What’s your habit?

So you have been inspired by an athlete, sportsperson or friend and set yourself a challenge. You want to make yourself stronger, faster, complete a challenging event or just get healthier. You’ve even announced it on Facebook, Twitter. The challenge is on!

Then comes the reality check.

Even though you know you should get your workout in, life gets in the way. Running around after the kids means all you want to do is flop on the sofa at 7pm or those extra 10 minutes in bed when the alarm shrieks is far more appealing than dragging your tired behind out to the gym or perhaps the extra glass of Cabernet at the party should be ordered, you know, ‘to be social’. All in all, it doesn’t take much to derail a finely thought-out plan if you don’t put some fail-safes in.

Exercise should preferably be set firm in your schedule. It should part of your daily and weekly schedule that it doesn’t require thinking about to do. Think of exercise as a chore and it will be. Think of it as necessary as say, eating lunch and you make time for it in your busy life. However, it takes time to form the habit. So how can you make the challenge you have set, be successful?

Tip 1 - Task yourself for success! 

 Near-impossible challenges are a sure-way of feeling overwhelmed and lead to giving up before you even get going. Breaking up a big challenge into sub-sets is a great way to prevent overload of your schedule (and mind!). Set yourself weekly and monthly objectives and tick your achievements off bit by bit. If you’ve never been a big runner but want to run a marathon, then start with shorter distances and build through; adding a little more training and a few races in as you go. If your goal is to workout 5 days a week and you currently don’t even know where your sports bra is, then start with 1-2 days per week and add in extra workouts. 

Tip 2 - Be the early bird!

Be like Superman......
but perhaps set your alarm a little earlier, 

It’s a fact of life. We busy ourselves throughout the day, get bogged down with conference calls, meetings, children not napping when scheduled. Cut out the risk and set that alarm an hour earlier and get yourself up and out. Preparing workout gear the night before helps. Once complete, you’ll be left with that smug feel-good factor, safe in the knowledge that the rest of your day can pan out as it likes but you’ve got some solid training in the bag.

Tip 3 - Buddy-Up!

It’s more difficult to bail out on a workout if you know your buddy is waiting outside in the cold to meet you. Find someone who is working towards a similar goal and enjoy the friendly competitiveness of working out with another person whilst being held accountable for the workout!

Tip 4 - It’s all about you!

Time to invest in you and make yourself a priority. Block off an hour in your schedule as you would a meeting or coffee-chat with friends. If you don’t look after yourself, who else will? Set an alarm and go. 

Tip 5 - Don’t be fooled by your body

Ever gone to put your training shoes on or even gotten out of the door and felt every ounce of your being, battling the urge to go back inside and put your feet up? Your brain will put up an Oscar winning performance trying to persuade you to go and rest. Some kind of integral early human survival mode that tries to make you conserve energy just in case you are chased by a sabre-tooth tiger later or something. However, with the lack of jaw-snapping predators in the majority of gyms these days you can easily overcome this feeling. Most of the time, once you begin your warm-up and feel the initial rush of oxygen, you will carry on! If you genuinely feel too tired then you can stop or alter/scale your session with no harm done.

Tip 6 - Track, Log, Blog!

See how far you have come and what improvements you have made by tracking your journey. You can track everything from workouts to nutrition to results and everything in between and there are lots of Fitness Apps available that make this easy. Alternatively if your style is more 'old school' then use a diary or notepad to track your progression. Take your journey to a public forum such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and let your friends know what your up to and gather support! Technology is now on your side too; there are plenty of gadgetry to adorn your body or kit that can keep track of steps, heart rate, sleep patterns - the list goes on!

Happy Training Friends! TF x