Keeping Your Fitness-Related New Year’s Resolutions Throughout the Year By Paige Johnson
Four months since the year started and here we are trying to check if our goals have been met. Are you struggling with keeping up with those new year’s resolutions? Don’t worry we still have three more quarters of 2018 to do it.
One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions is losing weight. Many people start the year off by starting a diet, working out at the gym or going for a jog three to four days of week. But sooner or later, life gets in the way and they give up. Maybe it’s because they’re working a lot of overtime hours or they have to chauffer their kids to football or violin practice. But there are ways to keep your fitness resolutions throughout the year.
Tap into a few tips on how to continue a sensible fitness program even when life gets crazy.
Squeeze in Some Exercise
Many people have a fast-paced lifestyle. Working long hours, commuting long distances to our jobs, housework, caring for family responsibilities and a host of other activities can interfere with even the most committed exerciser. If you have trouble finding time to exercise, find ways to sneak exercise into your life.
When you’re at work, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Instead of calling or emailing a coworker, leave your deskand go to your coworker’s cubicle or office. Take a brisk walk on your lunch break. As you walk, eat a healthy on-the-go lunch. Find a co-worker who commits to walking with you each day. It will make you accountable to someone else so you’re less likely to skip the workout.
Do you have to make a trip to the grocery store? If it’s safe, park far away from the store’s entrance. You’ll have to do a bit more walking, ultimately burning a few more calories. Yes, you have to take your daughter to softball practice at the park. But that doesn’t mean you have to sit in the bleachers watching her the whole time. Why not take a brisk walk around the park? You’ll get some exercise and relieve stress at the same time.
Create a Home Gym
When you get off from work, sometimes you just don’t feel like working out at a gym. Fighting traffic to get to a fitness center makes many people reluctant to make the trip. It’s easier to create your own home gym. It doesn’t take a lot of money either. Light weights, an inexpensive stationary bike or a jump rope can provide the foundation for your new home gym. After awhile, you may want to invest in a low-priced treadmill, elliptical machine or a vertical climber. You can even try equipment like kettlebells or weighted hoops as a fun way to get fit and lose weight.
Workout Videos
Workout videos have come a long way since the 1980s. Whether you have a hankering to do kickboxing, yoga, Pilates, cardio dance, ballet barre workouts or strength training, there’s a video out there just for you. Fitday.com reports that using workout DVDs allows you to exercise in the comfortof your own living room.
And don’t forget that the Internet has a ton of streaming exercise videos for you to try. Check out some of the free videos on YouTube. Some exercise programs touted by fitness gurus can be streamed online, too. You just have to pay a monthly subscription or pay to download a workout to your chosen device.
Recovering from Addiction
If you are a recovering addict, exercise provides a wealth of benefits. According to the Chicago Tribune, “[t]he human brain experiences a chemical rewardwhen we exercise.” In other words, exercise is a great way to battle addiction. Instead of using drugs to experience a high, exercising regularly provides the addict with a natural high. This can help the recovering addict remain drug free. Two excellent exercises for recovering addictsare hiking and yoga. Yoga teaches you to focus only on the present moment; being able to let go of your worries and struggles with your recovery, even briefly, can be the best medicine for you.
People throughout the world make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight and get fit. But those noble intentions fall by the wayside when the weeks and months fly by. Life’s daily stresses and responsibilities often interfere with workout goals. And it seems like there just isn’t enough time to exercise. But if you find ways to sneak in some fitness, build your own home gym or use a variety of workout videos, you have a better chance of sticking to your goal.
Guest Post By Paige Johnson at Learn Fit.