Dear friends,
It’s a true pleasure to connect with you this way, and I hope you’ll drop me a comment below with your thoughts about this very important subject for the end of January…What’s motivating you to keep going with fitness after the excitement of the new year dies down?
And then my 5 tips for getting into a workout routine…or back into one if the holidays and first weeks of the year threw everything off for you and you’re finally ready to hit the ground running!
I think that when we know WHY we’re doing something, it makes the HOW and the WHAT much easier to bring into focus. So this post has 2 parts…
First, Why do we workout?
And then secondly, once we’ve discovered that deep drive and motivation, how can we get ourselves to make the motivation into a habit, something we do day in and day out?
To start with WHY, we can ask ourselves–what kind of person am I seeking to become? And how does fitness fit into that goal?
My workout motivation stems from needing to be energized for my kids, to have mental focus for my life as both business owner and momma, to have a place to sweat and relieve stress, and a way to ensure I can be not only fitting into my pants, but growing in the strength that God desires for me. Funny story; my name means “Tower of strength”…Over time, it’s become more and more about gratitude, moving in gratitude for this body that is mine.
(Please, it’s not supposed to be about fitting into the pants…but that’s for another post at another time.)
I was reflecting on this during my first bootcamp class in early January, when all of us were bemoaning our days off from our exercise routines, and the holiday indulgences were making us feel the burn.
But in this moment, in this workout, I discovered another, almost deeper motivation. I come to workout because I need the discipline. All of a sudden, I was faced with the fact that it’s hard. You want to stop doing the reps, your body is yelling–”no thanks, I’m good, let’s wrap up” and your mind is saying “10 more, 9 more…”.And in my life right now, I need to flex that muscle. Sometimes the balance of my life demands all that I’ve got (always blessed, but sometimes stretched). And the discipline is what makes the bridge between joy and productivity/patience for me.
I realized another current motivation that is very strong for me. At other moments in life, I’ve been the queen of home workouts for periods of time, because of baby nap schedule and just squeezing it in here or there. But in this exact season of my life, I’m motivated by the social aspect. I love the community I’ve found. I want to have friends texting me “see you at the gym” and to walk into a class knowing that I know not only the instructor but some of the others who are showing up week after week to give a better and better version of themselves to it. And I know that because my days can be very full, sometimes the discipline of just showing up, smiling at friends, means that the workout will happen, it’s scheduled and I can’t (well, less likely to!) just walk out of it once I’m there, and Ambrose is happily playing with buddies in the child room, etc. The faces, the people, committed to their own processes, pull me deeper into my journey.
So, I ask you. Putting all of what I just shared aside. What’s your WHY for working out? What are your deeper reasons? Are they strong enough for you to commit to it and keep showing up for yourself?
If not, spend time with a journal and dig deeper. Of course there will always be excuses or reasons why this is not the season in life to prioritize this. I do get it. I’ve even had short seasons of life like that (a month when we were moving, for example). But in general, working out is such a fundamentally flexible thing to fit into a schedule–from 10min to 60 min workouts, 1 to 2 times per week, up to 7 times per week….that it’s good to look at what other things are taking precedence, and whether the energy and focus we get from working out might not indeed help us in those other areas of life…that we claim need all our attention.
Are you with me? What’s your Why for 2018? Are you bold enough to share below? I’m so curious.
Now…let’s chat about the HOW.
How do we make starting up a new workout/fitness routine easy and fun? Or if you’re 3 weeks into a routine and starting to flag…how can you re-energize your commitment to it?
5 Tips for Starting or Reviving a Workout Routine
(Why do all my posts offer 5? Because it’s more than 2 and less than 10…there. solved.)
- Schedule it in. This is the one that’s most obvious, and yet most people don’t actually do it, and then wonder why the day goes by and the workout didn’t happen! Grab your planner–look at the week ahead, see what pockets of time you have, and decide not only that you will workout, but also select what type of workout you’ll do. A lunch hour could hold a yoga session down the street. An early morning timeslot might be for a walk or run. An evening session might be weights at the gym, or maybe there’s one zumba or pilates class that you plan around and make sure it happens because you like the class. If it’s in your schedule, there’s a much better chance you’ll show up and make it happen. I have to adjust workout plans based on my toddler’s nap schedule and the school schedule of my girls, but it’s a non-negotiable that there will be 3-5 workouts, it’s just a matter of when.
- Find a fitness buddy from your real life (or make a new friend at the gym!). Accountability is key, especially while the habit is forming. Do you have some friends who will work out with you? Great. If not, do you have a long distance friend who you know is also a runner and you can check in on each other to make sure you did your training runs? Do you have a fitness tracker/app or phone feature (clearly, happily clueless over here), and do you get accountability from that community? Whatever it is, get that buddy system going and watch how your commitment and motivation soars. I started chatting with some moms coming in and out of the childcare center at my gym. Now we have each others #s and we text and plan which classes we will go to. Our kids are becoming buddies too. I’m a lot more motivated thanks to that simple tool.
- Figure out what you enjoy doing, for your Mindful Movement. Some people are made to do yoga 6 days a week; they love it. Others, like me, would go on a run whenever possible. Still others say “I hate working out, but I love zumba”. Voila. If you love it, you’re much more likely to get excited, to show up, to talk it up and get other great people involved. It’s a ripple effect of a passion for healthy living.
- Arrange positive feelings around the experience. That could include–but is not limited to—get some brand new workout tops and outfits to get excited about putting them on and using at the gym. It totally changes my commitment to sweating when I have some of the right gear! Or give yourself a reward (preferably non-food), such as a chance to sit with tea and read the book you want to read—after your workout, of course. It’s all about re-training your mind and calendar to welcome and accept this as a fundamental part of your schedule. Do things need to be adjusted some times? Of course!
- Finally, set up a schedule with carved out rest, nap and stretch days. What I learned last year the hard way is that you can over-extend and really wear yourself down, even doing more than a couple hard workouts per week. It’s time to welcome and value the importance of balance and since this is a marathon not a sprint–in all ways–you want to make sure you’re pacing yourself day and week in and out, to allow these habits to energize and transform you, not burn you out. We don’t want to over-produce cortisol, it will be counterproductive to our goals.
And finally–check out some amazing workout nutrition tools–pre, during, post–yep, it’s all be thought out and designed…and with a clinical trial and 3rd party study or 2 to back them up with some nice nutritional science. Email me to find out how you can get your first fitness pack at 50% off! (madeleine.pidel@gmail.com).
That’s it folks–1 or 2 deeper reasons WHY, some fresh new ideas to take your fitness plans from paper to reality. Let’s make 2018 a year of amazing fitness habits! When we feel better, we do better, and the promising new year and your life needs YOU at your best. And as I always like to remind myself, let’s enjoy the journey!
Maddy
Love this graphic reminding us of all the non-scale benefits of working out.
