Keeping Active: Setting Goals

With the whole new year thing and resolutions, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and get that gym membership and deal with the crowded gyms and all the good intentions without the follow through.  Last year I picked April 1st as “resolution” day.  It’s an arbitrary day for the sake of just doing something for myself.  It worked.

Change your lifestyle, not your health goals.  Changing your lifestyle is the first step to sticking with something that will last and not fizzle out in a couple months.  Have you ever thought about what changing your lifestyle actually entails?

It takes a bunch of little goals and tweaks to change your lifestyle.  Personally, I find it a lot easier to do one little thing after the next to change the bad habits then waking up one day and saying “Today, I will not do X and I will do Y!”  The totallogy approach might work for a while, but it has been proven to fizzle out every time.  Ever wonder why the gyms are over crowded this time of year, and no one is in them in a few months?

I have been writing and thinking a lot about nutrition lately.  Nutrition is just one of many aspects of a healthy lifestyle.  Spirituality, relationships, your career and physical activity all contribute to how your body and lifestyle develops.

Let’s look at physical activity today.

So you want to stay fit and active this year?  Going to the gym is a great first step, but you might forget to take the second or third step once the new years romanticism goes away.  I find that publicly committing to a physical activity is a great way to stay active.

Here is an example:

There is a 5k run in March.  I don’t run, but I am going to complete this 5k.  How?

1. Sign up for the 5k.
2. Tell all of your family and friends you are going to run a 5k in march.
3. Systematically come up with a way to approach training for the 5k.
4. Publicly update your progress, a blog or emails to friends or even social networking sites are a great way to accomplish this.
5. Run the 5k and look to set your next physical commitment goal.
6. Celebrate yourself, your accomplishment, and repeat the process with another 5k or another sporting event or charity run.

But, a 5k is long and I don’t run?  Step 3 above is an important step, especially with running.  Use the strength and wisdom of others.  Cool Running has a Couch to 5k program that is designed to keep you going and not bonk or overtrain.  In 8 weeks, you can go from not being able to jog a minute, to running a 5k (that’s 3.1 miles!)

Go to the Cool Running Couch To 5k Program.

Please ask a health care expert before starting any new physical activity.

I ran this morning in the cold and ice and I feel great.  How about you?  The comments section of this blog makes for a great place to publically commit to your goals.

I will be sharing another program that is designed to allow anyone to complete 100 consecutives push ups at one time.  How cool is that!