. Go at your own pace. Don't worry about what those around you are doing or what the experienced trainers are doing in the exercise video. The key is that you learn the correct way of doing things and then go at your own pace. Feeling the pressure to perform at a level you are not ready to will only cause frustration and demotivate you from continuing.
5. SURPRISE YOURSELF. Many times we often underestimate our ability and strength. Someone mentions an exercise and your first thought is "oh, I can't do that". Well, have you tried recently? I mean, really tried? I would bet that you will tend to surprise yourself more than disappoint. So, I encourage you to take a chance and do something you don't think you can.
SURPRISE YOURSELF!
Share with us your exeperiences and success stories to encourage others to keep on going and continue their journey on living a healthy lifestyle.
Your Personal Trainer,
Andi Dornelas
