How to Develop a Fitness or Workout Routine You Can Stick To
Your fitness and weight-loss journey can be a bumpy or smooth ride, depending upon the steps and decisions you take. Your fitness routine will be most fruitful when you’ve planned beforehand with some foresight into your own stamina. This involves setting up a routine and strategy that is sustainable in the long-run. When choosing a fitness routine, choose one that you enjoy, take baby steps, and make sure you can stay committed.
Here are some techniques you can adopt to develop a fitness or workout routine that you can stick to for a long time:
Decide what you love to do that’s physical
Your weight loss does not have to be the conventional going-to-the-gym, drinking-protein-shakes and having-lean-protein journey that you’ve seen everyone else go through. You can make use of any physical activity that you enjoy, maximize your energies into engaging in that activity, and voila! You’re on your fitness journey. Your fitness routine can be any physical activity you want- from skipping ropes to playing football, walking, running, biking, or lifting weights, running on a treadmill or an elliptical! (Playing video games does not count, unfortunately). It’s not just about setting up an activity, however. You must be fully consistent and engage on a daily basis. Set reminders in your calendar on a daily basis or use a personal voice assistant such as Siri, Alexa or Google. Make sure you are going hard and not just slacking through whatever activity you have chosen to do. One thing that would help in this regard is setting daily or weekly goals for yourself. If you’re lifting weights, you can increase your reps or weights overtime. If you’re biking, you can set up the miles you want to be doing after a week or month of consistent biking. If you’re running, you can set up timing goals for yourself and increase them over the course of time. Setting up goals will prove to be extremely helpful in the long-run, too. Not only will it give you personal fulfillment and an enjoyable, engaging activity – your fitness journey will become all the more effective and easy to be consistent in.
To keep healthy, or to lose weight? Decide why exactly you’re working out.
Your goals and achievements in your fitness journey will be significantly influenced by what exactly your motives are. Are you going through all of this just get to a healthy weight? Are you doing this just because you’ve set your mind to shedding some pounds without pouring much other thought into it? Did you set up a New Year’s resolution to get to a six pack abs body? It’s important to be self aware about what your incentives and their causes are. This will help you set respective goals that are in line with your vision for yourself. Moreover, a fully developed visual in your mind of where you want to reach over time will help you stay consistent in your endeavors. Remember, consistency is probably the number one most important aspect of your fitness journey. If you’re finding it difficult to get past those lunges or weights, and you can just remind yourself of the vision you’ve set for yourself, you’ll automatically find yourself more motivated and energized and hence keep up with your fitness routine. Moreover, you need to know when to stop or slow down. While it may seem like this is not something you worry about for now; there will be a time when you will actually have met your goals (yes, you can do it!) and will have to decide to slow down. If you’d set up your goals prior to starting your journey, it will be easier for you to know when to make this mighty decision.
Your diet is an important part of weight loss
When it comes to fitness, the importance of diet and calories cannot be overstated. Your diet plays an even bigger difference than your workout routine in the long-run. You must make sure to limit your calorie intake and, ideally, make lifestyle changes that will help you stay fit in the long run. What can you eat? What can you not eat? The truth is, moderation is key. You can eat everything as long as it is of a balanced quantity. However, make sure to avoid packaged foods, sweets and junk food as much as possible. Also make sure to stay far away from fried food. Get your daily calories from fruits and vegetables. Stick to lean protein. Limit your carbs. Sound boring? We promise you, it will be worth the restraint! Now let’s get to the part you’ll be waiting for every week: Cheat days. Do remember to reward yourself with a cheat day at least once a week. This will help you release all your restrained desires and, moreover, help prevent your cravings for the rest of the week. If you can train yourself to restrict your food choices to healthy food over time, you’ll be doing your body a huge favor – and your fitness journey will become all the more sweet and fruitful.
Start with just 15 minutes a day.
The toughest part to get through in your fitness journey will probably be the beginning. This is the time when you will have to train your body to go out of its comfort zone and moreover, train yourself to be consistent and not just drop out after a few days or working out. What’s the easiest way to get past the initial stages? Taking baby steps! Set yourself only small goals in the beginning. Just 15 minutes of running on the first day, or half a mile of biking on the first week. Increase your input gradually at the pace you deem fit. When it comes to the initial days, consistency is more important than your actual workout routine. If you make it a hobby to dedicate half an hour or so of your day to working out, you’ll be able to progress to much more over time. Research shows that it takes at least 21 days to develop a habit. If you can stick for at least 30 days, your physical activity will become like second nature to you and it becomes a life style. Committing to just 15 minutes of exercise per day can have positive long term benefits over time by the power of the compounding effect, whether you’re looking to lose weight or live a healthy lifestyle. Once you’ve established this hobby, you fitness routine will settle in and you’ll be able to overcome all that laziness over the course of time. So this is what comes down to: Get off the couch, and get running. Once you’re able to do that consistently for a week or two – your fitness journey has begun!
Get yourself an accountability partner
An accountability partner is just a weight loss partner that will help you get through your fitness journey and help you stay consistent. You’ll both be able to help each keep up and stay consistent. Many experts say that having a partner in your fitness endeavors can make a big difference in how much you’re able to accomplish. There is statistical evidence that social support is a positive factor for anyone looking to lose weight or get fit. Your accountability partner should ideally share your fitness goals and be willing to put in at least as much input as you everyday. They can be your diet partners as well as your workout partner, or just one of the two. Make sure you find someone whose schedule aligns with yours so you’re actually able to help each other out instead of just crumbling each other’s aspirations after a few days. You can find someone within your friends or family, someone in the gym you go to, or even online! DietBuddy.com is one of the many “match service” websites that help find partners for those looking to lose weight. Do not hesitate to call it quits if your partner is not working out or affecting your progress negatively. If you’re not getting what you need from doing this with someone else, it’s best to find someone else or just proceed on your own.
Don’t put pressure on yourself
Putting too much pressure on yourself will not just make your fitness routine and journey an unpleasant experience – it will make it less likely for you to succeed in the long-run. Make sure the goals you’re setting for yourself are rational and realistic. Stick to what you can do and discard what seems impossible. It is important to make sure you are not going through your fitness journey as if you were coerced into it. As stated before, it’s best to take baby steps and progress over time than setting yourself high goals in the beginning and failing. Relax, enjoy the journey, go easy on yourself, and remember to reward yourself when you make progress!
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