May 9, 2024

Need a Rest Day?

January 18, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Respect your rest!

Rest days are essential to all fitness programs. In fact, rest/recovery days should be programmed IN to your workout schedule to allow for muscle recovery and mental rejuvenation.

Here’s why you should respect your rest day:

Makes workouts sustainable. Sufficient rest means you’ll have renewed energy to log the next hard workout.

Reduce risk of injury. Rest days allow your body time to rebuild and recover.

Refresh mental focus. Rest days give your mind time to process your workout and the mental focus required.

Maintains interest. Taking a day off from your key activity decreases risk of burnout.

 

 

 

 

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How’s your Attitude?

January 15, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Check your Attitude!

Check your attitude and leave your ego at the door! Fitness has peaks and valleys, so prioritize a positive attitude for long term success. Your attitude is your choice!

Here’s how to do it:

Let it go. Fall short of a goal? After reviewing your actions, let it go. Holding on to regrets will only increase your self-doubt and anxiety, hindering your progress.

Be realistic. Where is your fitness now, today? Take inventory of your current status, design a plan, then move forward.

Commit every day. Life happens, how do you respond? Make a commitment every day to continue your fitness journey. There’s always a way to make exercise happen, if you want it badly enough.

Make a vision board. Make a collage of words, pictures or quotes of what you plan to accomplish in your fitness. Place the board where you will see it many times each day. Each glance will give you energy and motivation to keep moving forward.

Surround yourself with positivity. Spend time with those who support you, who strive to improve themselves, who focus on the bright side of things, and who practice problem solving to stay on pace toward a goal.

 

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Workout Consistency Matters!

January 14, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Consistency Matters!

Find a way to exercise consistently to see best overall results. Consistent exercise means you’ll feel better, look better and just plain function better because your body will have time to adapt to your exercise. Change your workout format or type of workout until you find a method complements and works with your schedule.

Here are a four ideas to get consistent with your fitness:

Monday mandatory exercise. Set a healthy tone to your week by always working out on Monday.

Week at a glance. Every Sunday sit down with your calendar and schedule your workouts for the week.

Tally up the week. Every Friday tally up your workouts. Miss your goal? Use the weekend to make up the missed workout(s).

Commit to a set schedule. Commit to a set workout schedule each month. Doing so leaves nothing up to guessing or trying to fit in fitness last minute.

 

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Get Uncomfortable with Your Fitness

January 13, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Get Uncomfortable!

Part of your fitness journey may be uncomfortable, unsettling or uncertain. Guess what? Feeling uneasy about your fitness goals is common! Physical fitness gains, and mental personal growth, happens when we overcome an uncomfortable feeling. We learn about our inner-strength and realize we are so much stronger than we think. It is through this principle that we feel empowered and confident, and these qualities carry over into all aspects of our life. Fitness is about so much more than the time we log in a workout!

Here’s how to get uncomfortable with your fitness (and enjoy it):

Take a class. Been interested in learning about the latest workout craze at your gym? Show up and try it!

Register for a race. Athletic competition is not just for kids. Enter a race and enjoy the motivation boost.

Master a new skill. Never learned to golf? Take a lesson. Always interested in stand up paddle boarding? Take a lesson.

Join a team. Check out your local recreation center to learn about local adult teams and leagues.

Revisit a old short-coming. Did you fall short of a goal previously and then abandon the goal entirely? Consider revisiting the goal again. Doing so will allow you to work through all the emotions that accompanied your efforts. The outcome may be different this time around.

 

 

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Pick It Up!

January 12, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Pick It Up!

…your exercise intensity, that is! Increase the intensity of your cardio for more of a challenge.

Here’s how to increase your exercise intensity for more of a cardiovascular challenge: (Always consult your physician before beginning exercise.)

Add in 10 second- 2 minute sprints to your cardio workout.

Add in plyometrics or full body body-weight exercises.

Vary the terrain. Hit the stairs, trails or stadiums for a high intensity challenge.

Reduce rest time in between sprint cardiovascular intervals.

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Change Up Your Exercise Routine

January 11, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Change up your exercises!

