You’ve been telling yourself for months that you need to take ownership and get into the gym, eat better, be more active… Reach fitness goals! But you just haven’t done it yet.
What are you waiting for? What is the excuse you give yourself every time the opportunity presents itself for you to take action?
Have you been working out or trying to eat right and you just can’t seem to stick with it? Do your workouts seem boring, or you dread the thought of going to the gym and wondering around figuring out what to do?
Don’t feel bad. Making a change and building new habits aren’t easy things. Here are 5 things you can do to take back your health, revitalize your lifestyle, and just feel better about everything.
5 Ways to Take Ownership and Reach Fitness Goals:
1. Get help – The first thing you can do is realize that you don’t have to do it on your own. There are people out there that can listen to what you want, and help you get there. Ask for help is a good sign that you’re serious about making a change.
You don’t have to know anything about fitness or nutrition, let a professional do that for you. You can provide the targets, they will build the path for you to reach them.
2. Be consistent – Once you get something started, Show up! Don’t skip days. If you only do something sporadically, it will never become a habit and you won’t reach fitness goals. Developing habits is the only way to get fit and healthy and make it last.
Start small and build up, Be consistent in doing something a little bit at a time then add to it, until you’ve reached your goal.
3. Find a tribe – Nothing is fun for long if you do it alone all the time. Even the most solitary activities are enjoyed more when you share them with someone. Working out and living a fit and healthy lifestyle is the same way. Find people you can share with, learn from, that motivate you, and that you can motivate in return.
The more you surround yourself with positive, healthy, active people; the more you’ll want to be positive, health and active yourself.
4. Track your progress – How often to do track what you’re doing? Whether it’s what you eat or how you did in each workout, keep a record of what you’re doing helps in two ways. 1. It let’s you know if what you’re doing is even working. 2. It gives you a better idea of what progress you are or aren’t making, It’s feedback. Here’s an example how important have feedback and knowing where you are in your progress can be:
“On July 4, 1952, at the age of 34, Florence Chadwick attempted to become the first woman to swim 21 miles across the Catalina Channel, from Catalina Island to Palos Verde on the California coast. The weather that day was not auspicious-the ocean was ice cold, the fog was so thick that she could hardly see the support boats that followed her, and sharks prowled around her. Several times, her support crew used rifles to drive away the sharks.
While Americans watched on television, she swam for hours. Her mother and her trainer, who were in one of the support boats, encouraged her to keep going. However, after 15 hours and 55 minutes, with only a half mile to go, she felt that she couldn’t go on, and asked to be taken out of the water.
Brian Cavanaugh, in A Fresh Packet of Sower’s Seeds, noted that she told a reporter, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I know I could have made it.” The fog had made her unable to see her goal, and it had felt to her like she was getting nowhere” – from “Queen of the Channel” (http://www.queenofthechannel.com/florence-chadwick)
5. Do the little things – The devil’s in the details. Don’t cheat. Don’t skip workouts. Do all your sets, Work hard the whole workout. If you set a short term goal, do everything you can to make it happen. Break things down into little stepping stone that lead to a bigger goal and knock them off one by one.
Your journey isn’t going to happen in one big step. Have some patience and enjoy the process. The reward will be sooo worth it.
I hope these help you along your journey.
