This morning, as a result of a few snags in my normal routine, I skipped my morning workout. Even though I had every intention of exercising, I didn't. And because of what happened, it made me think about what it takes to exercise on a regular and consistent basis.
Decide.
If you're not exercising now, but want to start, you first have to decide that's what you want to do. If you can't decide if you want to or not, you probably won't. First step: Decide you want to do this.
Commit.
Next, make the commitment. For the long haul. Every day. If you commit to yourself and you don't do it, no one will know. Except you. Deciding is the "I'm going to do this!" part of the equation. Committing is the "I will do this! part of the equation."
Accountability
Holding yourself accountable to yourself is one thing. But if you tell others what you're going to do, you're now holding yourself accountable to other people. And if you and the other people can be accountable to each other, it can be even more powerful. So, find a workout buddy. Or three. And whether you workout with them or not, it doesn't matter. Make it someone you can talk to every day, to share your exercise experiences with. It's amazing how motivating and inspiring a good conversation about exercise can be.
Get Started
Figure out what you need to do to get started. And by "getting started," I mean several things. You need to start your fitness program, but once you've started it, you have to figure out how to get yourself "started" everyday. The main thing: Just start. And then, get up the next day and do it again. One day at a time and before you know it, you'll be in the habit of doing your own fitness routine.
Make it Routine.
Find a time that works for you. Every day. It might be different times for you each day - weekdays vs. weekends - but make a plan and then, stick to it. For me, mornings work best. Less distractions. Feel great the rest of the day. Most likely time for me to succeed and be consistent. If you try to "fit it in when you can," you'll find excuses, you'll miss a lot of days and ultimately, you'll never make exercise a routine. Find your time and stick to it.
In the morning, the only thing preventing me from exercising is me. Am I able to get out of bed everyday when I'd rather sleep for an extra hour? I have the same internal conversation with myself every morning. The inner debate: sleep in vs. workout. When the inner voices start their conversation, I remind myself I've never regretted a single workout and almost every time I've finished, I feel better than when I started, both physically and mentally. But when I sleep in or skip a workout, I've regretted it and wished I would have exercised instead.
Be Prepared.
Be prepared to workout. If there's one piece of advice I would give to someone starting out, it is this: think about what your workout will be tomorrow and get yourself prepared for it today. For me, that means reviewing what my next DVD is going to be and getting my clothes ready for my workout the night before. When I get up in the morning, everything is ready for me to workout and I can't make an excuse for not being prepared. Do whatever you can to put yourself on "autopilot" when it's time to workout.
Succeed.
If you decide you're going to get fit and you commit to a fitness program; If you make it routine and prepare in advance, you will succeed. And if like me, you have days where it doesn't all go as planned, don't beat yourself up over it. Just do your best to make it happen the next day and get back to your routine. You'll never regret it and you will succeed.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Goals
Everyone knows the importance of setting goals. I know I should set goals and I should write them down. I should make them measurable, specific and set a date/time when I should accomplish them. But do I? Rarely.
Don't get me wrong. I have goals. It's just that they're not all written down. With P90X, I find myself setting small goals for myself. I'm not competing with anyone else, but I'm always trying to do a little better than I did in previous sessions. Whether that means more reps, more weight or keeping up with Tony and his team on P90X - I'm always thinking about how I can do it a little better than last time.
For P90X, my initial goal was to get through the entire program - whether in 90, 100 or 120 days. Didn't matter. To stick with it. To finish what I'd started. Sounds pretty simple, but it felt really good the first time (and each time thereafter) that I made it through the full program. Just getting through the program was a great goal to have - especially after I achieved it.
Then, I set goals for each DVD. When I started, it was to get through the DVD - to finish it, regardless of how many times I paused the DVD, sat down to rest, took breaks - whatever. I just wanted to finish the DVD. And I did that, too.
Once I was able to finish each DVD, my next goal was to reduce the number of times I'd pause each DVD (so that I could rest) until finally, I could keep up with what they were doing for that particular DVD. Plyometrics? Check. YogaX? Check. Ab Ripper X? Not so much.
