Free fitness advice - keeping resolutions a reality

[Catherine W]

Hi,

I hope this is the right section of the Forum to post my golden rules for sticking at a fitness routine. After 6 years in the fitness industry I have boiled it down to this:

TIME

Work out how much time you can spend each week on your fitness and put appointments in your diary. Add a reminder, make yourself accountable. Make your health your number one priority. This may mean adjusting your body clock and getting up earlier to work out. But it is worth it. In 6 weeks of regular exercise you will feel less stressed, fitter, more focussed mentally and better equipped to make healthy nutritional choices.

?Either you run the day or the day runs you.?~Jim Rohn

GOALS

Set short and long term goals. A weekly goal could be to without fail ensure you complete every session in your diary, or to jog a certain number of miles. A long term goal could be to complete a race such as a free Park Run, or to get fit enough to play a sport you once loved. Each workout has to have a purpose, so write down what you want to achieve in a set amount of weeks and build up gradually. This is something a Personal Trainer can help you with ? it is called periodisation.

DON?T LISTEN TO YOUR MONKEY

It is 5.45am and the alarm has gone off beside your bed. It is cold outside and the last thing you feel like doing is getting up and moving. Don?t listen to the internal dialogue. People who stick at an exercise plan make sure they get up and out. The only workout you regret is the one you don?t do. Think about how good you will feel afterwards.

EAT AND DRINK MINDFULLY

If you believe you eat healthily and cannot understand why you still cannot fit into THAT pair of jeans, address how and where you eat. We can easily snack on energy dense foods and drinks whilst distracted by the bright screen in front of our eyes. My advice is to eat at the dinner table, chew your food slowly, and only eat / drink refined carbohydrates on a day when you will burn them off. And don?t drink your calories.

CHANGE THE RECORD

I can?t argue with that. The human body is a great economist. Ask more of your body with progressions in training volume, intensity, work to rest ratio, distance covered over time. For general health there are guidelines from the NHS. But if you want to guarantee you are exercising at a safe and effective intensity for you, ask an expert.

They key to success in a fitness routine boils down to mindset. You can do it. I did so anyone can.

[email protected]