Understanding Physical Fitness
Carla Mangrum on Physical Fitness
Everyone has a different motivation for getting fit, the reasons your exercise routine may fail are usually the same; burnout, injury, or failure to meet your goals. Focusing on the positive aspects of working out are crucial to overcoming the mental obstacles that are common among people in any fitness program. There are four keys to success when creating and maintaining a workout program:
• Set realistic goals
• Create a plan
• Keep track of your progress
• Celebrate your achievements
Together all these steps will help to change your lifestyle and alter your views about working out. Let's briefly go over each one...
Setting Your Goals
Try and always maintain a positive attitude toward working out. I know it can be difficult with the worries and stresses of life, but a positive attitude can make a huge difference. Concentrating on the benefits you will gain from your routine are important. Always set small goals to begin, like losing 5 or 10 lbs. or toning up some of those hidden muscles. Then, eventually, you can up your goals to bigger things, like say running a 5k or doing 45 minutes on the treadmill without stopping. Recognize that change takes time. The keys to maintaining a fitness routine are; patience, consistency, and discipline. Fitness should be an ongoing endeavor. Fitness is not just a goal to be reached, but rather a new way to live.
Creating Your Plan
What are your likes and dislikes? Always contain a variety of activities to prevent burnout. Always include a minimum of each to the three main types of fitness programs (strength, cardiovascular, and flexibility). I will be discussing these more in my next article.
Keep Track of Your Progress
It helps you stay motivated, focused, and disciplined. It will also help you determine the effectiveness of your routine and measure your success. Remember, everyone's body is different,therefore, progress will vary from one to another, don't get discouraged, it WILL happen. Keep track of your immediate goals regarding there frequency, intensity, and duration of each workout.
Celebrating Your Achievements
This will help to increase the likelihood that you will continue with your fitness routine. Therefore, it's important to reward yourself when you make progress towards your short, and long term goals. The type of reward you give yourself is just as important as the achievements you are celebrating. Rewards should be healthy, that means no chocolate covered brownies (ha-ha). Instead, choose something like going to a movie, a new piece of clothing, a new pair of shoes, or an expensive, but healthy dinner.
Here's a few helpful tips to help you on your journey:
1. Schedule & plan your workouts in advance (that way you have a better chance of sticking to it)
2. Keep a positive attitude (don't worry if you miss a workout or two, just make up for it on your next
workout)
3. Find a "fitness buddy" (someone with similar goals, encouragement from friends can be very motivating).
So, as I've said before...What are you waiting for? GET UP AND MOVE!!
Carla Mangrum is a physical fitness expert and professional aerobics instructor.
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