Ab Ripper X is only 17 minutes long, but it's hard and it's intense. Most moves, I hadn't done before, so when I first started, there was a learning curve just trying to figure out all the moves. Initially, instead of doing all 25 reps of each exercise, I'd shoot for 10 - 15 each - and I'd still pause the DVD. Eventually, I'd get through the first 4 exercises doing 25 reps each and then, would pause the DVD. With all the breaks I'd take, the 17 minute DVD would take me 25 - 30 minutes to get through - but I'd do my best to do all the moves. So, my thought initially was to either do as many reps as I could and not pause the DVD or I could do as many reps as they did, but pausing the DVD along the way.
But this afternoon was different. I had a breakthrough. I made it all the way through the DVD without pausing, doing every single rep they did and I didn't have to rest once during the 17 minute program. It probably doesn't sound like much, but I've been doing this program off and on for almost 2 years and this was the first time I did it at their pace doing the same number of reps they did. For me, that was quite an accomplishment.
As I mentioned to a friend of mine, prior to tonight, I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to do the whole thing. So, when I'd pause the DVD during the program, it was consistent with the way I'd been doing it in the past. But now that I actually did it without pausing and now that I know I can do it again, I'll push a little harder each time I do it, so soon, the norm will be to not pause the DVD rather than to take breaks like I used to.
So, whether you write them down or not, set goals for yourself. Make them tough, but achievable. And when you achieve them, celebrate your successes and realize that you can do much, much more than you ever thought possible.
Don't get me wrong. I have goals. It's just that they're not all written down. With P90X, I find myself setting small goals for myself. I'm not competing with anyone else, but I'm always trying to do a little better than I did in previous sessions. Whether that means more reps, more weight or keeping up with Tony and his team on P90X - I'm always thinking about how I can do it a little better than last time.
For P90X, my initial goal was to get through the entire program - whether in 90, 100 or 120 days. Didn't matter. To stick with it. To finish what I'd started. Sounds pretty simple, but it felt really good the first time (and each time thereafter) that I made it through the full program. Just getting through the program was a great goal to have - especially after I achieved it.
Then, I set goals for each DVD. When I started, it was to get through the DVD - to finish it, regardless of how many times I paused the DVD, sat down to rest, took breaks - whatever. I just wanted to finish the DVD. And I did that, too.
Once I was able to finish each DVD, my next goal was to reduce the number of times I'd pause each DVD (so that I could rest) until finally, I could keep up with what they were doing for that particular DVD. Plyometrics? Check. YogaX? Check. Ab Ripper X? Not so much.
Ab Ripper X is only 17 minutes long, but it's hard and it's intense. Most moves, I hadn't done before, so when I first started, there was a learning curve just trying to figure out all the moves. Initially, instead of doing all 25 reps of each exercise, I'd shoot for 10 - 15 each - and I'd still pause the DVD. Eventually, I'd get through the first 4 exercises doing 25 reps each and then, would pause the DVD. With all the breaks I'd take, the 17 minute DVD would take me 25 - 30 minutes to get through - but I'd do my best to do all the moves. So, my thought initially was to either do as many reps as I could and not pause the DVD or I could do as many reps as they did, but pausing the DVD along the way.But this afternoon was different. I had a breakthrough. I made it all the way through the DVD without pausing, doing every single rep they did and I didn't have to rest once during the 17 minute program. It probably doesn't sound like much, but I've been doing this program off and on for almost 2 years and this was the first time I did it at their pace doing the same number of reps they did. For me, that was quite an accomplishment.
As I mentioned to a friend of mine, prior to tonight, I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to do the whole thing. So, when I'd pause the DVD during the program, it was consistent with the way I'd been doing it in the past. But now that I actually did it without pausing and now that I know I can do it again, I'll push a little harder each time I do it, so soon, the norm will be to not pause the DVD rather than to take breaks like I used to.
So, whether you write them down or not, set goals for yourself. Make them tough, but achievable. And when you achieve them, celebrate your successes and realize that you can do much, much more than you ever thought possible.
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