How To Make A Fitness Program Work For You
Guidelines and Tips to Save You Time, Energy, and Money
Saving time and being efficient are key factors to a successful fitness program. Minimizing set up time and combining different elements of a workout not only saves time but also promotes faster changes. Conversely, a lack of immediate access to your equipment can hinder motivation and cost more money, creating more challenges instead of results.
State your Goals
Goals create purpose and focus. Creating a few goals that are specific and reachable will do wonders for your fitness plan. On the most basic level, motivation and consistency play a major role in obtaining the results you want.
Here are some things to consider when creating your goals:
- Make your goals specific.
- Make your goal reasonable and specify a time frame for completion.
- Meeting a goal (even a small one) can build motivation and momentum
For example, saying ”I want to lose weight” is less effective than saying ”I would like to lose two pounds in a month.” If you lose the two pounds, you’ve created some momentum by your success. A smaller weight loss goal over an extended time period is a practical approach, easier on your body, and shows self-restraint.
Be Patient
Over working your muscles can cause many problems, including injuries. If you injure yourself, the program can come to a complete halt. It is important to show you are in this for the long run. If you over-exert yourself, you will feel sore, beat up, and possibly decide the program is too hard. Build your program one level at a time; just don't forget to take your time.
- Work plus rest equals strength
- Quality sleep reduces stress
- Accept your fitness program as a lifestyle change, not a one-time deal
A normal side effect of working the muscles vigorously is known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). This condition may take as long as 48 hours for its effect to be felt. This is normal but should not be ignored. When starting a program, wait until most of the soreness is gone before working the same muscle group. As you train safely and consistently, the DOMS effect will diminish. Think of it as a break-in period for your body to acclimate to new challenges.
Multi-tasking Your Muscles
Any strength move done simultaneously with aerobic fitness requires more energy and decreases the amount of time you need to spend doing the activity. There are some advantages to multi-tasking your muscles.
- Combine aerobic and strength portions of your fitness plan to maximize the workout.
- Combining saves time and is more productive than doing exercises separately.
- Combining different muscle groups offers more variety to a program.
- Using more than one muscle group during exercise will burn more calories.
Instead of walking a mile, walk a mile carrying a small hand weight. During the walk, do some arm presses over your head or bicep curls. Doing leg lunges with hand weights is another example of combining muscle groups. This also creates more variety for your program. Variation will keep your muscles guessing and keep the routine from becoming stale.
Changing Your Nutritional Habits
Everyone is different when it comes to food preferences. You are sure to get hungry if you workout regularly. Keeping track of what you eat and when you eat it can be a valuable tool to assess to your overall progress (see article on How to make a Food and Fitness Journal). Changing your diet one item at a time allows the body to acclimate to small changes and help you to understand what different foods are doing to your body. Here are some important points to remember for a successful fitness program.
- Identify and eliminate unhealthy food choices one at a time.
- Introduce healthy foods one at a time.
- Increase protein intake.
- Consume good fats and whole grain carbohydrates.
- Reduce slowly sugar and stimulants like coffee.
- Limit alcohol intake.
- Increase water intake.
Sugar is not the enemy and is an essential for your energy and health. However, used excessively, sugar causes energy level gyrations, making it difficult to maintain a stable training platform. Introduce or increase complex carbohydrates that breakdown more slowly, creating a sustained energy. Protein is essential for building tissue. As your fitness program begins, increase the amount of protein in your diet to build and repair muscle tissue. Consume more water to replenish moisture lost from exercising and keep your metabolism balanced.
How Much Money Should I Spend on My Fitness program?
The cost of fitness plan depends more on desires than needs. You may enjoy going to the health club because it makes the experience seem more real. They have lots of equipment, classes, and a devoted atmosphere to fitness and health. However, it is quite possible to use your living room with a set of hand weights and a stretching mat to accomplish similar results. Club fees can be expensive. You will have to decide what is best for yourself, but decide on the one that you will do most of the time with optimism and regularity. If you keep your set up time and equipment simple you can get to it before you change your mind. The important point is to remove potential roadblocks to your program.
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