What is your health and fitness goal? Would you like to lose a few pounds? Would you like to feel better in your skin and have more energy? Maybe you’d like to build some muscle and get stronger and leaner. Whatever that goal is, the route to achieving it looks complicated and scary and you think it requires a lot of hard work and sacrifices so you’re afraid of failure. Don’t worry, I have been there and seen many of my clients on day 1 being overwhelmed by the task too, change is scary at first. I am not going to lie, breaking old habits which are stopping you from becoming fitter and healthier is not easy, takes commitment, patience, perseverance and hard work. Every day. BUT to most people the key to success is being able to break down the big chunk of work into small steps they can perform every day, one step at a time. It all starts with making decisions and choices from the minute you wake up till you go to bed. This post is going to show you 5 very basic things which don’t necessarily cost money, but you can start doing today to help you get from A to B. 1. Stop Procrastinating, Start DoingDo you ever find yourself saying things like “I really would like to do that but I don’t have enough time because of…” OR “Before I can start exercising I need to wait for …” OR “My children need me all the time so I can’t find time for exercise…”? Whilst I am sure many of these reason are valid and very important, I also think that putting your health to the back seat for whatever reason will not help you on the long term. How would you like to run around with your kids/dogs, etc. if you don’t have the energy and fitness say in 5 years’ time? The point I am trying to make: there will always be something you can use as an excuse for not doing anything, but I also understand that everyone has got their own rhythm of life and whilst some can find resources to go to the gym six times a week, others may not be able to get away from home as much or at all. My suggestion is “USE WHAT YOU GOT”. If that is a 45 min walk every day with your dog/kids, that be it. If it’s a 20 min bodyweight workout every other day at home before you start your day, do that. Of course, if you feel you need to get away to be able to work out efficiently, then go and join a gym, a bootcamp or a CrossFit facility. Whatever you fancy, but do it today. Most of them have some kind of trial option, either a day pass or a free class pass, so you can understand what it’s about before committing. Do a google search on your choice of gym in your area and book your trial today! Go on youtube, hit up a 20 min HIIT workout and schedule it into your diary for later today or tomorrow morning. Believe me, you’ll feel better straight after you made that choice before even moving a leg. 2. Stay Active Throughout the DayAt Work I understand you may have a sedentary job and are locked to a computer for the most of your work hours. However believe me if I say this with 10+ years of customer service and project management job role experience: you’ll be much more efficient if you take regular breaks away from the computer. Where I come from there’s an actual regulation that the employer has to provide 10 mins away every hour from the computer screen to rest the eyes. Whilst I understand not everybody can do this around here, but every now and then getting out of that chair for a few minutes, go around the desk, doing calf raises, arm stretches, even squats can be a good idea to help blood flow in the body. In your lunch break make sure you stay away from the desk and if you can, take a 10 min walk, get some fresh air. When you give yourself a little time for recovery, you’ll be able to focus better and get things done much more efficiently. At Home/Shopping/Outdoors Walk where you can, 15 minutes will be no harm, you save on fuel and can give your mind a little rest too. Take your shopping bags home by walking if the shop is within 5-15 mins walk. I do that on a weekly basis. Have you ever done farmer’s walk with weights? Consider taking your bags home is the same. A little workout, two problems solved at a time. Use the stairs where possible. Do you ever get out of breath after walking up on a set of stairs? The easiest solution to that is to keep practising it. If you have stairs in your house, you can even do a step workout regularly. It is one of the best things (apart from burpees) to improve your fitness fairly quickly. Use any equipment you can find on your walks to do some strength work. A bench in the park is great for press ups, dips, box jumps, step ups, etc. You can use a bar for strengthening your back in many ways, swings on the playground can be used to work on core strength. 3. Plan Your Grocery ShoppingHow many times a week do you do grocery shopping? Once for the whole week or as and when you need something? Best thing is to get organised with this as it will actually help you to be more organised in what you put in your mouth (see point #4) too. Have you already set the day of your next grocery shopping? If yes, well done! If not yet, take a look at your diary NOW and find an hour or two where you’ll be able to do it this week. Book that slot out so you don’t schedule in anything else. I normally time it for Saturday or Sunday. Done? Good. Next step is to write a shopping list. Why would you need a list you may ask? The list is for you to keep away from what you don’t need. Most people, including myself buy way more food than they actually need. What happens with the leftovers? They end up in the bin after they’re out of date. That is a waste of money on your end and waste of money, time and energy on the producer’s end. (Yes, I believe in sustainability for our kids and grand-kids). To be able to write a shopping list you will need to look ahead and plan roughly what you and your family will eat, more importantly how often and how much, then break it down into ingredients and create your shopping list. Once I am done with this, I allow myself to have ONE, I repeat ONE extra thing I buy which is not on the list. It can be a treat, something new to my kitchen or anything on offer on the day I think is needed and didn’t think of buying. 4. Watch What You Put into Your MouthI don’t mean you shouldn't swallow small toys or bugs from the ground. Those are common sense. I mean the things called food sometimes. I am all in for a balanced nutrition as opposed to going on diets all the time, but there are a few rules I keep myself to so I don’t go too much overboard:
I live by all these rules in times when I am not preparing for any specific sport goal, however implementing all the above in one go may be too much for some. Pick one from the list, the one you think would make the biggest impact on your life and start focusing on that for the week. Once you feel confident the habit has become a routine, then pick your next one and whilst keeping up with the first, start focusing on the second one. Once you become confident again, you pick the third and so on until your nutrition habits are in line with those rules. 5. Get Some SleepYou may find this tip out of order or even odd. However your body has got its cycle. Same way as you can’t just exercise around the clock every day without burning out, as a whole person you can’t just run around like squirrels and not burn out unless you’re The Flash. Recovery is as much important part of your health and fitness as exercise and nutrition. These are the three pillars and if you manage to find a balance in all three, you’ll have a strong, sturdy three-legged chair you can build your health on. If there is any shortage in any of the three, the chair will become unstable and wobbly so better keep all three of them in check. Science suggests that an average adult needs 7-8 hours of sleep per day to function properly. How many hours do you get on average? I know for sure I sometimes struggle to hit 6-7, but my body tells me immediately to do something when that happens. Benefits of sleep include:
In short, aim for 7-9 hours of sleep every night and try to find the right amount for your body. If you struggle to get up on weekends and sleep more, it means you’re sleep is out of balance and needs addressing. By starting to focus on the FIVE things above from TODAY, you’ll understand in a few days that the journey to a better health and fitter body has just started. Before you realise, you’ll see changes in your mood, your motivation and soon enough you’ll be ready to give it your full and take it up a notch.
Let me know how you found this by commenting on here or in our “Strong Body, Strong Mind” Fit Club Facebook Group!
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Eszter BorosI am a Personal Trainer and Fitness Coach with personal experience in body transformation. Archives
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