I wish committing to a program were as easy as it sounds. To commit to a health and fitness routine you really have to make it a priority in your life. A lot of times people start programs and are really enthusiastic and almost overdo it and then get burnt out and fall off the wagon. Start slow....add 3 days of exercise in a week and then once you've done that a couple weeks add another day in. Find exercise programs that you enjoy and keep varying your workouts so you don't get bored. Once you've made it through the first month or two you'll find that if you don't exercise you start to miss it! Find an accountability partner, friend, or trainer to help push you if you still can't do it on your own.
Adaptation causes plateaus. Our bodies do their darnedest to make sure we do not fail when we place demands on them. If it does this time, it will quickly adapt so next time it won’t fail. After a time, if you don’t change up the demands, you will no longer see improvement. You only get what you ask for.
To avoid plateaus you must change up your workouts regularly using periodization workouts. These types of workouts progress you through the different stages of intensity, volume and work loads in both resistance and cardiovascular training.
Remember, there are 3500 calories in one pound of fat and order to lose one pound of fat per week, your must achieve a caloric deficit of approximately 500 calories a day. Diane Armstrong - Elite Trainer
I wish this was an easy answer. I would put the exercise sessions in your daily planner. If you are going to exercise Monday,Wednesday, and Friday at 8:00AM then put those dates and times on your schedule. Your daily planner will look like this:
8:00 Exercise, Cardio
10:00 Budget Meeting
1:00 Staff Meeting
6:00 Kids Baseball Game
I recommend starting slow maybe 2-3X a week and going 20-30 minutes a session. Tne first week, I would do a cardio exercise 2X/week and a strength training session the first week. The second week I would flip it and do 2 strength trainign sessions and 1 cardio. After a few weeks, you should add another weekly session so that you have four sessions. You can also increase the time to 30-45 minutes/session.
The key is to start slow so you don't injure yourself and let exercise become a habit and it will become part of your weekly routine.
One of the best ways to stay committed to a health and fitness routine is to practice "visualization."
That simply means spend some time, every day, and visualize in your mind the benefits you are recieving from your exercise routine. See them clearly...each and every benefit...one by one.
If you can stay focused on the benefits you are receiving from your consistant efforts, then staying committed to a health and fitness routine is nothing more than just going through the motions.
Remember, stay focused on what you want to be (ex. lean, fit, healthy) and what you want to have (ex. six pack abs, 15% body fat) not the process you must go through in order to acheive it.
Staying focused on your goals and the benefits you are getting from exercise should help you stay motivated to keep on going forward and making health and fitness a part of your every day life.
There are many components that can help you commit to a fitness routine.
- Find the right time. Begin your program when you are truly ready and have the time in your schedule to commit to the program.
- Enlist support from workout buddies or a trainer, at least in the beginning. It is lot harder to skip workouts when you have someone meeting you.
- Commit to a short term goal. Vow to follow your program for 30 days. This is enough time to make exercise a habit and to start seeing results which will encourage you to continue.
- Give yourself periodic rewards for your efforts.
- Keep challenging yourself with different activities and goals to keep the workouts interesting.
As Coach Toby and Coach Dr. Michelle Cleere mentioned, finding someone to be accountable to and participating in activities that you enjoy are huge success factors when commiting to a health and fitness routine.
In addition to that also try the following suggestions.
3 Key ingredients for Exercise Motivation Revitalization1.) Be happy and grateful for where you are and what you have now. Not when you lose 20 lbs or 5 inches off your waistline.
2.) Love and respect yourself. Practice self love and care for yourself enough to maintain your body with good wholesome food choices and regular exercise.
3.) Care for YOU first. Time to be selfish. If you don't put your own oxygen mask on first you'll eventually run out of air and not be any good to anyone else. More often than not everyone and everything is more important than YOU. Change that. Schedule you time first and watch your body and health improve dramatically.
Want to read more about these suggestions read the full blog post here:
http://www.sharecare.com/user/debra-froehlich/blog/show/3-easy-ways-to-get-your-exercise-motivation-back
Your lifestyle is a series of your choices. Including fitness in that lifestyle is your decision. In order to commit, you need to find a reason WHY you want to improve your fitness levels. It is easy to go along with “the experts” and say it is for your health, to prevent disease, to live longer, to lose weight, to have a happier life, etc. However, these are not personal reasons to improve your fitness. Fitness needs to have value in your life. Here are some simple questions you can ask yourself that will begin to develop the WHY behind your decision to a fitter you:
- If I were in better shape, had more endurance, had less pain and/or sickness, what would I do differently with my time/life?
