Year after year many Americans make new year resolutions to lose weight, get in shape, or take better care of their health. And every year about 90% of these resolutions never get past April. Hmm…I wonder why, it must be the taxes! Just kidding IRS! Resolutions are don’t last because they are about the tough stuffs, the hard things. Doing something easy is not worth making a resolution about. Some resolutions are dreary, others are wearisome, and a few are out right far-fetched. So how do we make fitness resolutions that would go the distance? Here are a few pointers to help align your fitness resolutions aright so you can keep them and realize your goals:
First off, where do you make your fitness resolution? Stuck in traffic? Watching the kids play? In the shower? In church? Watching Oprah? Or maybe watching “300”. Believe it or not it counts. Big and important decisions are not made lying in bed or waiting in line at the bank. They are made at closed door meetings and summits. Have a conference with yourself: pen, pads, books, internet, slides, graphs, charts, and other visuals. Deliberate on your goals: why you want it, how much you want it, draw out a plan, steps, a budget, weigh the rewards, sacrifices, make prizes, time line, etc.
I know you are thinking this would take days, maybe weeks. Exactly, it should. How long do you think it took the Chinese to plan last summer’s Olympics? The more personal and comprehensive your resolution is; the more likely you are to stick with it.
Next is the goal itself. What is your fitness goal? What do you want to achieve? Better still, what influences your fitness goals? Are you thinking weight loss or weight management? Looks or performance? Short term or long term? Power or glory? High impact or low impact? Service or selfish? Too many people “just want to loose weight”. Problem is, that is no goal. Making weight loss a goal is no different from making the free bag of chips that come with a meal at a fast food restaurant your goal for lunch. It is like getting married just to get a ring on your finger, or a name change.
Many fitness goals are driven by looks. “I want a six-pack”, “I want to fit into a size six”, “…need Jessica Parker’s muscle tone”, and so on. Performance is what should fuel your fitness goal not appearance. Train like an Olympian: they train for performance not appearance. Think about it, it is performance that counts. How many athletes and world champions, movie stars or even authors get on “Jay Leno”, or “Regis and Kelly” solely based on their looks? Or because they are thin? They get on these shows based on what they have achieved.
These athletes and movie stars are constantly trying to better themselves, improve their games, reach out to the less fortunate, and undertake greater challenges, and all you want is to look like them? Comments reserved!
Okay, you got the goal part down, now what? Consider factoring these seven guidelines into your fitness plan:
Choose a sport, and become the world champion. Hold up, don’t get carried away! You are not going to be a world champion for real, you are just going to train with a champion. This is how: get a sheet of paper and write down a sport. Pick a world class athlete in that sport (preferably the world champion). Now imagine that you are him or her, then train like you are about to defend your title next year. Say for example you choose Tennis, Roger Federer or Andy Roddick. Your task is to do the exercises that they do, eat and train like them. Don’t go all out, as you won’t be in center court at Wimbledon anytime soon! Just structure your workout from theirs. For example, Michael Phelps swims 365 days of the year, you can at least swim 65 days. Good luck if your sport of choice is the UFC!
Go online and search for training tapes and books by their coaches or themselves. I did mention internet and a budget in setting your goals, right!
Your love and enjoyment for the sport, weather, environment, physique, history or skill level, and limitations should guide you. Therefore, you should pick a sport you can stick with, not anything outrageous. You can’t have the physique of Monique and choose to train like Maria Sharapova! Neither do you want to pick Michael Phelps when you cannot swim at all! You should bare a huge resemblance to your athlete so your goal is not so far-fetched.
If you are totally new to exercise or don’t know any sport, pick a sport that you will love and take lessons. That too may help put you on the right track towards reaching your fitness goal.
On another sheet of paper, write down other sports you enjoy. At least three or four you can add to your routine for cross training purposes. Cross training has The benefits of cross training are gargantuan, all world class athletes cross train. Not some or most, but all of them. Roy Jones, arguably the best boxing champion of our time, trained in the pool, and played basketball. See how basketball movements helped his foot work in the ring? Swimming or pool workouts like poolates (a marriage of pilates principles and aquatic exercise), may benefit everyone.
Cross training tasks your body to respond rapidly to your regimen. It helps you burn calories faster and teaches the body to process oxygen better. The oxygen demands of yoga and cycling for example, are very different, so your body learns to adjust and thus better utilizes oxygen. Translation: The muscles become more efficient at taking oxygen out of the bloodstream, so the heart does not work as hard.
On a third sheet of paper, jot down other physical activities that you engage in day to day. Activities like gardening, walking, chopping wood, shoveling snow, climbing stairs, mowing the lawn, carpentry, home remodeling, etc. These are the activities that affords you the benefits of exercise without you having to go to the gym. An advisory panel of the Health and Human Services Department released a physical activity guidelines for Americans last year de-emphasizing gyms and exercise classes in favor of activities that are easier to stick with. Physical activities count towards your overall goal, and help keep the body tuned to exercising.
Now, use the activities on the third sheet to design your everyday life. That’s right, build your life around physical activities, not the other way around. For example, your career takes you to a new city. Generally, you want to live close to your job, or buy a solid car. That is building your life around your career. Leaving away from your job that you ride 20 minutes to your job; now that’s building your life around physical activities. Buying a dog you have to walk is another way you can achieve this.
That is what the bushmen do: they walk wherever they go, eat right to stay in shape, and exercising is a way of life for them. They have to stay in shape always, in case a wild animal wants to take a lick! When you build your life around such physical activities, you get your workout in even when other demands of life stave off normal workouts.
Get accountability. Being accountable to a workout buddy or family member is one way to stay on track with your fitness resolution. Studies have suggested time and time again that those who exercise as a group or in a class are more likely to keep at it than those who exercise by themselves.
Get reasonable friends or family members who would take you up on your fitness resolution. Not the ones that say “You’re aright, you tried, it’s the effort that counts” when you drop your resolution in April. I’m taking about the ones who would challenge you; who would place a wager like “train and get ready for a marathon by November and I will pay for it”. The ones who would sign you up for a marathon six months away, and buy you a pair of running shoes to go.
There is no project without a timeline. Set a deadline for your fitness goals. Give yourself plenty of time, you did not get out of shape in a month or two. Plan to reach your goal by next year. That way you can work in a lot of dynamics into your resolution without being overwhelmed. Life advancements and growth, like job promotions, relocating, pregnancy or a new baby would not throw you off of your fitness goals completely, plus you would have enough time to get back on track.
After all is said and done, do not forget to reward yourself. Being fit is a reward in itself, yes but that may go unnoticed especially if you travel a long journey to get there. However, factoring a reward into your fitness resolution is a way of keeping on track. Get huge, practical, and temporal rewards, like a trip to a Costa Rica Amazon jungle trek in November. That means you should reach your goal by August to get a good deal on airfare. Or better still, get a reward that actually involves you qualifying for it in a way. Like Pamela Peeke, MD, and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland suggests “Sign up for a spinning class that will prepare you for a fall cycling trip to beautiful B&Bs in New England,”
SOURCES:
CDC: “2007 Prevalence of Recommended Physical Activity.”
Department of Health and Human Services: “2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.”