Am I Really Serious About Working Out?

Am I Really Serious About Working Out?

How many times have you made the New Year’s Resolution to get fit, eat right, or buy the gym membership, then after a few weeks, lose complete interest in all of the above? Or, how about hitting the gym hard for a little while, actually working out, seeing a few results and then stop going? At that moment, ask yourself, “Am I really serious about working out? Am I serious about my health?”

Many people have the stigma of using various reasons to justify why they can’t or refuse to continue to work out. Some common excuses are work, kids, lack of time, season change, I forgot my gym clothes at home or I don’t have clothes for the gym, the cost of the membership, or all of the above. Some even try to use the flat out, no shame, yeah I said it, “I would work out, but I’m too lazy,” excuse. People who come up with these excuses aren’t as serious about change as they seem to be. Or they don’t have the motivation to push for the goal after it is made. It’s synonymous with lighting a candle in darkness and blowing it out prematurely. How will or can you possibly reach your full potential before you allow yourself to be pushed to the limit?

In order to beat this decline in gym enthusiasm, truly commit to bettering yourself. Mentally prepare yourself to do better and stick with your goal of being fit. There are many different methods of doing this. One way is to create a daily schedule. Find an allotted time to work out. Do not give yourself any excuses for missing this appointment. Place it at a time when there is very little going on in your daily routine. Most people find it best to wake up an hour earlier and workout before getting started with their day. Sure, it’s an hour less of sleep but it’s for your own good. From there, create a workout schedule for a week. Seeing that it isn’t good to work out every day (because your muscles have to rest and recover), work out every other day or every 2 days.

It’s also really good to take a before progress picture of yourself and use that as a starting point. It also works well to monitor workout progress when taking pictures over a feasible timeframe (i.e. bi-weekly or monthly). Another is to find a picture of someone else and set a goal to work towards. Evaluate your diet. Look for tips on healthy eating, implement a few changes, and slowly implement a full change of your diet. Everything you put in your body is fuel, so if you put trash in it, you won’t perform at optimum level. One way to not go crazy from dieting and eating healthy is to pick one day a week to eat whatever and how much of whatever you want. ONE DAY! We will talk more about this in a later post.

Truthfully, there are many ways we can defeat the “not so serious” factor. There is no shortcut to bettering ourselves. We just have to roll up our sleeves, be men/women of our word and just do it. So, let’s be healthy, let’s get motivated, and LET’S GET SERIOUS!