-1-
Everyone is different.
This is number one because it's most important. My examples in this blog are MINE, not yours. I use them to help you visualize how things might be, but everyone's bodies have different needs, different messages, different ways of thinking.
-2-
Find something you like and stick to it.
You are a very lucky person indeed if you love and enjoy putting your body through what feels like a refiner's fire. I'm not talking about changing your middle name to "no pain, no gain" or "eating" exercise for breakfast - I'm talking about finding something you DON'T hate, whether that is lifting soup cans in your living room, DDR, working out at the local gym, or climbing Mt. Everest. You have to find something you don't dread, so that when you're waking up two hours before work to do it, you can find the motivation in you, somewhere, to pull those covers off.
I have to do a "body check" every morning. When that alarm goes off, I think"
"Do I have any excuses for not working out?" Isn't that terrible? But it works for me because I allow those little excuses sometimes. If I'm sick or in a lot of pain, I don't workout. Or if the roads are icy (yes I am a fair weather exerciser), I roll over and reset my alarm to a more reasonable hour. But, I also have to be honest with myself. I never WANT to wake up early and work out. I never wake up before my alarm clock goes of an say to the world, "The thing I want to do most is get up and sweat!" Nope. But I do have to be honest. If the pain isn't there (or it's mild) and I don't feel any illness coming on, I pull myself out of bed. I don't love it, but if I hated my work out, this would NEVER work.
-3-
Listen to your body.
Actually, your body has a lot to say if you listen. When I say "listen", I really mean feel because I suppose that's how your body communicates with your brain, but you need to be aware that there are messages being sent in the first place. When you're running or lifting or dancing or hiking (or in my case speed walking....yes I'm one of those) or whatever-ing, make sure you can tune-in to what your body is "saying" over the blasting music, the screaming aerobics instructor, or the TV.
This morning, my calves were burning more than usual, almost to the point of me pushing that minus button on the treadmill to slow things down a bit, but then I noticed how my hips were feeling, then my back, then my lungs and my neck, etc. I decided my hips were "in charge" at that moment because they felt well oiled and moved easily, when normally they don't. So I told those blasted calf muscles who was boss that moment:
my hips!
And they stayed boss the rest of the time (which is odd because usually my body goes through about 5 "bosses" in a 40 minute period). I felt like my calf muscles were just whining, so I ignored them and continued on, but I ALSO continued to listen to them in case that changed. Ah ha! There's a catch. You need to learn to discern between when a muscle (or other body part) is "whining" or when it is "hurting." Whining bodies don't need to be pitied, but hurting bodies need to be listened to and heeded. This is a personal thing. You must learn how YOUR body does this.
-4-
Don't compare yourself!
I take that back. Do compare yourself...with YOURSELF. Comparing yourself to someone else can be detrimental to your motivation and self-esteem. So keep those eyes on your own numbers! Only compare yourself to yourself, and even then you must be careful.
Let's say I went from being a complete couch potato to walking 2.0 mph for 15 minutes 3x a week and I did it for 2 weeks. Good for me! But -uh oh- one day, my body just wouldn't work and I only went 1.4 mph for 12 minutes. Whatever shall I do? Don't sweat it. I've had dozens of scenarios happen to me just like this: I didn't go as far as I did the other day or I couldn't go as fast - but that was me listening to my body. If I kill my body today, I will regret it tomorrow and the next day a work-out won't happen. Don't stress the fluctuations. It's only one day.
-5-
Let it evolve.
When I started working out over 2 years ago, I knew I was in bad shape and there was no way I was going to a gym or outside to get my sweat glands working. My husband and I lived in a small apartment and, being college students, were broke. No money for treadmills or a Wii or even a workout tape (those don't work for me anyway, I've tried, but they might for you!). I decided dancing was the key. I grabbed some soup cans, bought one 5 lbs weight (yes, one), and put on some fun music that got my heart-a-pumpin'. I set my goal to something I knew I could keep: 10 minutes a day, 3 days a week (the key for me wasn't to do what the "experts" tell me to do, it was just to do SOMETHING). Once I got the 3-day-a-week habit, I bumped up the time (and I STILL only work out 3 times a week). I would dance, jog, or jump in place for 30 seconds, then do a muscle exercise for 30 seconds (lifting that one 5lbs weight, "bench pressing" the soup cans, lunges, sit-ups, push-ups, etc.), then back to dancing. It worked for me for many months. Over time, I noticed after my workout was finished, my body still had kind-of a "ball" of energy left over in my stomach that needed to be spent, but wasn't. My confidence had gone up, so I decided to venture outdoors. I sped walked and jogged through my neighborhood all that spring and summer. When Fall hit and the snow descended; I was lost. I had moved "beyond" hoping around in my living room, but I couldn't walk on the icy sidewalks. So I used a discount through my husband to get into the gym at the school. I treadmilled and biked to my heart's content. THEN, my husband graduated. We moved. Try as I did, reverting back to neighborhood walking wasn't working anymore and we couldn't afford to pay for a gym membership, not even at a rec center. I skipped working out for 5 or 6 months, but an amazing thing happened. Even though I thought I was putting my body through this horrible thing of exercise, the lack of it was making things worse, and my body was letting me know! So, I used my resources. I traveled to a nearby relative's house to use their treadmill and that's where I currently stand. Thing's changed for me, and I've been trying to roll with the punches.
-6-
Look at the big picture.
Why are you working out? Where do you want to be with working out in a year or 2 and why do you want to be there?
There's no way you're going to have a healthy relationship with your body if the only reason you are working out is to "get skinny" Don't get me wrong; losing weight NOT a bad goal, but make sure that goal has a worthy reason behind it.
The reason I'm working out is for my future children. The consequences of me working out is that I feel so much better physically and I know it's good for me, but on the hardest mornings, when it seems nothing will get me out of bed, the thought of "you'll feel good afterwards!" would not get me up. Something else does. My goal is to be healthy so that I will have the energy and health to keep up with my future kids and be a good parent. That goal gets me up. It's important to find that worthy and realistic goal, and believe it, whatever it is.
