Fitness & Wellness News Your Source for Fitness News, Wellness News, Health News, and Nutrition News!
by Michelle Sutton-Kerchner
It’s time to get back into the groove. Accomplish what you need at this given time …
January can be a month of conflict. One minute, we are pumped up with resolutions, goals, and priorities. The next, we feel like the post-holiday weather: gray, chilled, and with a chance of three repetitious months. Motivate yourself to energize your days. Create a brightness that shines throughout the year, even though it kicks off in winter.
Get Over the Guilt
You may not have accomplished your usual fitness routine over the holidays. You probably ate one too many treats. Perhaps you closed 2014 striving for a healthy lifestyle that never quite materialized. Don’t bring last year’s shortcomings into your fresh start.
Take a new approach to your workouts based on where you are today. If you lost stamina or muscle, take steps to gain it back. Do not put yourself on a fast track to fitness goals. You cannot make up for time lost or calories gained last month. And, you especially cannot quickly undo those gained over a lifetime. The results will be discouraging as you nurse sore, overworked muscles. Heating pads and fatigue are not conducive to fitness commitment.
Meet with a Personal Trainer
Discover your current fitness level. Better to know than guess and be ineffective on the Exercise Floor. A few weeks can bring significant changes. If it’s been several years (high school gym class, anyone?), imagine the changes. Make sure you work out appropriately, in consideration of your current condition.
Winter blues may not inspire you to challenge yourself enough. Or, post-holiday indulgences may lead to an overzealous approach. The Center’s fitness professionals can help achieve a balanced workout, one that gets you sweating at just the right level.
Check in with the Center nurse for your routine evaluation. Combined with a personal training assessment, you’ll have the insight needed to accomplish safe workouts that deliver results specific to your body.
Beginners, fear not. A little research and planning can help you kick box, swim, and pump iron with the best of them. Even outgoing personalities may approach public workouts with some apprehension. Realize everyone was new once. Ask a trainer or instructor to provide tips and monitor you in the beginning. Friendly oversight builds confidence and comfort.
Veterans, offer your own advice to newbies in need. Give directions to the locker room or tips on some favorite Group Fitness classes. The Center’s welcoming, inspiring environment helps make us a community. Be part of that camaraderie, for yourself and others.
Bring Your Brain
Capitalize on the motivation that comes with a new year. Let go of the past and journey onward. Often the focus is on movement, doing– eating well, exercising, committing. They are all action words. Prepare your mind. Do the mental work. Focus your thoughts to better execute quality actions. Do not let your mind inhibit your ability to succeed at a healthier lifestyle. You only can accomplish what your brain allows.
