Sometimes no matter how hard we work, we just can’t seem to pull it all together and our fitness goals fly out the window. Today’s post focuses on seven tips to help reach your fitness goals. Most are common sense, but are easily forgotten when the busyness of life takes over.
1. Set your goals in writing – Without measurable goals it’s hard to have focus, and failure to write those goals down makes it easy to get distracted. Posting your goals in a place you’ll see them daily helps keep them at the forefront and will makes you work harder toward achieving them. Having measurable goals will enable you to determine exactly when that goal has been reached.
2. Devise a plan for reaching your goals – Break your goals down into steps and determine what it needs to be done and how long it will take to reach each goal. List those steps with specific deadlines for completion.
3. Determine when you have the most energy and work out then – Working out when you have the most energy just makes sense; however, sometimes that’s impossible and you’ll have to adjust your routine. If you’re a morning person, but have to be at a meeting at 7:30 AM, you might have to reschedule your workout until that evening. The key is to do it and not let the morning’s disruption derail your workout for the day.
4. Schedule your run, weight lifting session, yoga, etc. into your daily calendar – To help make tip number three more likely to work, always schedule your workouts into your calendar and/or add them to your to-do list. Don’t fall into the trap of letting other people’s needs replace your own. If you have a workout scheduled at 7 PM, leave the office in time to make that happen.
5. Plan your runs or workouts near your office or home so they’re easier to fit in – Based on my unscientifc research, I’ve learned from many years of working in a gym that unless it’s convenient, people will quickly quit coming to the gym. If the gym is near their home, they’ll use it before or after work; and if it’s near their office, they’ll also have the option of using it during their lunch break. Weekend use flips and the closer it is to home, makes it more convenient.
6. Find a workout buddy or hire a personal trainer or coach – I’ve discovered nothing gets me out of bed and to the running trail quicker than knowing that someone is waiting on me. Having a workout buddy not only holds you accountable to show up for your workout, but that person can also be a great resource for bouncing training ideas off of. If you’re looking to take your workouts to the next level, consider hiring a personal trainer or coach.
7. Log your workouts, how you felt, and what you can do to improve next time – Using either a logbook or an app on your phone, record your workouts. Knowing you’re going to be writing down your workout will make you more accountable to yourself; plus having old workouts to look back on helps in making comparisons and seeing improvements.
Give these seven tips to help reach your fitness goals a try, and let me know how they work for you. You’ve got this!
- Questions:
- Do you log your workouts? If so, where?
- What tips can you add to my list?
- Do you have a trainer or a coach?
GREAT tips…I REALLY need to make more time for running and working out, but I’ll admit having a little down time with my kids has been nice. I use dailymile to log my miles, which sadly has been nil for a couple months now!
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Perhaps your planking buddy will someday become your running buddy! 🙂 I just ran Ragnar DC on a team with my youngest son and kept my oldest son company during twenty miles of his 46-mile ultra a couple of summers ago!
Hmm, I’m still trying to figure out when I have the most energy…lol
I always log my workouts/runs. I need to be better at doing it in a more timely manner though. Although the Garmin saves my stats, I don’t always remember how I felt or what shoes I wore.
My Garmin is being very annoying, and won’t record my stats or give me mile breakdowns. I think I need to do a hard reset on it, or buy a new and improved one!
Love this 🙂 I have done them all except #6 I did meet with a coach here local one time, but I started having health issues right after that so it just wasn’t the right timing.
I log details in Garmin Connect for all my work outs and I love to flip back through last year and previous years.
When I decided I wanted to run Richmond I wrote a whole big plan but was afraid to admit I was training gout loud until a few weeks ago lol
That’s great that you already practice most of these tips. LOL on you not wanting to admit out loud that you were planning to run Richmond, but I can sort of understand since you had so many problems with your feet earlier this year. Good luck, Richmond will be here before you know it!