Fitness Collapse: Your 10 Step Recovery Plan

As the year keeps edging forwards some of our fitness goals may have been forgotten and left back in January.  If your in a fitness collapse what do you do to get out of it?  Below is a 10 step recovery plan to help you shake the fitness blues & jump back on the health wagon.

10 Step Recovery Plan

1. Figure out why: This may sound obvious but working out is so mental.  If your mentally checked out of your workouts most likely there is a hidden reason.  They could be any of the following; bored, tired, hate working out, no time, no accountability.  Those are some of the most common complaints.  Now when you narrowed down your reason investigate why.  If you're bored why?  Do you need a new routine, do you lack creative workouts to do at the gym, do you need to attend a new group fitness class?  The more you can really dig deep into your reason the better understanding you will have behind your why so it won't happen 2 weeks later.
2. Record your goals: If you're just heading to the gym because you have to try creating fitness goals.  Record what you are trying to accomplish each month.  Maybe one month you try focusing on yoga, the next you want to play tennis, then heavy weight lifting.  Mix it up that helps fight boredom.  Each month this year I've made my own promises by recording them on something and sharing it with people I'm more likely to stick to those goals.  See my march promise above.
3. Find a friend or accountability partner: A lot of people have a tough time going to the gym for the first time by themselves.  Gyms are intimidating especially when you don't know what to do.  You walk into a brand new gym and all the cardio equipment is taken, now you venture to the weights and have no idea what you're doing, that's scary.  So to help you feel more at ease with the process try finding a friend to come to the gym with you to help ease that anxiety.  A bonus if you find a friend that knows what their doing.  If that is not an option, hire a personal trainer for a session or two at your gym.  This will take off the stress of not knowing what your doing.  They are their to help and show you how to do things correctly.  So that could be the best investment you make at a gym if you don't have a lot of training experience.
4. Mix up your workout: If you have been doing the same workout since January it is time to change it up.  Workouts get stale if you do the same thing month after month.  Let alone that is not going to help you reach your fitness goals.  You need to mix up your routine monthly to accomplish your goals.  So try a new group fitness class, take your workouts outside, or workout at home a few days a week.  Something to break up the scenery for yourself.
5. Make a new playlist: A lot of people at the gym listen to music, myself excluded.  I prefer no music when lifting I don't like having the strap on my arm, I'm odd I know. One way to get excited about the gym is to make a new playlist to download 10 new songs it will cost you about $13.  So for $13 you can have a new outlook at the gym.  For lifting studies say that rap songs are the best.  Now if you're not into rap find 10 songs that will pump you up.
6. Create a workout calendar: I personally love doing this for myself and my clients.  At the start of each month I create a workout calendar for my clients so they know what to do each day of the week.  That way they have the big picture for the month and they just need to put their workout into their calendar.  After each workout completed put a star in that day.  On days I don't get to my workout I usually put a sad smiley face in the box.  I don't like seeing those so that motivates me to get back into the routine the next day.
7. Stick to your routine: Getting and sticking to a new routine can be hard. Give yourself at least 21 days to form a new routine.  After those 21 days you should start to feel better and notice on the days you don't get to the gym your body starts to crave movement.
8. Don't beat yourself up over missed workouts: Working out is not an all or nothing situation.  You get busy you miss a workout here and there.  Don't let one day mess you up for the rest of the week.  A lot of people get angry with themselves for falling off the wagon after a bad week.  Fitness is a lifestyle, remember that mantra.
9. Track your progress: You can track your progress in either weight loss, inches lost, body fat, pant size.  Or by tracking off your workouts on the calendar.
10. Reward yourself: After tracking your progress now is time to reward yourself.  Look at your goal and when it is reached celebrate!  Don't just say on to the next goal, celebrate what you did accomplish.

Now with the above tips hopefully one or two resonate with you if you have been feeling like your falling off the wagon.  Try to implement some of them into your new fitness regime.

