So you’ve taken the first step and have decided to improve your health and start working out. Congratulations! That’s often times the hardest part of getting fit. The next step is figuring out how to make your goals a reality. These five tips will help set you up for success and take your fitness goals to the next level.
1. Have a goal
You’ll be much more likely to push yourself if you are working towards something specific. To say “I want to lose weight” or “I want to run faster” is too vauge. Alternatively, saying “I want to lose 10 pounds in 8 weeks” or “I want to run a mile in under 8 minutes by the end of the month” are both specific goals that you can work towards. Having a goal can help keep you on track and focused on progress, since you are progressing toward something. Set a goal for yourself that is specific, attainable and measurable. Putting a time expectation on your goal can also be helpful. Write this goal down. Tell your friends, family and if you have one, your workout buddy. Holding yourself accountable can be the difference between trying and succeeding!
2. Have a plan
Having a goal is great, but how are you going to achieve it? You need to have a plan to set yourself up for success. Joining a gym is a step in the right direction, but committing to group exercise classes, working out with a trainer or a workout buddy can all help hold you accountable. It is important to be realistic with yourself. If you commit to working out at 5 a.m. Monday through Friday, but you know in the back of your mind that that is never going to happen, then don’t set yourself up for failure. Commit to 3 days a week, and make zero excuses for not going. Then, if you happen to go an extra day, you’ll feel great about yourself!
It’s also important to be realistic about your fitness ability. If you haven’t exercised in years, it’s probably not a good idea to sign up for the most rigorous boot camp classes. You are much more likely to sabotage your efforts and give up on your goals by making it too tough from the get go. Keeping your goal in mind, find a level that works for you and make a commitment to yourself to stick with it!
3. Switch it up
Do you feel like you’ve hit a plateau? Doing the same movements over and over and not seeing the results you’ve hoped for? It might be time to change things up! It’s easy to check the “go to the gym” box and go through the motions while you’re there. Don’t get me wrong, just getting to the gym is already a huge accomplishment (congrats!). However, it’s important to continually push yourself.
You don’t necessarily need to change what you are doing, but rather push yourself to do more (run faster, lift heavier, jump higher!). Tracking your progress day to day can help to increase the intensity of your workouts and help you reach your goals faster. Record where you are at (there are many apps for this, unless you like carrying around a pad of paper and a pen!) and for a week try to increase everything you are doing in your workout by 10%. At the end of the week, reflect on your progress. Was it too easy? Were you able to sustain the incremental changes or did you give up? Use your first week to gauge your ability, and use that to create a plan for yourself. You can make a game out of your workouts, every day trying to beat the day before it. If daily increases are too much, stay at the same level for a few days or an entire week, and then increase the following week.
If you’re looking for something completely new, check out group exercise classes or look into personal trainers. Sometimes just having somebody telling you what to do is the push you need to ramp up your performance.
4. Focus on all the pieces
Proper rest and nutrition are two pieces of the wellness puzzle that are not to be forgotten about. To get the most out of your body, you need to give it everything it needs. It’s important to include rest days into your plan to give your body time to recover. Active recovery days allow your body to keep moving and allows your muscles to become refreshed and reenergized.
Nourishing your body properly is also crucial. What you do in your kitchen is just as important as what you do in the gym. Food fuels your body, and eating a clean diet will give your body what it needs to push yourself as hard as possible. Most processed foods lack the nutrients and vitamins that your body needs most to train hard as well as recover. Eating the right amount of food is also important. In order to have the energy to push yourself, you need to each enough so you don’t feel lethargic or unfocused. Eat plenty of good, healthy food and your body will have the energy to push further!
5. Stay motivated
Fitness can be just as much of a mental exercise as it is physical. Some days you’ll just want to give up, but that’s when it’s key to push yourself. Remind yourself of your goal often – tape it to your fridge or your bathroom mirror, set it as the background on your phone or computer screen, schedule a weekly meeting with a friend to review your progress. Do whatever you need to do to keep your goal at the front of your mind to stay motivated to keep going!
Your body is capable of great things, so you shouldn’t sell yourself short. I hope these tips will help set you up for success, while pushing yourself harder to make your body the best it can be!
