I’ll start next week. Thing is next week never comes does it? Its always a week away. Getting and staying motivated is something that many people really struggle with when wanting to get fit. I am not immune to this either, I must admit. There are plenty of occasions when I cannot face working out. The key is to minimise these days and to make working out your habit. That starts today.
What I have found is that once exercising becomes routine, you don’t have to “find” time for it, it is there, you just don’t spend as long slobbed in front of the TV, or you finish something a bit quicker so you can get to exercise.
Today I am pretty busy, I have got to paint a room, write this blog, meet a client at the gym for a 2 hour session, exercise myself and eat. 3 times. I am writing this in between coats of the paint, letting one dry. I knew what I was going to write about today, so it is just the task of getting it down. I will eat before I meet my client at 6pm, and I will probably train myself after that. I just hope the painting is done by then, these coats look a bit thin!
Waking up and seeing all that needed doing I could have been tempted to drop my own session, or move the blog to tomorrow. But I have found that I get things done, by giving myself little targets. Real achievable goals, when I hit them it makes me feel good, and gives me the will and the confidence to continue.
Lets take this away from my DIY, and move it into the fitness world. Lets take someone I have been currently working with since January. She had given birth 2 years ago, and had really not looked after herself since then, she was carrying the baby weight, and a bit extra. She was getting depressed at how she looked and how she perceived herself to be really unfit. She wanted a home exercise routine, and a diet (I hate that word), a nutritional eating plan. That’s better. I asked her what her goals were, something I ask all my clients, and she said she wanted to lose some weight and complete the Manchester 10k Run, which is the 17th of May this year. This is a big goal for someone unfit. Who hasn’t run for at the very least 2 or 3 years. So we broke it down. If we said ok you want to run 10k, so we’ll run 10k. She wouldn’t have been able to do it, lost interest with how difficult it is, and given up.
We started off with some circuit training to prepare her muscles for the stress of running. This involved some really good leg overload circuits, which she hated at the time. We did 2 sessions a week and a variety of circuits for 3 weeks. We then started a walk run program. We run for 1 min and then walk for 4. Slowly building it up with longer running and shorter walk periods.
I set the goal of running 1 mile non-stop by week 8.
We actually ran 1.4 miles. She looked really comfortable when we past the mile marker I had set so I carried on going. I only told her once we returned how far she had gone. She was impressed with herself, and eager to set a new goal. I worked out that from the speed we ran at, the 10k would take her approx 1hr 20 mins. Possibly a bit less. So instead of mileage, we set her next goal at running for 30 mins, again non-stop.
We were now doing one circuit, and one run a week. Her next goal was set for week 10. We smashed it. But we stopped at 30 mins this time. She has now really got the bug for getting fit, she has noticed a huge change in her appearance, and to me she seems very confident about herself. Tomorrow night the aim is to run for 45 mins nonstop. This is us at week 12. We have about 6 weeks left to until the Manchester 10k. I have no doubt she will manage it. This is down to setting goals which are achievable. Winning is a habit. Get in the habit. Set small goals, meet those goals and set more goals.
If you don’t exercise right now, then set your first goal as doing one session of physical activity a week for 4 weeks. It can be anything. When you have achieved this set another of having a more targeted session drawn up. Or become more serious. But the important thing is starting. Why are you waiting?
Thanks again for reading, and as ever if you want any help with ANYTHING fitness related, please get in touch with me at info@bootcampacademy.com
Now where did I put that roller?
Stephen Howson
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