Maya Angelou once said “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you”. Today, will be sharing my fitness journey and experiences with you and release myself from this type of agony. I hope it inspires you.
There is one thing I’ve discovered about money, (well, there are many things it can do but for this context) It can enroll you into a very nice gym/fitness class help you buy trendy sportswear, beautiful water bottles, nice sneakers, but it won’t do the workouts for you. It takes individual effort to get your body on the treadmill and walk. You have to personally do the sit-ups, pushups, squats..name them. Money will just give you access to the gym but just a remains means to an end.
Workouts are never easy, trust me, if it were easy, everyone would be fit. Most people start their fitness journey and give up along the way. In a research done by Sheryl Kraft for Healthy woman magazine in Jan 2018 showed that majority of the population make a resolution to start working out. Researchers found that 45% of people make New Year’s resolutions each year, out of this group, only 8% keep them. If you were to carry out your own research; notice how the numbers dwindle after the “January rush”. I am `one of those guilty persons here because when I started going to the gym I disappeared after working out for 2 months, took a break for another 4 months.
How then can you stay on track?
Working out is a decision and needs to be prioritized. You have to set time for workouts because we have work, family, school, personal time to balance out There is never enough time for everything but there is always time for things that are important to us. In my opinion, lack of time or having a busy work schedule is just an excuse, If your mindset is that there’s no time for exercise then, well, of course there won’t be any.
Start small and work your way up. Instead of committing to five gym visits a week, start with two visits then upgrade during the subsequent months. I started working out six times a week, I was struggling and I realized that I could not maintain that particular tempo. At some point in my fitness journey it became strenuous for me, I got skinny. I almost gave up. The bottom line is never start big too fast.
Find what you enjoy, and tweak your workouts to reflect that. I enjoy dancing and swinging my behinds as a result I do dance wrkouts. I dislike running and never worry if I see my neighbor set off for his Saturday morning runs and return 2 hours later having done a half marathon. I am also a bit lazy, consequently I do not engage in high intensity aerobics but it works so well for others. I also used to do it initially then clearly I became actualized and accepted the cause and effect principle, but it wasn’t made for me. Let’s not talk about steps aerobics(LOL), I struggled and gave up!
Have an accountability partner. If you find that you let yourself off the hook too easily, maybe it’s time to take a few personal training sessions. Or you can sign up for that Zumba class you’ve been speaking about for weeks. Doing home workouts can be a bit tricky sometimes. It is easier to quit when you’ve only made a pact with yourself, and thus have nobody else to disappoint. That’s where “I owe no one a flat tummy comes from”, but deep inside you want to be fit!
There’s no exact way to stay fit. Whatever makes you happy, whatever tickles you; is it aerobics? running? Weight-lifting? playing football? walking? swimming? yoga? Dancing, whatever it is; prioritize it, schedule it and remain committed.
You don’t have to be extreme, just consistent!
Loicita.