As always check out SaFire Training for more fitness tips & inspiration.  If you want even more motivation our newsletter is packed full of goodies that we send out weekly plus 6 free fitness reports.

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Heart Healthy February Challenge

Since February is a heart healthy month SaFire Training is doing something special for you!  We are posting daily challenges on our facebook page to try everyday.  Each challenge is geared to help you either physically, emotionally or spiritually.  Most of the challenges are pretty simple and will bring a smile to your day.  Hint, hint smiling is a challenge for one of the days in February.  So if you want to give yourself a jump start on your health or to give yourself a boost throughout your day this challenge is for you! Like us today, so you won't miss a day in February!  www.facebook.com/safiretraining

Get your goals right

Now that it is the New Year people are planning their goals for the year.  If you haven't done that yet no worries you have plenty of time all year to get goals written.  I wrote some of my best goals in the summer of last year.  I started my own training business last August which was a huge goal of mine to get off the ground. So don't stress yourself over making a goal right now if you don't have one in mind wait until it comes to you.  But if you are ready to make a goal of sorts go ahead and start now by following these tips.

1. Keep the goal realistic.  Don't say your going to lose 50lbs in 2 months and expect it to happen.  Don't say your going to quit your job in a week and pursue your passion when you financially won't be able to make it.
-Losing 1-2lbs a week is safe so stick to small but reasonable increments.  As far as pursing your passion I'm all for that but make sure you have a saved up at least 3 months of income when your starting your new business.

2. Put a time table on your goal.  If you don't have a set date you want to achieve something it most likely will not happen.  So make sure you have a time frame of when you want that goal to be achieved.

3. Tell someone about your goal.  Your more likely to go after that goal if you tell a friend, spouse, mother, father and let them know the date in which you want it achieved as well.

4. Really think about what you want to achieve this year.  Take a day or two to really think what is it I truly want to see happen in 2013.  Meditate on it, resist the urge in asking others what your goal should be really have it be your goal.

Let me know what your goal(s) are this year and leave a comment below.

For more information check out www.safiretraining.com

New Year, New You Challenge

New Year, New You what are your resolutions for the upcoming year?  Don't have any?  Well that is all right but try to think of a goal you want to accomplish this year.  Not necessarily a resolution just a dream goal such as starting a new business, losing 20 pounds by the end of the year, going on a vacation, creating a bucket list.  Think of it as a journey and not just as a resolution.

So what is something you would like to accomplish to create a new you over the course of the year?  Make a plan, write it down and make it happen.  If you don't write down what your goal is you have less than an 80% chance of achieving the goal.  So your plan doesn't have to be detailed just etch out a little something and try to stick to it.

Start your challenge today!

Ladies workout like a guy

A lot of women when we work out are afraid to lift heavy weights because we are going to get bulky.  Well that cannot happen and I'm here to let you in on a secret the guys have the weight room area figured out for the most part.  Ladies we can take a page from their book.  Below I will tell you what we can learn from how a man trains.

1. Women you will NOT get bulky.  

That is the number one fear of my female clients who were never taught how to lift weights or what lifting weights can do for your body.  

Ladies you will NOT look like the above picture contrary to what you believe.  This particular female worked hard for this body and trained to get herself this way it does not come from just lifting 3 times a week for 20-30 minutes.  You have to eat extremely healthy to get this lean and be lifting weights almost daily.  So in a nutshell this is an extremely hard physique for women to get to kudos to those who take the time and dedication to get there, as most will not even come close to that.

2. Lift your upper body ladies.  

Quite a few males lift what we call the beach muscles.  If they take their shirts off they look impressive, the biceps, the chest, abs.  Sometimes they forget the rear muscles groups but we as women will not.  Make sure when you are lifting you don't just lift lower body and work your butt.  Don't forget about the arms.  When women get older they complain about the chicken arms, or waving skin underneath their arms.  Working those triceps helps tone up the backside.  Fun fact the Triceps makes up 70% of the upper arm so work the back of the arm to tone up your arm in general. 

