Ten On Tuesday ~ Fitness

Today’s Ten on Tuesday is one that I (sadly) don’t have much experience with. It’s “10 tips for sticking with your fitness routine”. Well, I can give you some tips, not sure if there will be ten of them. I can also tell you some ways that WON’T work in sticking with your fitness routine… though I’ll try to put them in terms that will sound more positive.  :)

Ten Tips For Sticking With Your Fitness Routine

1. Find a routine you like. This may sound like common sense, but it can be really hard to do. (This is probably the thing I have the hardest time with when it comes to fitness…)
   
2. Get an accountability group. This can be anyone. Workout buddies, blog friends, gym teachers…
3. Get enough sleep. This gets in the way of A LOT OF THINGS for me. I don’t get enough sleep. (My own fault, I know.) And when you’re tired, it’s really easy to let the “basic” things slide.
4. Start small. Again, should be common sense, but usually isn’t.
5. Stay healthy. Yes, getting in better shape should help you be more healthy. But it’s really hard to work out when you’re focused more on simple things. Like, you know, breathing.
6. Set measurable and relatively quickly attainable goals. It’s one thing to say, “I’m going to lose 50 pounds!” But that’s not going to happen quickly, so it can be easy to lose heart and give up. It’s also easy to say, “I’m going to get in shape!” And that’s great. But what does it mean? Better to set the pound loss smaller. Or better still, to set a goal of running this fast. Lifting this much weight. Etc.
7. Eat right. It will help. I’m not saying cut out all soda, or never eat cookies. But if you eat healthier for the most part, it will help you feel better physically, which will help remove some of the “don’t feel like exercising” stuff.
8. Track your progress. And not just with the goal part. Okay, so the goal is to lose 20 pounds. Well, that’s great, but muscle mass is heavier than fat, so it might not show in poundage the way you hope. Also try measuring yourself, and track that. And track how long you can do your preferred exercise before tiring. Get creative.
9. Do more than one thing. Yeah, it’s great to get really good at one kind of exercise. But different things work on different muscle groups, and can combine for better results than just doing one kind of exercise.
10. Remember to reward yourself. No, it doesn’t have to be a food reward. But it can be, as long as it’s reasonable. Just make sure to find something that you enjoy, something that will work as a reward, and treat yourself when you have kept up your routine. Not just for meeting your goals, either – you should have separate “goals” rewards and “maintenance” rewards. If you have stuck to your routine, that’s meeting a goal, right? Even if you’re not down 20 pounds yet, or can’t run for a mile non-stop yet. It’s still progress, and still deserves acknowledgement.

Okay. I guess I can think of more ways to keep on a fitness routine than I have actually implemented for myself…. I need to get on that.

But first I need to get healthy. Sorry for the lack of ROW80 post on Sunday; I was in the grip of the “Supercold” that’s going around and was not in any mood to do anything requiring thought. I will be posting my weekly recap on Wednesday instead.

Stay well, everyone! The cold & flu season this year is nasty….

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