You don't need a gym to workout! Workout from home!

"Do or do not. There is no try."
~Yoda

Since we just got through the month of January, I'm sure you've seen all the latest commercials and ads from gyms advertising their winter sales. The gyms know that January is the best time of year to capitalize on everyone making their new year's resolutions to get in shape and indeed, they rack up the memberships in January. Go to a gym in January, its packed. Go in February, its less so. Go in March and its just the regulars and a disciplined few that have stuck to their resolutions. Go in April and its the same and so on. You get the idea.

No doubt about it, going to a gym sounds like a great idea and is IF you stick to it. Just like anything else, you have to stick to it to see results. The problem with gyms that I hear from a lot of my clients are among others:

-you're too tired to go after work, you just want to go home
-you don't want to deal with traffic
-it's too far from home
-you're too embarrassed to go to a gym
-you don't know what to do at a gym
-you don't like being around so many people

Those are just some of the more common reasons people have. They all have a lot of validity to them as well. BUT you know what? You don't need a gym to workout and get yourself in shape. You can go running, swimming or you can workout from home! Yes, you can workout from home. No fancy equipment needed, in fact you can get a good workout without any equipment at all. Especially when you're just getting into the swing of it and starting out. I train people in their homes and even though I bring equipment to them if they don't have it, the first month of workouts usually are done with bodyweight exercises and calisthenics types of activities for cardio. For a lot of people, moving their bodyweight in an exercise manner is enough when all they're used to is moving their bodyweight from work to the couch to watch some TV. Nothing is better than working out at home and being able to take a nice long bath or shower right after in the comfort of your own home and then sit down to relax for the night knowing that you got a good workout in and got yourself one step closer to where you want your body to be.

The problems with gyms (unless you pay for the personal trainers) and training at home is the self-discipline needed to make yourself do exercise and to continue to do it. Most people lack the self-discipline to do what they know they need to do which is why they need to be doing it in the first place! If you can motivate yourself, then great! If you find it hard though, then training with a partner is the way to go. It holds you accountable to someone else who will hold you accountable to yourself. You'll know that you can't just take the day off with your partner coming over to workout with you. Of course, if your partner is not very motivated then you're back to square one. Also, its important that one of you know what to do in putting together a workout. While at first any exercise is good exercise, your body will adapt faster than you think and you'll need to know how to tweak the workouts as your body gets more fit to keep upping the ante and getting results. Contrary to what some believe, just adding more and more reps to exercises is not the way to go. When it comes to exercising, there will come a point of diminishing returns where you are overtraining your body and you will reach a roadblock. A proper workout schedule and program can prevent this from happening. Stress, lack of sleep, etc. can contribute to overtraining though, knowing how to get through that is important. Having a good workout partner if you need someone to hold you accountable or if you intend to do it on your own, making yourself knowledgeable on exercising and dieting can be very beneficial. You can subscribe to magazines like Men's Health or Women's Health for exercise and diet tips to learn more about exercise and dieting right.

I hope I've helped open your eyes to the possibilities that you have before you and removed some of the excuses you've put before yourself that have prevented you from getting your body and health where you want it to be. Remember that quote from up above! :)

Its that time of year to make those pesky resolutions!

"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult"
~ Seneca the Younger (4 BC to AD) philosopher, statesman and dramatist

It's that annual time of year that some of us dread, some of us look forward to and there's even those of us that don't bother with it - New Year's Resolutions time! All together now! Whoohoo! Groan! Mutter. Mutter.

Most of us have been guilty of all 3 behaviors. We make resolutions and don't follow them or break them weeks, months and for some - days or even hours later! It all starts with good intentions but we know the road to hell is sometimes paved with good intentions. Intentions followed by inaction will just lead to that all familiar road of frustration and disappointment that led us to doing the resolution in the first place! It's a good thing to set resolutions (goals), it gives you a roadmap to fixing a bad habit, character/personality flaw, etc. that you are probably more aware of than you'd like to admit. Setting a goal helps you face the thing that you need to fix and helps focus you on what steps you need to do to reach your goal. The problems a lot of people make is setting too big of a goal or setting them in too short or long of a timeframe. When setting a goal, its important to make small attainable goals that take you where you want to be. These smaller goals not only give you easier goals to reach for but also gives you small successes along the way to your overall goal. This progressive way of reaching your goals is efficient, motivating and best of all, seems rather simple. Sometimes simple is better.

So, lets say instead of saying that your goal is to lose 30 pounds this year, say that you want to lose 30 pounds this year and that you will lose 2.5 pounds a month to get there. With saying that you only want to lose 30 pounds, you're leaving the time-frame too open-ended since you are giving yourself a whole year to reach that goal. What will most do? You got it, put it off. Next thing they know, its November and it's too late with all that good holiday food ahead. So, you tell yourself "too late now, might as well start with the new year! That'll be my new year's resolution!". And so the cycle of frustration and disappointment continues and the clock ticks away. Sound familiar? Telling yourself you only have to lose 2.5 pounds a month sure sounds attainable doesn't it? Guess what? After 12 months, you'll have reached your 30 pound weight loss goal! ;)

Now repeat after me - I will set my goals but this time I will make small attainable goals to reach my bigger goal! I will get to where I want to be. I will because I have the roadmap and that gives me confidence that I will do it. Nothing will stop me from changing what I want to change and achieving what I want to achieve.

I'm proud of you. I have a good feeling that you will do what you need to do. Whenever you need a reminder or a motivation boost, come visit and read this entry. It'll be here waiting to motivate you all year long. :)