3. Play Games

You will always see some pick up basketball games, football games, soccer or even hockey games in the early mornings or on weekends.  Most of these leagues are adult males.  I know it gets harder for women to be involved in these leagues after kids but tell your hubby to watch the kids for an evening because its your volleyball night.  You get a workout in plus you get to mingle with friends at the same time.  It's a great stress release as well.

4. Be more focused on building muscle than in losing fat

Far to often we are concerned with how much fat am I burning when I'm lifting weights?  I should be doing cardio right now I would be burning so many more calories.  Well actually the more muscle you have the more calories you burn at rest.  So pumping iron and getting stronger will lead to more overall calorie burn in the long run.  So don't be afraid to get in that weight room with the big boys and show them what you can do!

5. I don't know what to do at the gym besides cardio

Honestly this is not just a women's issue but a men's issue as well.  I just had a conversation today with a guy who is doing the same routine he learned in high school because he doesn't know what else to do.  So if your walking into the gym without a plan you probably will throw around a few weights and call it good.  Ask a trainer for help or even hire a trainer if your completely clueless.  You will just get frustrated if you don't know what your doing and want to quit going to the gym.  The trainers are there to help you tell them what your goals are and ask what are some exercises I should be doing to help me reach those goals.  A good trainer will be able to help you out. 

     

How do you win your gold medal?

What is your gold medal in life?

When you are thinking about your life and what makes you the most proud of what you have done, what is it?  Is it getting married to the love of your life, seeing the birth of your child, maybe winning a championship as a young athlete or an MVP title?  What makes you keep pushing for more?  What drives you to achieve more and want more from yourself?

So when you are thinking of those answers write them down.  You might look back on your life years from now and say boy was I in good shape when I was 17.  What is stopping you from getting back into that kind of shape?  I don't mean to weigh 150 again if your a guy and 125 if your a girl.  But to feel as good as you felt when you were that young.  I personally feel like I am close to being in my best shape of my life now.  I was always an athlete but even athletes now sometimes you let yourself slide and it is a battle to get yourself back on top.  So I worked for it and went for it.

Reaching your goals takes discipline.  Write down your plan what are you going to do this next month to help you reach those goals?  What about the next 6 months, a year from now and 5 years from now? The only people who fail their goals are those who never plan.  Write them down figure out exactly what you want from your life fitness-wise, career-wise and personal life and go for it!  Reach your gold medal moment.

Have you made your goal pyramid?

I have discovered the power of writing down your goals.  Statistics show that you are 80% more likely to meet your goal if you write it down.  Personally I just started doing this.  I came across a book, Jillian Michaels, Unlimited (I highly recommend this book as well) that talked about writing your goal pyramid.  So I have since recorded my goals and have my goal pyramids hanging in my apartment.  I have a personal as well as professional goal pyramid.  I broke it down into daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals.  Some of my goals might seem a bit lofty but if you don't aim high for yourself who will?  I have challenged myself to stay on top of these goals and it has made a difference in the way I live.  I am more adventurous about what I want and go for it.  I'm more willing to put myself out there and express my opinions on things.  My personal yearly goal was to weigh 145lbs.  I am very close to hitting that and I'm only 1 month into that yearly goal.  I than can reassess and add to that.  I'm now thinking I want to do a fitness show of sorts.  This is something I have thought about doing for a long time but never felt confident enough to go after it.  I now feel I could do it and be proud of my body.  

So I challenge you to write down your goals.  If you don't want to do a pyramid that is fine but pick one goal that you are really striving to achieve.  Once you reach that goal, and you will choose another.  Life is all about bettering oneself and I believe goals are a great way to hold yourself accountable.  You can also tell a trusted friend, spouse or colleague your goals and have them help hold you accountable.  The sky is the limit and put yourself out of your comfort zone to achieve your goal!