The 7 Secrets To Keeping Your Fitness Goals
Some people want to get fit to look more attractive, while others approach fitness for health reasons. Experts generally say that it’s better to make health your primary goal, as you can see in this article from Women’s Health magazine. This is because people who exercise in order to look better often get easily discouraged when they don’t see results right away. However, if you exercise for health reasons, you understand that a lot of the benefits of working out aren’t visible on the outside.
The fact of the matter is that exercise makes you feel better in the moment and in the long run. It prevents you from contracting minor ailments like colds and the flu. It can also help prevent or control chronic long-term illnesses. Still, what do you do if you know all the benefits of exercise but can’t seem to motivate yourself to keep going? Here are the seven secrets for how to stick to your fitness goals.
1. Take Classes
Most people start working out in the traditional way, with cardio, weights, and stretching. These are undoubtedly the three main elements of a balanced fitness regimen. However, you can get pretty bored jogging on the treadmill three times a week, lifting weights on other days, with a little bit of stretching thrown in everyday.
Instead, keep in mind that a lot of gyms offer classes in yoga, dance, Pilates, martial arts, and spinning. Classes like these will give you a little bit of variety and will make going to the gym a social activity. When you have an instructor urging you along, you’ll be more motivated to put aside your boredom and keep going.
Although these classes tend to be female dominated, here’s an article from Men’s Health magazine which will give you a number of reasons why these classes are great for both men and women.
2. Get Introductory Training
A lot of people don’t know how to use the equipment at a gym and it can be a little intimidating to be surrounded by people who seem to know exactly what they’re doing. Since we tend to stick to the things we already know, most of us end up doing a lot of walking and jogging or using other pieces of cardio equipment.
If you prefer to learn how to use weight machines yourself, there are many articles on the internet that will give you tips. But it might be a better idea to get an introductory training session in which you ask the trainer to introduce you to the various pieces of equipment available for your use. Most gyms offer these types of personal training sessions. Others offer group classes in which the instructors show you the correct way of using weight machines and answer any questions you might have.
3. Buy Workout Clothes
Often, people come to work out in old sweatpants and t-shirts. Although these may be comfortable, they’re not necessarily attractive or motivating. Wearing well-fitting, bright clothes can actually help keep you going at the gym.
This doesn’t mean that you have to wear whatever you see a skinny model wearing in an advertisement (or an extremely buff one, if you’re a man.) Buy something that fits you well and makes you feel good. There’s no point in exchanging ratty clothes for clothes that make you feel unattractive or uncomfortable.
4. Pay Attention To Nutrition
It’s easy to feel like diet and exercise are two different realms of fitness that don’t have to be followed at the same time. There are people who focus on diet completely and those who put all their energy into exercise. However, for complete fitness, you have to do both.
It’s a good idea to balance your gym time with a diet that gives you the right amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals. People who exercise generally find that their body needs more protein in order to develop muscles. For most of us, it’s a good idea to cut out excessive amounts of fat as well and to consume more fruits and vegetables.
Nowadays, many nutritionists will tell you to eat five to six small meals a day rather than three big ones. The idea behind this is that every time you eat, your digestive system starts working, which burns calories and ups your metabolism, and you feel energized and full all day long.
5. Eat Before And After Your Workout
If you show up at the gym and you haven’t eaten anything in a few hours, it will be difficult to make yourself work out on an empty stomach. And it’s not healthy, either. It can be helpful and motivating to have a healthy snack, like a protein bar or a shake before you work out. Some gyms might even have cafés where you can buy healthy snacks as well as have a friendly chat with other gym members.
Even after a workout, when you’re feeling tired, you can get a shot of energy by having a healthy, protein-filled snack. It’s a good idea to take good care of your diet overall, but an even better one to focus on your energy levels before and after your workout. Once you see that it is possible to work out without being tired all the time, you’ll be more motivated to keep going.
6. Find Workout Buddies
Most of us don’t realize how much we rely on other people in order to stay motivated in our lives. People who switch from working in an office environment to working at home miss the company of others, even if they found their colleagues irritating at times. Similarly, it helps to work out in the company of other people. Rather than working out at home with a DVD, you can work out at a gym where there are many other people present. Or take a fitness class.
If you like running, find someone who runs at the same pace and go running with them. If you don’t know anyone else who enjoys the same physical pursuits as yourself, check out Find An Exercise Partner, a website in which you enter your information and they hook you up with other people in your neighborhood who are interested in the same activities as you.
Consulting the trainer at your gym can also be helpful because they’ll know other people who are at the same level as you.
7. Increase Slowly
Many people who want to get fit might start exercising at a very fast pace. If you haven’t lifted a weight in a couple of years and you start with a very heavy weight, you’re going to have a hard time. You may not even notice how difficult your workout has been until the next day when you wake up with achy muscles and can’t even bring yourself to get out of bed.
Instead, it’s a good idea to increase your level of fitness slowly. According to this article from Runner’s World, you shouldn’t increase the distance you run by more than 10 percent per week. You can follow the same rule with regard to other physical activities, as well. The bottom line is that it’s not a good idea to go from exercising two hours a week to six hours a week. You may not follow the 10 percent rule exactly, but don’t stretch it any further than 25 percent, if possible.
These are just a few tips that can help get you motivated to work out. However, keep in mind that the most important thing is to keep having fun. If one type of exercise doesn’t appeal to you, try another. Keep trying until you find something that you really like, because there’s always something for everybody. If you don’t like dance, you might like hiking. And if you don’t like hiking, you might like racquetball.
Keep experimenting until you hit upon something that keeps you engaged. And if that gets boring after a while, start experimenting again. Remember that fitness is a journey. And it’s always important to enjoy the journey rather focusing on the destination.
As you can see, this sample blog post for the fitness and health industry focuses on simple but effective tips that anyone lacking motivation can put into practice. Everyone requires motivation, whether they’re beginners or moderately active. The temptation to put aside your workout for just one hour, one day, or one week is very strong.
Once your customers start feeling motivated, you can help them to become more fit by attending your gym, yoga class, dance class, etc. This blog post is also applicable to businesses which focus on nutrition, because diet and exercise go hand-in-hand, and customers who are interested in one will no doubt be interested in the other. Contact us for blog posts tailored to your business and the interests of your clients.
