| Are you looking to get fit this summer? I recently came across a great post on the lifefitness.com website called, "The 7 Habits of Highly Fit People". I thought it was a great read and really hit on the major lifestyle changes that you can make if you're aiming to be more "fit". I thought I'd expand on this a little and point some of you in the right direction, if you're looking to take on some of these habits. Also, be sure to check out the 8th habit I added at the end! |  |
1. Live by the 90/10 rule. 90% of the time, focus on maintaining healthy habits and allow indulgences 10% of the time. It's not what you do once in a while that counts; it's what you do most of the time.
 | I REALLY like this rule! Unless you are avoiding a specific food type/category for a medical reason, chances are, you don't need to eat clean 100% of the time. You also don't need to workout EVERY day - in fact, your body needs rest too! You might even find it's easier to stick to your overall "get fit" plan if you're allowing yourself some room for indulgences - if make your guidelines too rigid, then your plan most likely won't stick! So go ahead and have that cookie instead of thinking about wanting it for the next week - just be sure to get right back on track! |
2. Aim for an hour a day, but never miss two days in a row of exercise. Follow the two-day rule. Something may come up that makes you miss an exercise on a particular day, but don't let it happen more than two days in a row.
| This is a great rule to follow when you're healthy and uninjured - but if you have an injury, skipping a workout for more than two days is not only acceptable, but NECESSARY! Otherwise, skipping your workouts for more than two days not only starts to have negative effects on your progress, but it also starts to create a new habit - a habit of not exercising. The best way to stick to your workout plan is to SCHEDULE YOUR WORKOUTS. I can't emphasize this enough - at the beginning of each week, take a look at your schedule and see where you have the time to workout. Once it's in your calendar, treat it like an important meeting with yourself - you wouldn't miss an important meeting with your boss, so treat yourself with the same level of respect! Set a reminder on your phone if you need to. I find it's best for me to workout in the morning - it's the first thing I do on most days. Often things come up during the day that might change our schedules, but what else is going to come up at 5:00am? An alternative is to plan to meet a friend - chances are you're more likely to stick to a plan if you have someone else counting on you! |  |
3. Find a substitute for weaknesses. With a simple Google search, you can find healthier options for the most tempting treat.
Depending on your weakness, this may or may not work. The article suggests substituting Greek yogurt with berries and walnuts for ice cream. I'm not really an ice cream girl myself, but I know many people who LOVE their ice cream, and I bet that this substitution just isn't going to hit the spot for them. So give this rule a try, but pay attention to how satisfying your substitution is - if it's not working for you, save your "treats" for that 10% of the time!
4. Use monitoring tools. Determine what monitoring tools you want to use to track steps taken, calories burned, heart rate zones and workouts.
 | This is a GREAT tip! With all of the apps you can download to your phone these days, there's really no excuse NOT to be tracking your workouts. I love using the the Daily Burn Tracker to track all of my workouts. It helps me see when I have great days and days that are not so great. Not only can I track my workouts, but it also has a food diary, a place to track your water intake AND your sleep. It even has a place to enter in your progress for all of the P90x workouts! When you're keeping track of all of these things, you begin to get a feel for what habits are having a positive effect on your fitness! For my running, I either use a Garmin GPS watch or the Nike+ running app, and just glancing down at my pace every once in a while during a run, really helps me stay on target. But, it doesn't really matter WHAT you're using to track your progress - just that you ARE tracking it! If you've never kept a food diary before, you might be surprised at what you're eating! |
5. Cross Train. Unless you are preparing for an upcoming competition or race, train for overall health, including cardio, strength and flexibility. Don't get in a rut of steady state cardio. Add intervals, hills and speed to challenge the heart. Work muscles with functional strength training at least twice a week. Also, consider taking a yoga class, or make a habit of stretching.
Keeping your workouts varied not only keeps you less bored, but it's a great way to keep up with your overall fitness. It also gives you a chance to try new things and maybe even meet new people! If you're relying on the same workout every day, chances are that you're not doing much for your overall fitness. These days, gyms, boutique studios and at-home workouts are so versatile, there really is something for everyone. If you can't afford a gym membership, check out boutique studios like spin and yoga studios and boot camp classes - there are always great deals on Groupon and Living Social, and you usually don't have to sign a contract or commit to a membership. Also, most gyms will let you try out the facility FREE for a few days. If you prefer to workout at home, check out your cable company's on demand programming - many cable providers have on-demand workouts for all fitness levels. OR you can browse the internet - there are so many websites and blogs that offer FREE at-home workouts. Check out my friend Melissa's blog - these workouts are AMAZING! Lastly, if you're looking for a structured workout program that is going to offer cardio, strength AND flexibility training, check out these Beachbody programs:
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6. Be prepared. Travel with healthy snacks and always have water on hand. Extreme hungry is the enemy and often causes us to make bad choices.
As much as we schedule and plan, there are always going to be things that come up and keep of from our fitness routine - a meeting that ran late or the bus/train that's not running on schedule. The key is to BE PREPARED! I ALWAYS have a bag of pistachios and a bottle of water in my gym bag. You never know when hunger will strike, and it's often when we're STARVING that we make the worst choices - skipping the gym, hitting up the drive-thru, etc. Keeping snacks like nuts and dried fruit in your purse, your gym bag or your car, can really help avoid those situations. Also, did you know that you should be drinking half your body weight (in pounds) in ounces of water EVERY DAY? And, that's not even accounting for replacing sweat from your workout. Since we get a lot of water from food, sometimes our bodies confuse thirst for hunger. If you think you're hungry, try drinking some water first! Another way you can stay prepared - clean out your fridge and pantry! Keep healthy options at eye level, and if you can't part with the "bad" stuff, at least hide it in the back. Cut up your fruits and veggies so they're always available for a quick and convenient snack. Lastly, just like you're planning your workouts for the week - plan your meals too. Your ride home from work probably isn't the best time to decide what you're going to have for dinner that night. If you plan ahead, you're likely to make better choices!
| 7. Check your attitude. If thoughts are positive, actions are more likely to be positive too. This one is self explanatory. Your attitude has a lot to do with how you will progress and succeed. Remember - you're not going to see progress and results every day, and you might even have setbacks, but if you're on a general trend of improving your fitness you'll be amazed at the progress you'll make over the course of three months, or even a year. |  |
and here's one more habit I'd like to add:
 | 8. Workout with friends. I know there are people would think they would never set foot in a gym or workout with friends - either they're embarrassed about how they look or their own fitness level, but I guarantee you that if you make working out a part of your social life, it becomes a hobby instead of a chore. Not only will your friends hold you more accountable, but you'll likely try new things, meet new people and overall change your attitude. When I run fitness challenges, one of the most enjoyable aspects of the challenge that my challenge members report back about is often the support and camaraderie of the other members - and most of the time these people are strangers! Imagine if they were your friends! Maybe you weren't really interested in that Zumba class your friend suggested, but who knows, maybe you'll LOVE it? Neale Donald Walsch says it best: "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone". |
What is a habit that helps keeps you fit?
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