Ok so February has arrived after what seemed like the longest and shortest January. The newness of 2018 has settled down and all those big resolution hopes and dreams may or may not be on track. So lets continue the talk about fitness, no not weight loss but real healthy body fitness. 

After years of training we’ve found that a lot of the fails that people experience when they embark on a fitness journey are due to the preconceived notions they bring with them at the start. Let’s review the cycle;

• Initial phase– “Ok Im getting on it this year! Starting January 1st no more junk food, no drinking, I’m working out 5 times a week and cooking healthy every day.”
• Secondary phase (Week 1-2) 0-100 in no time, sugar withdrawals, exhausting workouts, dreaded meal preps. (Week 3-4) Stuff happens meal preps don’t get made, a couple of “bad” meals in and you’ve missed your workouts.
• Final phase (week 5-6)   “This healthy food is too expensive,  I am not ready for those workouts so I’ll just stick to walking and the Super Bowl/Valentine’s Day is here so forget the diet, I want to have fun.”

Here is where we want to interject, see the thing about fitness is that we are programmed to believe that you must do all of these things to become “fit”.  Of course eating well, exercising and being consistent are key but we want to propose something different.

Stop working out & start TRAINING!

As with anything important in life, training is key to success. Think about it, from birth we start training for life.  We train for everything from sleep, eating and even potty training. Then we hit school and extracurricular activities, even moving on to drivers ed. Training is an integral part of life, without training we wouldn’t learn and succeed at the things that are helpful to our daily lives.

Now why do we look at exercise any different? Doesn’t exercise help us become stronger, healthier and better? Isn’t exercise one of the things that can help our aging bodies continue to function in a healthy way? So the challenge is to STOP working out and start training.

Here are 5 ways to start Training

1. Stop waiting for a friend. Find a gym, boot camp or fitness class that is interesting & challenging to you. Then sign up & just do it! Training strategically focused on you.
2. Make yourself a priority, this means your training is scheduled and cannot be changed. If you want real results your training has to be priority. So take time to research and schedule when you know you’ll be able to focus.
3. Forget about “what will they think”, “I don’t want them looking at me”. Anyone truly training to be better will be focused on themselves. Just like you need to solely focus on you when training. Do what must be done to remove distractions.
4. Research, ask questions & learn about deep breathing. Focus isn’t a trait we are born with, it must be practiced and the best way to get this started is by breathing. Deep breathing can help you focus in chaos and through discomfort.
5. Have a non-weight related goal. Yes training will help you gain or lose weight (depending on your goal) however when training a goal that doesn’t focus on a number on the scale is crucial.  Whether its a running PR (personal record), a 5k or getting through a 15 mile bike  ride without a break. List your ultimate goal then train consistently for it.