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?