We are halfway through the first work week in November and I wanted to share some thoughts! The goal of the Moments Fitness Room is to help people create healthy habits for life. I am a big supporter of setting a goal and starting small. It can be very easy to jump in big, decide you are going to workout every day and burn yourself out. I have found for me, 2 times a week was doable in the long term before kids and hope to make that my long term situation now that I have kids also!
See below for a detailed plan for success!
1. Pick only one habit to start: Since you are here, I feel like you chose to add exercise to your life!
2. Start with what feels doable: I like to shoot for 2 days a week, I know others that do 3+, however, even just shooting for one day a week to start is a great beginning point! The point is, that you set a goal/intention.
Another note I would like to make about this is to make sure what you are doing is doable for you. Do not start with more than you can handle. Find a fitness program that makes you want to come back! After browsing through ifit, I personally love the Iberian Beginner Running Series. It is 30 walk/run exercises through Portugal and Morocco, and it has me excited to keep me coming back! It is a challenge for me, but it is not too much for me. There is so much available, don't be afraid to stop an exercise that isn't working for you. I stopped 5-7 workouts before I found the series that worked for me.
3: Set your environment: Don't worry about this, we did it for you when we put together a 24/7 gym! However, you can still do a little something here. Maybe get yourself a new pair of workout shoes, pants, tops, sports bras or maybe even fit watch to track your progress. Anything that will get you excited to start!
4. Remove the barriers around doing it: This is where the scheduler comes in. Get it on the schedule. You are setting an appointment with yourself, and hold yourself to it! Before you leave the gym, use those good endorphins, that feeling that you are HAPPY you did this, to set your next appointment with yourself. At this moment it can be easy to want to put yourself down for tomorrow, so this is where your goal comes in, remember your intention and stick to that. YOU DO NOT WANT TO BURN OUT!
5. Do it despite the mental resistance: This is the hard one. Start by making sure you also put your schedule in your phone and set a reminder. Plan one is to rely on your stubborn side when that reminder goes off. You have set your intention, let your stubborn side rule over this one. The moment you notice in your head that you "just don't want to", stand up and walk out the door, just do it. This step is the key to building a lasting routine. I find a good backup plan is to get your family involved. Tell your partner and kids what your intention is and ask them to hold you to it. It will be very easy for them to tell you to go!
6. Acknowledge yourself for doing it!: You choose what this means to you. Maybe for you, it is enough to say you are proud of yourself. Perhaps you want to go home and have a glass of wine or beer to celebrate what you just did. Or perhaps you will want to schedule a celebration dinner out with someone at the end of the month to celebrate the first month of sticking to it! There you can set your intentions for the next month! If you choose to do something like the dinner, schedule it now. Make a plan for who will keep the kids if you are not taking them, know where you are going and at what time. This will give you motivation to keep going. Tell the person you are going with that if you do not keep up with your goals, you will have to cancel.
7. Notice the positive changes happening: After your first month, you should start feeling a little different. Maybe you can see the changes happening in your body, and definitely notice how much more you are able to do than when you started.
8. Have a game plan for when you slip up: This is important. Eventually you will slip up. It could be right away, or it could be a couple months down the road. Life will get in the way and you may have missed exercising this week, or the last couple weeks. This is normally where a person's intentions fall flat on their face and your time exercising has come to an end. Have a plan in place. Make it right now. An example would be, "If I go for a week without making it to the gym, I am going to make sure to get myself scheduled for the next week. If I miss my next appointment with myself, I am going to ask for help. I will tell (insert person's name here) that I am having troubles getting back on track with my goals and ask them to pick me up at my house at 5:15pm on Wednesday and drive me to the fitness room."
9. Practice until it's easy, then pick a new habit: With all these steps in place, you will not have a problem making your habits stick. Take out a piece of paper right now, and go through this list deciding what each step means for you. There is time right now to get a new habit set and to be ready for your next one January 1st!