If you’ve been doing the same workout for months and months, your body (and your mind) will benefit from unaccustomed exercise. Unaccustomed exercise simply means changing up your exercise routine! Doing so every 4-6 weeks means your body has to adapt to a new stimulus (or load), and this means your body will continue to get stronger. Changing up your exercise routine is also a great method to keep motivation high!

What are different variables in your workout to change?

Change out a specific exercise. For example, trade out a squat on the squat rack to holding two dumbbells.

Change the order of your exercises.

Add in a different workout component entirely. For example, add in a yoga class to your week.

Change up your rest time in between sets.

Change the format of your exercise routine. For example, try circuit training or super-sets.

 

 

 

 

 

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Get Motivated- GO PLAY!

January 8, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

GO PLAY!

How do you increase workout motivation? Make your fitness FUN! A fun workout means you’ll want to do it, which means you’ll be consistent. A consistent workout means results!

Revisit the play-days of your childhood with these fun workout ideas:

Jump Rope. Jumping rope is a great exercise to challenge your heart, muscles and coordination.

Obstacle Course. Set up an obstacle course that forces you to run, jump, crawl, balance and pull. Obstacle courses are limited only by your imagination.

Climb. Head to your local rock climbing wall and sign up for a lesson. Better yet, invite friends to join you. You’ll be empowered and energized, all while logging a challenging workout.

Hike. Leave your watch in the car and head to the trail. Take in the view while the terrain challenges your mind and your muscles.

Soccer, Basketball, Tennis, Dance. What physical activities did you enjoy playing as a youngster? Adults can play too, GO!

 

 

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Should you consider a fitness partner?

January 7, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Find a fitness partner!

If you’re short on motivation, find a fitness partner. You’ll be less likely to miss a workout when you know someone is waiting for you. What are additional benefits of having a training partner?

Adds support. Who better to know how much effort you’re applying than your fitness partner. He or she is there to provide encouragement when times are tough. Support is key for fitness success.

Provides accountability. Slacking off a little? Your fitness partner will let you know. Have made huge progress? Your fitness partner will let you know.

Encourages unaccustomed exercise. Working out with a fitness partner means you may try new workouts more often due to differing interests. Over time you’re able to introduce one another to your favorite workouts and types of exercises.

 

 

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Train your Mind.

January 6, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Train your Mind.

Doubts about meeting your fitness goal? Normal. Unsure you’ll be able to keep up with your exercise program? Understandable. Anxious about your physical capabilities? Common. The answer is in training your mind by adopting a regular workout mantra. A mantra uses positive thinking to empower your mind, and in turn your body. Improving your mental fitness takes specificity and repetition, and is well worth the effort. Harness your mental power and strength by practicing just a few minutes throughout your day. Here’s how it works:

A mantra should begin with “I am…” or “I have…” For example, “I am a strong, steady and powerful runner.” Choose a sentence or phrase that includes your personal power words, and uses vocabulary in the present tense as if you’ve already reached your goal.  Recite your mantra regularly during your workout and during your day in general. Your mantra will act to silence the negative self-talk, and re-focus your efforts. Consider your mantra as your mental fitness program.

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Logging your Workout: Worthwhile or Waste of Time?

January 5, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Get Fit Quick Tip:


Log it!


Logging workouts is a great way to stay motivated. Whether via an app, through notes on your phone, laptop or with good ole pen and paper, tracking your workouts gives each workout a focus and purpose. Keeping a detailed workout log:

Offers Feedback. Simply put, are you ON-pace or OFF-pace of your goal? Whether you track workouts based on number of days, minutes or workouts, feedback is clear.

Provides Reinforcement. In other words, workout +workout +workout, builds momentum and motivation to keep it up! Looking at your workout notes reinforces your efforts and in turn your results, or lack thereof. You are getting stronger. You are losing inches. You are making progress.

Reveals Patterns. Through a written log, both positive and negative patterns are obvious. For example, do you tend to skip workouts on Wednesdays? Set yourself up for success and move your rest day to Wednesday. Do most of your high intensity workouts happen on Saturday? Schedule those workouts intentionally, knowing you’re rested from being able to sleep in on the weekend.

Finding what works for you is the key to consistency. Consistency is key to results. Logging is essential to finding what works best for your body, your schedule and your fitness goals, all with no time wasted.

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