Bulletproof Your Workout Success
With COVID shutting down gyms left and right and not a definitive path to long term availability, finding a sustainable way to stay fit and more importantly, motivated becomes tough. I get it. I definitely felt that punch in the gut with having my local gym close along with being furloughed from the gym I worked at. But after I allowed myself a couple of weeks to process things and mourn (we all needed that time to process), I put on my athlete hat back on and reassessed the situation. I’ve been in tough situations before during races. In 2015, I’m in Boston, it’s scheduled to be pouring rain and cold for the race and I have no rain gear with me. I left it at home in Socal. So what do I do? I found a vendor at the expo and buy some clothes for the race. I ended up running my fastest marathon at that time. Another time, I left my watch at home the morning of a half marathon race. So I switch my game plan and decide to run based on how I feel and not my time. Every 5k, I’d ask someone what our time was and adjusted my pace accordingly. I ended up running my fastest time for my half. In both events, I had followed my training plan in the weeks and months before, so these minor hiccups don’t mean nothing in the greater scheme of things. 2020 is mother of hiccups! But again, it’s just that, something that can be devastating but minimized if we have a plan and a bit of determination. I want to help you be better planned so that your fitness can thrive despite what’s going on currently, or what may come. Here are some tips to help you overcome the hiccups that may be throwing off the start or your consistency in your fitness routine.
1. Set your workout clothes and alarm the night before – If mornings aren’t your thing, getting out of bed is rough. Put your phone on the other side of the room. You’ll have to get out of bed to turn it off. Likewise, stumbling around to find things to get to working out aren’t conducive to getting in your workout or run. So pull out the workout gear and have it ready to go. Prep those things the night before so that you just have to roll out of bed, change clothes and go.
2. Accountability partner – Chances are you’re not alone in wanting to maintain a routine. Reach out to your friends and family and pair up with them to go get your workout on. You might want to flake on yourself, but you’re less likely to flake on your buds.
3. Minor tweaks and moderation – How many times have you said, “This is it! This is the last time I ___.” And yet, you never quite stick to it. It’s hard to cold turkey anything! It tastes good! It feels good! I get it. But how about turning the screw just a tiny bit in the right direction. Can you eat one fruit a day? Can you stretch out for 10 minutes while binging on Netflix? Take a conference call or Zoom meeting while standing or walking around? Of course you can.
4. Be honest with yourself – If you’ve let yourself fall out of better health for you, chances are that fall didn’t happen overnight. It gradually crept up on you over time, whether you were aware of it or not. Accept that. It’s okay. But you don’t have to stay there. Be honest and realize that reaching better health will take time. It won’t change overnight. Those minor tweaks I just mentioned are part of the equation to being healthier long term.
5. Value and invest in your health – When is the last time YOU changed the shocks on your car? Never? Why not? Because your car might not work properly if it’s not done by a professional. Likewise you have your taxes done by a professional because you don’t want to risk an audit from the IRS. So why wouldn’t you trust a professional with your health and fitness. Sure you –can attempt to do it yourself. But do you know how to assess yourself to find a good starting point? Do you know how to progress your work to keep from injury? That’s what fitness professionals are for – to take the guess work out of it for you and make it clear path for you.
Some of these tips might seem simple and logical to do, but getting started can be difficult to do. Staying on top of your fitness regularly provides another challenge. So I urge you to take these tips to heart. Set that alarm, find a buddy to start with, be honest with your goals and seek guidance from a professional. All good tips to get you going and keep you going. These past few months have definitely been trying on so many levels and offering a lot of unknown variables and timetables of when “normal” returns. Your fitness doesn’t have to suffer during this time. It will take some effort and discipline on your part, of course, but you don’t have to do it alone. Find that friend, get a good coach or at least solid consultation from one - I’m one and I’m ready to help, and get going.
