New Year, New You! Or is it?
It’s the beginning of a brand new year and it seems like everyone is trying to sell you a new and better you through the hope of New Year’s resolutions. But before you make your purchase, I encourage you to ask yourself, have past resolutions brought you success or are you bound by tradition? Do you commit to the gym’s enticing new membership offer simply because it’s January? Or, are you ready to commit to behavior modification to make a lasting and positive change? There’s no wrong answer but the time you invest to evaluate your motivation could be life changing for you. The commitment to make any lifestyle change can be a little scary and if you’ve experienced feelings of defeat in the past, the fear of failure can appear even more challenging but with the right mindset and behavior modification tools, you can achieve a lasting change and begin living a healthy lifestyle.
It’s important that you find an exercise or activity that you enjoy, because if you love it, chances are you’re going to go back for more. Here are some affordable and fun winter workouts in your area:
Hit the streets for a walk/run. Avoid maintaining the same pace for the duration of your workout to increase endurance and burn unwanted fat. Have fun using landmarks to increase and decrease your speed. You’ll burn more calories with a higher heart rate but you’ll target unwanted fat during short, slower paced intervals. Plan your route at www.MapMyRun.com
Dive in Aquatic exercise is best known as a lifetime sport because of the seemingly endless benefits to the body. Regular swimming increases endurance, cardio-vascular fitness, muscle strength and it also serves as an effective cross-training program. Water aerobics, kick workouts and lap swimming all provide a complete and total body workout with little to no impact on bones and joints. Beginners check out www.SwimToSlim.com to for easy to follow workouts and swim tips. http://www.bgcdet.org/aquatics.html
Join a group fitness class Group fitness classes are designed with you in mind, allowing you to go at your own pace or detailing the level of fitness taught in the class. You have to opportunity to meet new people, establish a relationship with the instructor and gain overall accountability through fitness and friends. Call your local gym to learn which classes are offered or visit these two links to find independent classes in your area: Facebook.com/TBrentFitness
Living a fit and healthy lifestyle should never be limited to your time in the gym or based solely on your diet because you will never be able to “out work” bad food choices. If you decide that you need additional help reaching your goals, fitness professionals can provide support, education and accountability. Health coaches work with individuals to achieve a lasting change through behavior modification, nutrition and physical exercise; establishing relationships with their client through daily or routine communication both in and out of the gym. Personal trainers work individually with clients in a gym or fitness environment, usually with a pre-determined set number of hours each week. Both are great resources for anyone looking to establish or maintain a healthy lifestyle. Are you ready for a new healthy you? Take a deep breath and follow these steps: 1. Evaluate your motivation. 2. Set your goals. 3. Take it one day at a time by choosing to make one or more healthy decisions every day.
I believe in you! Go make this the best year ever!