“On Your Mark Fitness Tips”

On Your Mark Fitness Tips by Mark O’Neill and Shelley Donald.

Hello Sportswave.ca followers and welcome to On Your Mark Fitness Tips.

How’s your New Years exercise program coming along? Are you still sticking with it? Are you struggling to find any motivation for it, then why not find out some more fun workouts that you can do. You can read more about fitness workouts here.

Each new year and its new years resolutions are the best thing that ever happened to community centres and health clubs.

Somewhere between 40% and 60% of the year’s membership are purchased in the months December thru February. By June , for most of the new recruits, the payments will outnumber their workouts.

Adopting a physical training program may be one of the toughest things you’ll ever do.It’s almost unnatural.

For years, the bulk of man’s effort at invention has been directed at reducing the time and effort it takes to do anything even remotely physical.
Electric tooth brushs, remote control from around the world – lets face it folks,it’s a clap on clap off world.

Woody Allen once said “90% of life is just showing up and regular physical activity should be part of your life.”

Pick an activity that you enjoy and if you are not a gym rat – then don’t buy a pass for the gym.

There are endless choices; walking, pickle ball, dancing, tai chi, dog walking, aquafit, yoga, the list goes on. With that in mind here are a hand full of ideas and tips that may be just what it takes to keep you going when all your go seems to have gone.

Schedule Fitness

Make sure your workouts are treated as an important part of your day/week. Put them in your Smart phone, Day Planner, tie a string around your finger, tape an eyelid shut, just do whatever it takes to keep you going.

Don’t miss a date with yourself. Or get a workout buddy, someone to be accountable to. Some people may even decide to get in touch with a personal trainer in their area who can help to keep them motivated at all times. This way they won’t have any excuses. This is one of the many reasons How personal training helps people to reach their fitness goals.

Both of you will benefit.

I don’t have time today

The mini workouts throughout the day and week are a great strategy to make the difference between success and failure with your program.

A short workout 10 to 15 minutes long 2x a day will assist in warding off the sore back and constant sitting scenario many of us are in.

More importantly these mini workouts will rev up your metabolism and give you energy!

Go for a short brisk walk, climb some stairs, do some squats, push ups against a wall, stand on one leg and practice some yoga.

Yoga is a fantastic way to tighten and tone your muscles. Plus, it is an exercise that can be completed from the comfort of your own home so there are no excuses.

Furthermore, there are so many different types of yoga out there nowadays that there really is something for everyone.

For example, a friend of mine that enjoys learning about new age medicine likes to practice yoni egg yoga. Basically, this involves using a yoni egg to enhance your yoga workouts.

Put simply, a yoni egg is a specially designed gemstone that can be used by women to tighten their pelvic floor muscles. Yoni eggs are even a rumored cure to some illnesses so if this sounds like something that interests you, I would recommend researching a few of the different types of yoni eggs online.

Record Your Workouts

With today’s apps that are available as well as good old paper calendars it only takes a minute to record your workouts. Patterns emerge that help you to see how to plot change since change is the essence of fitness.

Keep track of how you feel after your workouts. Color coding with a highlighter is great for recording exertion level. You may even keep a daily food log.

All my bags are packed. I’m ready to go.

On your mark, get set…” Hey, where did I put my shoes?” you get the point. Installing a new habit pattern requires effort and organization.

The more prepared you are ahead of time, the more likely you will do that workout.

Try to do the workout before you arrive home, before the seductive sirens of sloth and dilly-dally call out to you. If you must go home first don’t sit down.

Pack your bag and have it ready. I often suggest to people that they purchase some gym clothes that they leave in a bag in their car. Ryderwear have some tank tops for men that you could buy a few of and chuck in the car – this way you won’t need to go home first and won’t have the excuse that you have forgotten your gear either. A training facility closer to home is always a successful approach.

So that’s it for for this weeks helpful ideas that can make or break your workout plan.
Next week we’ll talk about heart rate monitoring exercise.

Thanks for reading our first article of ” On Your Mark Fitness Tips” a weekly submission to sportswave.ca.
Please consult your physician before beginning any type of physical training.

Mark O’Neill RTa, ACE, CFC

Shelley Donald BCRPA Advanced Leader and Personal Trainer

Mark and Shelley can be reached at oneillconditioning@hotmail.com or at www.oneillconditioning.com