LA fitness news

Tips for staying on track

November 25, 2009

Bill Cosby said: "A word to the wise ain’t necessary; it’s the stupid ones that need the advice." Congratulations on picking up your exercise programme again. Here a few tips that may help to keep you on track.

Reward yourself regularly. Set yourself a manageable target for month-one and, if you hit it, go out to dinner. Hell, if you don’t hit it go out to dinner and figure out how you’re going to get there next month. Write a simple contract with yourself – put some whys, whens and wherefores in it - sign it, and tape it to the fridge.

Watch negative self-talk, it will kill you. Replace the "I can’t do this" voice with the "I can do pretty much anything I make my mind up to do," voice. Stay focused on why it is that you are exercising in the first place. If you don’t have a reason, find one. Tell your family and friends, it makes it harder to quit. Be kind to yourself: Recognise the fact that it’s okay to screw up from time to time as long as you get back to it quickly.

If you would like more information on exercise adherence and motivation, please talk to one of our fitness instructors.

Sticking with it

• Set yourself manageable goals and reward yourself regularly.

• Write a simple contract with yourself and tape it to fridge – ask our instructors for some help on the content of the contract.

• Stay focused on the reasons that you started exercising in the first place.

THINK OF EXERCISE AS "ME-TIME"

"It's been about two months since I've worked out, I just don't have the time. Which is odd, because I have the time to go out to dinner… and watch TV … and get a bone density test … and try to figure out what my phone number spells in words." Ellen Degeneres.

Time, or the lack of it, is always the biggest excuse for not exercising but we all know that it’s just a smoke screen. That’s not to say that you we are sitting around doing nothing all day long, but it is remarkable how we find time for things that we enjoy or that are important to us.

Here’s the deal with exercise: It may never be something that you enjoy (many people who exercise regularly don’t necessarily enjoy it) but it’s tough to think of too many things that are more important or that leave you feeling so good afterwards. So find a time of the day that suits you, chose the days of the week you are going to work out and diarise them as ‘me time’. Nothing, but nothing gets in the way of ‘me time’. It’s amazing how fast you can create a habit.

You may like to talk to our fitness instructors about time management strategies around exercise.

Finding Time

• Exercise is one of the most valuable gifts you can give yourself.

• Find a regular time to come to the gym, diarise it and treat it as an appointment.

• Don’t let anything get in the way of that appointment. "I don’t have time" is just a smokescreen.

EXERCISE IS A HABIT WORTH HAVING

"I am your constant companion, I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half the things you do you might just as well turn over to me and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly. I am easily managed - you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons I will do it automatically.

"I am the servant of all great people and, alas, of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a human. You may run me for profit or run me for ruin - it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will place the world at your feet. Who am I? I am habit." Anon.

Exercise is a habit; it’s not easily acquired but it is well worth having. Habit is often created by routine and, like most routines, exercise sometimes gets disrupted. If that happens don’t beat yourself up, just accept that it is par for the course and get into it again.

If you would like to know more about creating an exercise habit, please talk to one of our fitness instructors.

Creating a routine

• Making exercise a habit requires a little discipline at first but it’s well worth it.

• Habit is created by routine – try to develop a weekly workout routine.

• If you break that routine, it’s not the end of the world – happens to us all. Just accept it and get back into the gym again.

PULL THE OTHER ONE

One of the most important factors in maintaining an exercise programme is to remove all of the excuses: The dog didn’t eat your training shoes, neither did you run out of shampoo, microwave your membership card or shrink your shorts in the wash. You don’t have a superior metabolism and, no, a hot bath won’t burn the same number of calories.

It doesn’t matter if you only eat food from other people’s plates or if you have all your meals standing up. Walking to the car is nice but it won’t do it and, no, you don’t burn calories eating celery. Perspiration won’t give you an allergic reaction and the cat will be just fine until you get home. Yes you should be jumping up and down at your age and no your friend didn’t get pregnant by sitting on an exercise bike.

No, drinking Diet Coke isn’t just as effective as working out, fishing isn’t an endurance event, darts doesn’t firm up your triceps and snooker isn’t a great low back exercise. If you can add to the list feel free but in the meantime do yourself a favour and get down to the gym. No, it’s not shut every evening.

Our fitness instructors know pretty much every excuse in the book so please talk to them if you are wavering.

Excuses, excuses

• Every now and again a new excuse emerges that we haven’t heard before.

• But it’s pretty rare.

