5 STEPS TO CREATE A FITNESS ROUTINE
So here you are, envious of the people who go to the gym out of habit and are there regularly. So what now, how do you get from unmotivated and sitting on the couch to waking up at 5 am and getting your workout in before you have to go to work? We all started out with being unmotivated and feeling overwhelmed with where to begin when creating a fitness routine. It seems nearly impossible to enjoy working out and to wake up early to go workout, and not only that, but to enjoy working out.
First things first, it is a process, and it will be an ongoing journey. It gets easier for sure, but it is still a daily choice to put your health first. So know going into it, it won’t be easy. It just simply won’t be, but does that mean that is going to scare you away from living a life of physical freedom? Are you not willing to put an hour aside each day or even less, it doesn’t have to be a huge daily commitment, just an intentional 20-30 minutes a day. You also have to go into each workout session not as a punishment, but as a celebration of what you can do with your body! As soon as you look at it as a punishment for all you ate or drank after your weekend, or those two pieces of cake you ate instead of just one piece. You can’t look at working out as a punishment, that is when it won’t stick. You’ll never enjoy working out then, and that is not setting yourself up for success. You will only fail if that is how you look at working out. You can look at it as a celebration or an accomplishment when you’ve mastered a yoga pose, or broke your PR for a particular lift. It can show you how strong, physically and mentally, that you really are. It is a really incredible feeling when you accomplish things like this, whatever it may be. That is the beautiful part of working out, there are so many aspects to working out, flexibility, strength, endurance, whatever you may be chasing after when you are working out, it will leave you feeling accomplished when you’ve reached your goals. You hit that goal and then you right away set another goal that you can chase after.
Do what you love and enjoy. If your thing is training for a marathon, then do the training for a marathon. If you want to lift heavy, then push yourself and break those PR’s. If you want to become a yogi, then do your poses and work your butt off towards your flexibility and strength for yoga. If you want to perfect the pilates reformer, my personal passion, then you get yourself on the reformer multiple times a week and try new moves that seem impossible. If your goal is sports, then you do training and different skills to advance your athletic abilities. There are so many avenues when it comes to fitness, you don’t only have to lift heavy, you don’t only have to do yoga, etc. You choose what you enjoy, because in the end, that is what you are passionate about and that is something that you will stick with. That in the end will be one of your best friends when it comes to making a fitness routine stick.
Do what works for you, I have had huge success with clients who workout only three times a week, and on the other hand, I have had clients who workout 5+ times a week and they also have great success, it depends on each person. You want to workout less, then you gotta be really committed to eating healthy. If you want to workout 5+ times a week, again, nutrition is going to be your best friend when it comes to seeing results, it doesn’t give you an excuse to eat processed and junk food multiple times a week. You just have to know your body and know what works best for you, it is different for every single person. There is never a one size fits all. Know that going into this process, it will be a bit of trial and error to figure out what you will stick with in the long run, what works for your body as well as your daily schedule. You only want to workout three times a week, no problem, you just push yourself a bit harder those three days a week and really make it count. You want to spend less time each day at the gym and just do thirty minutes a day and go more times a week, then you do that. I cannot say enough, you do what works best for YOU.
Find accountability and make a plan. If you have no plan and no goals, what will get you out of bed each morning to go workout? If you want to lose weight, but still have a hard time getting out of bed, then maybe you need to dig deeper. You want to lose weight to feel better, but dig deeper and why do you want to lose weight, to have more energy, to live a longer healthier life that can be enjoyed no matter the age that you are at, be around for your kids or grandkids, feel great in a specific dress? Dig deep and get really personal, don’t just say you want to lose weight, is that what is going to get you out of bed each day? Fitness doesn’t have to be about losing weight either, it can be about maintaining, wanting to live an enjoyable life, having more energy through out your day. The more personal and real you get with yourself and your mentor, the more you are going to stick with it. Tell someone else so they can hold you accountable, but really peel back those layers and dig deep with WHY you are wanting to embark on this fitness journey. Let me tell you, if your goal is just to tone up, it won’t get you out of bed. “I want to be toned because I want to feel 110% confident when I am out on the Hawaiian beach in my swimsuit with my family. I don’t want to let my feelings of insecurity cloud my time with my husband + kids, missing out on those memories while you are feeling insecure inside.” Knowing that your kids will grow up fast and soon enough they will be out of the house and it will be nearly impossible to get them all together in one place at one time again, so enjoy the time you do have, life flies by. THAT is something that will get you out of bed if that is how you are truly feeling. Really dig deep and figure out your why, trust me, it will get you out of that freaking bed or off the couch no matter what time.
Don’t compare. Comparison is really a killer of joy. It will suck the LIFE out of you if you let it. Don’t compare your fitness journey with someone else’s. Don’t compare your goals to anyone else’s. You get the point, just don’t compare. Dig deep and stay true to your goals and yourself. Don’t be envious of someone else’s life. Your life has components that people are jealous about too, so be happy for people. If you aren’t happy, it isn’t going to help by looking at someone else’s journey and being jealous, it will only add fuel to the flame. If you are unhappy, DO something, don’t wallow. DO something, and that isn’t ever easy to get started, but you have to or you are going to remain unhappy. Life looks different to everyone, and everyone’s life is beautiful the way it is, so don’t think you have it rough, because there really is good in everyone’s life. Find that beauty, find that passion, whatever it may be, DO something. It isn’t up to others to make your life better or happier. It is up to YOU to be quite frank. That being said, the true and real happiness isn’t going to come from anything else but, God. He is the only one who can complete us, can keep us content, can help us see the positive light in every situation, without Him we are still going to feel incomplete. Build that relationship with God, and once you have that, you are going to fight every single day to not let the devil tell you lies and make you feel like your life is insufficient. Look to the TRUE source of happiness, and then fill in the gaps by DOING something to help shift your thinking.
It won’t be easy, I won’t lie, but it will always be worth it. I can’t tell you how many instances where I have witnessed inactive people and unhealthy people try to combat all of their unhealthy habits, and it is SO much harder to try and come back from that. It is way easier to start while you are on top and chip away at it day by day, it is way easier to START this new routine, then having other physical limitations and health limitations that are also weighing you down when you need to start. So start if you can without those limitations, and if you have limitations, that’s okay, you can still START. You are strong, you are enough, you can do it, dig deep and keep building that discipline! Never hesitate to reach out if you have more personal questions or need someone holding you accountable, never be afraid to reach out, I love nothing more then helping people with this journey, because it isn’t easy, but it can be done!
Start now, you won’t regret it!
xoxo, Mara
