If you cleaned up your fitness routine with the New Year, the end of January is a critical time. Your work should be paying off with a few pounds lost or gains in strength and performance, but you’re also facing the challenge of maintaining your motivation each week. What’s going to keep you sticking to your resolutions this coming year?
Overcome Obstacles: Having fitness equipment at home is a huge advantage in sticking to your workouts, but there will still be days you find yourself struggling to stick to the plan. Think over the last few weeks. When you’ve succeeded in meeting your fitness and eating goals, what went right on those days? Developing solutions to potential obstacles can pay off in a big way by helping you identify and solve your fitness foes. Small investments, like lining up help with childcare or dinner preparation a few days a week or remembering to pack your clothes and seek out the hotel elliptical and treadmill during business travel can make a big difference in sticking to your fitness plan in the long haul.
Reward Yourself: Think about your specific goal. If consistently using your home fitness equipment is your goal, keep track of the workouts you’ve completed in a desk calendar and reward yourself regularly (try every 6-12 workouts). Rewarding yourself for losing a set number of pounds or meeting performance goals every three to four weeks can work for weight loss or performance enhancing training programs. A good reward is something you enjoy, but that feels like a splurge…a massage, a gift card for your favorite store, or a night on the town with friends or your significant other are all great ways to celebrate your achievements and keep you on track.
Change it Up: If you started a new routine at the beginning of the year, start planning where you’re going next. We’ve all heard that our body tends to plateau after 4-6 weeks of the same training program, so it’s important to keep changing things up. As you end your first training cycle of the year, it’s time to plan for your late winter/early spring training routine. For some ideas on how to plan, check out our previous article on periodization here.
Weigh In: Good luck on making 2011 your fittest year yet. We’d love to hear more from you. Have you stuck to your healthy intentions for 2011? What are your challenges and what’s keeping you on track?
Overcome Obstacles: Having fitness equipment at home is a huge advantage in sticking to your workouts, but there will still be days you find yourself struggling to stick to the plan. Think over the last few weeks. When you’ve succeeded in meeting your fitness and eating goals, what went right on those days? Developing solutions to potential obstacles can pay off in a big way by helping you identify and solve your fitness foes. Small investments, like lining up help with childcare or dinner preparation a few days a week or remembering to pack your clothes and seek out the hotel elliptical and treadmill during business travel can make a big difference in sticking to your fitness plan in the long haul.
Reward Yourself: Think about your specific goal. If consistently using your home fitness equipment is your goal, keep track of the workouts you’ve completed in a desk calendar and reward yourself regularly (try every 6-12 workouts). Rewarding yourself for losing a set number of pounds or meeting performance goals every three to four weeks can work for weight loss or performance enhancing training programs. A good reward is something you enjoy, but that feels like a splurge…a massage, a gift card for your favorite store, or a night on the town with friends or your significant other are all great ways to celebrate your achievements and keep you on track.
Change it Up: If you started a new routine at the beginning of the year, start planning where you’re going next. We’ve all heard that our body tends to plateau after 4-6 weeks of the same training program, so it’s important to keep changing things up. As you end your first training cycle of the year, it’s time to plan for your late winter/early spring training routine. For some ideas on how to plan, check out our previous article on periodization here.
Weigh In: Good luck on making 2011 your fittest year yet. We’d love to hear more from you. Have you stuck to your healthy intentions for 2011? What are your challenges and what’s keeping you on track?
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