• So unless you’ve been abducted by aliens, do yourself a favour and get yourself down to the gym.

NO PAIN, NO GAIN, MAKES NO SENSE

The eighteenth century poet William Cowper said, "Variety’s the very spice of life," but how does the quotation finish? Research from the University of Gainesville in Florida suggests that doing the same form of exercise for an extended period of time is one of the most common precursors to quitting altogether.

Not surprising really, you just run out of steam. At this point, let’s bury the ‘no pain, no gain’ mantra once and for all; there is no merit in flogging yourself to death week after week on pieces of equipment you don’t enjoy in the belief that if it hurts it must be doing some good. Who knows, it may be doing some good – the problem is that most people don’t stay around long enough for us to find out.

So, if you are in the boredom zone, find out what it is that you like doing, ask one of our fitness instructors to build you a programme around those activities and make sure you mix things up regularly. The end of the quotation? "That gives it all its flavour."

Feel free to seek out one of our fitness instructors if you would like to change your programme.

Make it fun

• Doing the same routine time after time is often a precursor to quitting.

• Doing a routine that you find painful or boring doesn’t make any sense at all.

• Choose the exercises you enjoy, mix them up and make it fun.

YOUR ATTITUDE GOVERNS YOUR ALTITUDE

The law of attraction says that, in life, you tend to get what you think about. No matter how hard we try at our end, if you have a negative attitude towards exercise it is highly likely that you will invent a reason to quit at some stage and then find evidence to support the belief that quitting was the right thing to do.

If you tell yourself you haven’t got time, you won’t have time. If you tell yourself that exercise is boring, it will be boring. If you think that you can’t afford it, you won’t afford it. But, if you keep your eye on your goal and tell yourself that this is something worth making sacrifices for, you’ll blow that annoying little negative voice right out of the water.

If all else fails you might like to remember the wisdom of Herm Albright: "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."

Please talk to one of our fitness instructors if you would like to know more about how positive mental attitude works in an exercise context.

Positive self talk

• If you have a negative attitude towards exercise you will find a reason to quit.

• Keep your eye on your goals and tell yourself that the results are worth working for.

• Focus on the benefits of exercise and you will make it through the tough times that we all experience.

YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE GOALS

The legendary Zig Ziglar once said: "We teach our children many important disciplines [at school] including history, economics, literature, science and so forth, but we miss one critically important skill: goal setting. We award them their degrees, pat them on their backs and send them into the world full of wisdom, but ill-prepared, almost always, to design and pursue the lives they really want."

Goal setting or, to be more accurate, the failure to do so, is one of the primary reasons why people quit exercise programmes. The logic is obvious: If you don’t have anything to aim for then when the going gets tough – and the going gets tough for all of us at times – there is no foundation to refer back to.

There’s a whole bunch of stuff been written about goal setting but the most important thing is to have one. BHAGs (big, hairy, audacious goals) are good, but small manageable milestones are the way to get started. By the way, remember to celebrate success when you achieve your goals.

If you haven’t got an exercise goal, please ask one of our fitness instructors for advice.

Great goal setting

• Almost everyone finds it much easier to workout regularly if they have a target to aim at.

• By all means set yourself some big, hairy, audacious goals (BHAGs).

• But make sure you break them down into bite-sized chunks.

IF ALL ELSE FAILS, TRY LAUGHING

Having led a pretty healthy life – a strict diet, no alcohol, no smoking and lots of exercise – an old couple died suddenly in an accident. When they arrived in heaven they were escorted to their luxury apartment and the following morning the old boy threw open the curtains to reveal an eighteen-hole, championship golf course.

"What are the green fees?" he asked. "This is heaven," replied St. Peter, "everything is free". After nine holes of golf they visited the spa for a sauna and massage and then took lunch in the club house. "Where are all the low fat foods and decaffeinated drinks?" asked the man. "This is heaven sir, you can eat and drink as much as you like and you won’t put on any weight," came the reply. "Does that mean I never have to go to the gym again?" asked the old man. "Nop, never again - all you need to do here is enjoy yourself." The old man rounded on his wife, "If it hadn’t have been for you and your bloody bran muffins, we could have been here ten years ago."

A tip from LA Fitness: Probably best to stick with the gym and low-fat muffins while you’re in the queue for the free golf and spa, just in case it takes a while.

Lighten Up

• They say that a good belly laugh every day is great for your health.
• You might like to try building a library of comedy clips that make you laugh and watching them often.
• Regular exercise will lift your spirits come what may – so have fun.