Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Trainer Tuesdays: How Can I Make Fitness Part of My Routine?


Trainer Tuesdays

Welcome back to the weekly edition on Trainer Tuesdays. Make sure to check in at our blog every Tuesday evening to learn the expertise of our great staff. Aside from being fantastic exercise coaches, they are also extremely knowledgeable in many aspects of health and fitness; so, it's time that you get to know them a little better! Each week, we will post a frequently asked, or sometimes just a fun fitness related question followed by the answers of each of the trainers at Fitness Together Brecksville.


How Can I Make Fitness Part of My Routine?
http://www.fitnesstogetherbrecksville.net

Bronson Rotaru: You can make fitness part of your routine by setting small goals, this can include both daily and weekly goals to get you into the habit of being active. Don't forget to set some limits for yourself on your nutrition too. You are what you eat!

Kelly Bailey: A habit is defined as a behavior that we do almost automatically. New habits are difficult to form, and old habits are hard to break. Habits allow us to operate on auto-pilot so that our brains can focus on other thoughts or tasks. Imagine if you had to really concentrate on every small task, like how to brush your teeth. You'd never get anything done.

Habits are formed by repeating an action over and over with some sort of reward for doing so. In the beginning, exercise may not feel very rewarding. It's hard, you sweat, and then get sore the next day! However, to form the habit, you need to keep doing it. As you begin to see changes and get stronger, your attitude toward exercise will become positive and it will then become a habit.
There are things you can do to help guide your brain in making exercise a habit. Start by figuring out when you are most likely to exercise: morning, afternoon, or evening. Then physically write your workouts into a calendar. Defend that time as YOUR time. Have your workout clothes ready. I keep a bag in my car that contains everything I need for a workout on the fly. Last, but maybe most important, is to keep a positive attitude. If you dwell on how much you hate working out, you'll likely never make it a habit.


Steven Madden: Making fitness part of your routine can be a challenge sometimes.  We all have increasingly busy lives, and if fitness is already not a priority, it can be hard to make it one.  If you can turn fitness into a habit, it can become a permanent part of your routine.

The first part is simply getting started.  People tend to know they want or need to increase their level of fitness, but don't know where to start.  They resolve to call the gym or a personal trainer tomorrow and talk to them.  Maybe they'll sign up, maybe they won't.  That is a start, but I like to tell people that when you decide to call tomorrow, go for a walk today, do some push ups, squats and sit ups.  Just because you are not working in a gym or with a professional does not mean that you cannot start right now.  20 min of exercise can go a long way in making fitness a habit before your "official" start.

After that, it's as simple as almost one day at a time.  People new to fitness can be overwhelmed by the idea of how much they may be pushed to do over the next several months.  That's where I like this mantra, "what do I have to do today?  What do I have to do tomorrow?"  That's it.  In the beginning, it is easier to focus on the one thing I need to accomplish today, and making sure I'm prepared for the one thing I have to do tomorrow.  It may not even be a workout, it may be something as simple as getting that full 8 hour of sleep for your workout recovery.  Treating fitness in this way in the beginning can be less daunting than trying to plot out three months of workouts into your schedule.

When you work out may change day to day, and that's fine, but don't let that become a crutch.  If two days a week you work out before work, but that third day when you work out after diner is easy to skip, make a change.  Bring your clothes, don't go home first.  The gym I use sometimes is between my work and home for this reason.  Overtime, you start to get comfortable with fitness, and soon it folds it's self into your daily routine without thinking about it.


Taynee Pearson: Fitness should be apart of everyone's daily routine to stay healthy. Walking the dog is a good form of exercise and running would even be better, this is a good way to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. Going hiking or riding your bike in the mornings or afternoons will help with your fitness. Picking up a sport to play is a good way to get fit and it's fun! Doing exercises in the pool while relaxing or laying around the pool is a great way to stay cool and exercise during the summer.

Lisa Clark: If most people were asked how easy it is to make exercise a part of their daily routine, they would agree that it is a difficult and challenging thing to do. After our initial enthusiasm begins to wane and we don't see the results right away, that we were hoping to see, it often becomes too easy to give up. However if you can push through the discouraging feelings you will find a reward waiting for you on the other side! In addition to the positive changes in your body that you will begin to see, you will also start seeing so many other added benefits to a regular exercise routine, more energy, feelings of well being, feeling relaxed and alert, and sleeping better at night are only a few of the benefits you will begin to see. A few suggestions I have for helping you to succeed in this quest for an active lifestyle, are to not bite off more than you can chew. Make smaller goals that will be more easily achieved, such as, instead of setting a goal of losing 40 lbs and cutting out all carbs from your diet, try setting a goal of 5-10 lbs and decreasing your intake instead of eliminating an entire food group from your diet. Joining a gym can be helpful, however having a personal trainer who is going to keep you accountable for showing up for workouts and pushing you a little harder, can be a huge key to getting you on your way to a daily routine where exercise is just as important as brushing your teeth.

© 2014 Fitness Together, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Fusionbox.

No comments:

Post a Comment