Honor Your Workouts

Life is busy, right? It can be calm one minute and then frantic, hectic, crazed and downright insane the next. With so much going on in our lives it can be a challenge to carve out a little slice of “me time” to help balance things out and keep you from going nuts.

At the beginning of the year if you resolved to improve your health and physical fitness and actually started working out and eating better you’ve already taken one giant step towards doing something great for yourself that honors that resolve to be healthy – congratulations! Now, here’s the kicker – don’t sabotage your efforts by not honoring your workouts. What do I mean by that? Here are some examples….

* Skipping your workouts to go home and sit on the couch or go out for dinner and drinks with friends because you don’t feel like
working out or think you’ll be missing something.
* Putting forth half-baked efforts in your workouts by not working to your maximum intensity level.
* Talking on the cell phone while on the treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike or even while doing resistance training.
* Texting while on the treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike or even while doing resistance training.
* Spending more time socializing at the gym than working out.
* Focusing more on what’s on the TV screen in the gym rather than the effort you’re putting into your workout.
* “Rewarding” yourself after a “hard” workout with a pizza and beer or some other poor food choice.

Check out this fun little video I put together showing you how NOT to workout, emphasizing many of the common sabotage mistakes listed above….

When you workout it isn’t just some “chore” or “thing” you have to do. It is part of the plan you decided for yourself when you first decided to take control of your health. And let’s face it, for many of you this is the only window of time in the day you have to yourself without kids, spouses, bosses and co-workers demanding all of your attention, so yes, this time in the gym is almost sacred.

Don’t blow the goals you’ve set for yourself to be a healthier, stronger and sexier you, and don’t dishonor this time you’ve carved out to honor those goals by squandering it on poor choices and lazy mental fortitude. If you’ve been guilty of any of those examples listed above, it’s time to get your head back in the game and remember the goal. You are just as important as your girlfriend’s dating crisis, your kid’s overdue science project, your spouse’s midlife meltdown, your boss’ unreasonable demands, your church’s fundraiser or your niece’s dance recital. Put YOU on your to-do list and block out all other distractions for 60 minutes of your day. That really isn’t asking too much.

So get to the gym, the local running trail or push play on your DVD remote, whatever it is that gets you moving, especially when you don’t feel like it. Turn off your cell phone, work hard and skip the detour into the Burger King drive thru on your way home. You’ll feel so much better, and a few months from now when you’re a few sizes smaller, you’ll be glad you did.

In Health,

Kitara R. Wilson