- If I did not have to think about how my body limits me by pain, injury, sickness, lack of energy, lack of confidence, what physical, professional or personal goals would I be able to accomplish?
- If I had more energy, felt better about myself, was happier every day, was more productive at work and home, and was not limited in the activities I could do, how would my time with family and friends be enhanced?
- How would my life change if I could look in the mirror and be proud of who I saw.
- Do I want to be a prisoner of my body crippled by my circumstances or do I want to utilize my body to live life as I choose, accomplish my dreams, and have the freedom to do what I want when I want?
Bottom line is: Commit to yourself, believe in yourself, do Fitness for your reasons and you will be successful. Take some time to sit down alone and ask yourself the above questions. You have the motivation, you have the time, you have what it takes.
One way we commit to a health and fitness routine is by writing down specifically what are the fitness goals that I desire, and when would I like to achieve theses goals? By writing down one's goals in statements on paper this solidifies the commitment, then with the help of a HFPN fitness coach and expert we can help put a plan in place that will enhance the commitment to accomplish one's fitness goals.
The easiest way to answer this to ask yourself, WHY?” Why are you changing to a healthier lifestyle? Why are you exercising? Why are you choosing a salad with grilled chicken over lasagna? What motivated you to want to change? Was it a bad report from your doctor? Maybe it was the shock of what your scale reported your weight to be versus what you thought you weighed.
Whatever your reason is, that is your “WHY?” and that is all the commitment you need to follow a health and fitness lifestyle. Just keep it mind every day, every time you have a choice to make that can have a positive or negative effect on your health and it will be so simple.
Once you begin to focus on your reason why, your commitment will force you to say,” I must workout.” Instead of the flimsy and weak, “I should workout.”
“Where the mind goes the body follows.”
Why?
Focus on it.
Commit to it.
Enjoy your success.
First, you need to choose where you like to exercise. Whether it is at home, a gym, outside, or a combination of places, the location may limit your choices when designing your program. Determine if you are going to take exercise classes, work out with a partner, go it alone, or a combination thereof. Next, determine what days you have available to exercise and how much time you can allocate on each given day. It would be optimal if you could allocate five days a week to exercise, spending three days a week on resistance training and two days on cardio; but it may not be realistic. You might only have ten minutes a day to exercise; therefore, you will need to optimize those ten minutes. Don’t be the person who says, “Well I can’t do 30 minutes so I’ll just skip today”. Even if you only have five minutes to stretch, do so.
Next, make a list of exercises, sports, or recreational activities you enjoy. You will design your exercise routine around these activities, as well as choose exercises to improve your skills thus making them more enjoyable. If you like to play golf, then allot time in your exercise routine for golf. In addition, perform exercises that will help take strokes off your game or increase your driving distance and, at the same time, reduce your risk of injury.
The key to sticking with an exercise program is choosing the right place, time, and activity by which to get started. If you have the time, are doing something you like to do, and are comfortable with your surroundings, you will eventually establish a routine because the benefits will become obvious and the results will keep you going. It takes 30 days to create a habit, but only three days to break one. Take the next 30 days to “create the habit of living healthy.”
Once you have set a goal that you want to accomplish you can break it down to smaller daily, weekly and monthly goals. Rather than looking at the big goal and getting overwhelmed, you can achieve smaller but challenging goals on a daily basis to give you the confidence and motivation to keep going until you finally reach your ultimate goal.
I would also suggest doing a few things to track your progress. You can weigh yourself and circumference measurements (neck, chest bicep, forearm, hip waist, thigh and calf). If you are working with a fitness professional they can also put you through cardiorespiratory and performance assessments to help measure your progress over time.
You will want to include proper nutrition in your new fitness regimen. Logging daily food intake, keeping an exercise log and measuring your progress all contribute to making your new fitness routine a habit you won't want to break. Hiring a personal trainer can also be very beneficial. A certified trainer will be able to design a unique program based upon your fitness level and goals. A trainer will also keep you accountable, will vary your workouts as you progress, ensure you are using proper form, and help keep you from becoming bored with your workouts. Varying the activities and modifying your program are important for continuing progress and maintaining motivation.
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Important: This content reflects information from various individuals and organizations and may offer alternative or opposing points of view. It should not be used for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. As always, you should consult with your healthcare provider about your specific health needs.