Kick your workout up a notch
Who wouldn’t want to get fit?
Who wouldn’t want to make a conscious
effort to establish a routine?
However, motivation can be hard to
maintain. Here are a few tips to stay
on the wagon once you’ve hopped
on:
1. You need help. More people achieve long-term success after learning from an expert or someone with more experience. Just be careful whom you choose.
2. Have a big goal and then make a road map or calendar of smaller goals or milestones that are more achievable. Your end goal will never completely change, but may be altered, and the small goals need to be reassessed regularly as they may change.
3. Be positive about changes. If you don’t feel good about your workout or if your diet is too complicated, change it or change your attitude.
4. Support is great, but don’t be dependent on it. You might be the only one in your house or group of friends willing to make changes, so don’t get upset when they’re not willing to join you. You also have to have willpower to resist the temptations that others put on you. Your relationships may become strained at times, but eventually things work out for the best.
5. Take it one step at a time and don’t beat yourself up for mistakes. Use them to motivate you to do better that day and the next.
Try these moves at home or at the gym:
• Jog or shuffle back and forth for two minutes
• 50 wide/plié squats
• 30 wide pushups (as many as you can from your toes then drop to knees)
• 40 alternating reverse lunges
• 20 dips (at home use a low chair or coffee table)
• 100 jump jacks
• 50 standard squats (feet shoulder width apart)
• 30 pushups (hands shoulder width apart)
• 40 alternating front lunges
• 20 dips, alternating which leg you’re raising as you bend your elbows
• 50 knee strike and sidekicks
• 30 narrow pushups (thumbs together or an inch apart)
• 40 scissor jump lunges
• 20 dips with scissor kick
Make sure to warm up gradually, with dynamic movements for about three to five minutes. Rest or perform dynamic stretches for a minute or two minutes max between sets. Do a full body stretch at the end, holding each stretch for 20 to 30 seconds.
Karen Nixon-Carroll is the Program Manager at Fitness 101, Fanshawe College professor, YMCA fitness course trainer and examiner, Fanshawe FHP grad and holds many fitness certifications for personal training, group fitness and wellness. Email her at karen.carroll@fanshawec.ca. She is currently on maternity leave.
1. You need help. More people achieve long-term success after learning from an expert or someone with more experience. Just be careful whom you choose.
2. Have a big goal and then make a road map or calendar of smaller goals or milestones that are more achievable. Your end goal will never completely change, but may be altered, and the small goals need to be reassessed regularly as they may change.
3. Be positive about changes. If you don’t feel good about your workout or if your diet is too complicated, change it or change your attitude.
4. Support is great, but don’t be dependent on it. You might be the only one in your house or group of friends willing to make changes, so don’t get upset when they’re not willing to join you. You also have to have willpower to resist the temptations that others put on you. Your relationships may become strained at times, but eventually things work out for the best.
5. Take it one step at a time and don’t beat yourself up for mistakes. Use them to motivate you to do better that day and the next.
Try these moves at home or at the gym:
• Jog or shuffle back and forth for two minutes
• 50 wide/plié squats
• 30 wide pushups (as many as you can from your toes then drop to knees)
• 40 alternating reverse lunges
• 20 dips (at home use a low chair or coffee table)
• 100 jump jacks
• 50 standard squats (feet shoulder width apart)
• 30 pushups (hands shoulder width apart)
• 40 alternating front lunges
• 20 dips, alternating which leg you’re raising as you bend your elbows
• 50 knee strike and sidekicks
• 30 narrow pushups (thumbs together or an inch apart)
• 40 scissor jump lunges
• 20 dips with scissor kick
Make sure to warm up gradually, with dynamic movements for about three to five minutes. Rest or perform dynamic stretches for a minute or two minutes max between sets. Do a full body stretch at the end, holding each stretch for 20 to 30 seconds.
Karen Nixon-Carroll is the Program Manager at Fitness 101, Fanshawe College professor, YMCA fitness course trainer and examiner, Fanshawe FHP grad and holds many fitness certifications for personal training, group fitness and wellness. Email her at karen.carroll@fanshawec.ca. She is currently on maternity leave.
