August 2003
Come fall most people start having a problem sticking with their fitness routine, summer is fading, days are getting shorter and it’s becoming too cold to exercise outside. Here are some tips to help you stay or get back on track.
1. Set or re-set your goals, if you don’t know where you’re headed you’ll never get there! Goals should be reasonable, achievable and measurable.
2. Establish your starting point, take your measurements, weigh yourself and if you have the opportunity, have your body fat percentage taken.
3. It’s good to have a destination but it’s important to enjoy the journey along the way.
4. Choose a workout buddy, it’s much easier to stick with something if you’re accountable
5. Keep a workout and food journal-write down everything you eat or drink that has calories, how you felt when you ate it, how hungry you were when you started to eat, how full you were when you stopped. Write down the amount of time you spent during your day when you were active, this includes activities such as house chores, gardening, playing outside, walking the dog etc.
6. Find support from your friends or family, having support from your loved ones makes it easier to stick with something
7. Start a weight training routine 2-3 times per week to speed up your basal metabolic rate (the rate your body burns calories at rest).
8. Cross train your cardiovascular exercise by varying your workout choices and intensities. Try inclining the treadmill, doing interval training (high intensity work bouts followed by lower intensity recovery bouts that are timed ) or take a new type of class at your gym.
9. Be consistent with your workouts, a little bit often is better than a whole lot every now and then.
10. Pay attention to your form, it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it! And that counts!