This post is sponsored by Optomo
It’s easy to be motivated at specific times, but as Michelle Bridges always says – you can’t rely on motivation to get you up at 5am on those cold, winter mornings. Relying on motivation is a complete myth. What actually enables you to reach your fitness goals is consistent persistence. Just show up – regularly.
Here’s five ways you can stay on track to reach your fitness goals.
Establish your goal, and measure it along the way
The first step is deciding what you hope to achieve. (Sometimes all you want is to maintain your weight and stay relatively fit, rather than achieve a specific goal, and that’s cool too). Set yourself an objective, then break it down into smaller, more achievable steps. For example, want to lose three kilograms in six weeks to fit back into last winter’s skinny jeans? Break that down into achievable increments of 0.5 kilograms per week. (In my experience, kg’s are actually tough to measure as they vary so much taking into account what you’ve eaten that day, and how much water you’ve had – particularly when it’s the final few. Better to work in centimetres lost, or just how well your clothes fit).
Gear up
If you have the right gear for the type of exercise you’re doing; clothes that fit comfortably yet don’t impede your movements and fitness equipment that will enhance the experience and create better results, then you’re more likely to want to get out and get physical. For me, when I have new yoga clothes or a new mat I feel freshly inspired to get out there. Check out fitness shops or online stores like Optomo, which offers training gear and physical therapy products.
Be realistic
It’s important that you train within your limits, in terms of health, comfort and lifestyle. If you’re new to regular exercise, don’t expect yourself to be running marathons overnight. It sounds obvious when I say it like that but it’s actually the hardest thing to do, because it’s human nature to want to compare ourselves with others. When I started Vinyasa yoga six months ago, I looked around the room and expected myself to do at least most of the positions the others were doing. Sometimes it’s not realistic and it’s better to stay within your comfort zone and build up until you can stretch a bit further, rather than go all out to start with and psych yourself out.
Form a regular routine
Repetition is key. Whether you’ve decided on three or five days a week, it’s essential that you stick to that routine as much as possible until it’s embedded into your daily practice. Research has shown that constant decision-making wears us out – take the decision-making process out of it so that exercise becomes a matter of habit. It’s much easier – trust me! Once it’s ingrained and you don’t have to constantly make the decision by giving yourself a choice of whether to exercise or not, it’ll be far easier to just enjoy the process (integral if you want to stay involved in exercise!).
Measure your progress and celebrate wins
It’s important to know how you’re tracking. Measure yourself at the start of the journey (whether through skill level, regularity, length of practice or physical strength or size). Assess your progress weekly, monthly or quarterly and write down how far you’ve come. Progress creates small shoots of pleasure that you can take with you into your next practice, further consolidating your routine and supporting your decision to aim for your fitness goal in the first place. Everyone suffers from setbacks, so expect these and move on. The bigger goal is the one to focus on!
What’s your trick to reaching your fitness goals?
