It’s February! 🩷How is your Workout routine going?
We are just over a month into the New Year … Where are you at?
The start of a New Year always seems to bring with it those resolutions and goals to achieve a new level of fitness, or to even get started into a routine that will stick. After years of being in the industry, I have a few “tips that will hopefully help 🙂.
Schedule your workout - this is easy to say, and never easy to stick with. But, if you schedule your workout just like you do any other meeting, dr. appointment, kid’s activity … you’ll find that it DOES get easier and easier and actually becomes a part of your daily routine. You have to remember - this is YOUR time and nobody else’s. Avoid allowing others to interlope into your time and your schedule. It’s not selfish, this is important and others will respect it as such - plus, you’ll be setting a good example to others and your kids that taking care of yourself 1st makes you better at taking care of them and everything else!
Enjoy the movement/ Feel the sense of accomplishment - I love a good, hard workout. But not always. What I love most - is just moving my body. Some days that is 20 minutes of easy yoga, a treadmill, maybe some light weights and I feel good for getting some movement in. Other days, I enjoy an 8-mile hike, or an hour of heavy lifting and lots of sweating! And it makes me feel really accomplished! Every day can be different, and every day should be different. Keep your motivation alive by switching things up and trying new ways to move your body. Some will stick, some may not - or you may just throw it in once in awhile.
Be patient - you’re in it for the long haul. I continually tell my clients - slow and steady wins the race. 🐢 Be the tortoise, not the hare 🐇. If you go too hard, too fast - it doesn’t last.
Get a Support System - whether that is someone to cheer you on (instructors, partners and friends are great for this!) Don’t be afraid to enlist their help in keeping you in check and making sure that you stick to your routine. Confide in them on your bad days or those times you don’t feel like doing it - guaranteed they’ll be your biggest cheerleaders. Are a single parent? Is there someone who can support you and take the kids for an hour or two? Can you trade off and support each other?
Buddy it up! - Carpool to the studio. Workout with a friend. Find new friends at the studio. Share a membership or a punch card. There is simply nothing more satisfying that sweating with your bestie(s). Gather your gals, or pals for a private workout session - and grab a smoothie or coffee after!
Reward yourself for a job well done - this doesn’t have to be anything big. It might just be a night in with your favorite person, a pizza or a movie. One of my favorite memories was doing a long Saturday morning yoga session, then heading home for a nice, long bubble bath - ahhh… 🛀
Accept that there are going to be days you don’t want to do it - hopefully, these will become fewer and further between, but if it happens … 1. go over the above 6 😁 2. do it anyway (and you’ll feel better after) 3. maybe you do need the day off 🤷♀️ - assess your mental/physical state and maybe you just need to take a day off (I always give myself 1 day, sometimes 2).
The biggest step you’ll take is that FIRST one - the one that gets you on your mat, hitting the pavement or picking up that weight. After that: One - Step - At - A - Time 👟🧘♀️
~ 🩷