Back To The Basics

“Working out is great, but how exactly do I do it?”

This is a question I hear time and time again. So let’s face facts. It’s not the deciding to start working out and living a healthier lifestyle that’s hard, it’s the part where we actually make our legs walk away from the couch, ignoring the refrigerator’s taunts, and out our front door. Living a healthy lifestyle that includes working out is a major commitment and I would definitely be lying if I said I didn’t struggle with this on a daily basis. Therefore, I’m going to try to make this as simple as possible, by telling you 5 simple steps of how to get started.

1. Have a purpose – know why you’re here
My typical routine consists of my FitBit alarm ringing in at 4:00 am. My boyfriend, Ty’s alarm going off at 4:15, then Ty actually getting me up out of bed and moving at 4:30, so we can be out of the door by 4:45. Then we have about an 8 minute drive to the gym, where I sit in my heated leather seat with my eyes closed, letting my body believe it’s still at home in bed before I start making it feel like its limbs are going to fall off. So for me to sit here and say something like, “Oh, it’s easy, just go already!” or “A one hour workout is only 4% of your day, don’t be lazy!” would be awful because most days I don’t even want to go – and sometimes I’m not sure how I still make it there. I mean, I love the feeling when I’m done with a workout and I can honestly say I have never regretted one, no matter how sore I felt later, but I definitely do regret every time I don’t go. I guess that’s what keeps me going. That feeling. Just the word itself is nasty…regret.

Looking back, regret was one of the biggest pushes for me to really get into shape. That regret of letting myself get so out of control that I became overweight in the first place. The regret of not taking care of my body that led me to think of myself the way I did for all those years. I wanted to stop regretting my choices and looking down on myself, being disgusted with what I saw. It had to stop. So I let those regrets fuel me. Eventually that regret went away and I actually started to appreciate my past like it was a double-edged sword. Like I needed to be that unhealthy, overweight person to become who I am today; which is cheesy to say but it’s true. What fuels me now is simply maintaining my healthy weight and nourishing my body the way it deserves. Well and of course becoming stronger and feeling great in a bikini – but who doesn’t want that?!

For some of us our purpose, or why we’re making this life altering decision, might tie back to that one word that gets our blood pumping but for others it could be a laundry list of things from not being able to play with the kids to a multitude of potential health issues. By having a purpose, a vision, of why you are doing this, you’ll set yourself up for success when it comes to setting goals and maintaining a schedule.

2. Have a support buddy
I think we’ve all learned that sometimes going at it alone can hurt us more than help. It’s especially easier to become discouraged and give up since you have no one there to push you. Therefore I believe everyone should have some kind of support system in place; whether it’s your best friend, parent, spouse, sibling, grandma, whoever. It doesn’t matter as long as it’s someone or people you feel comfortable sharing your ups and downs with. You’d be astonished at how much having just one person there in your corner throughout your journey helps you continue to achieve your fitness goals. I’ve been lucky to have a multitude of supporters from close friends to acquaintances sending me random Facebook messages and texts, never letting me forget how great I was doing, complimenting my progress, asking for tips, etc. I’ve become even more fortunate that these days to have a boyfriend that I share all my goals with, whether it is about my weight/physique or nutrition, and helps me keep the mentality to stay focused and achieve these goals every single day. Even though when we’re at the gym we have completely separate workouts, he always finds a quick second to come tell me good job and praise my efforts. Then he continues to do this throughout the day because he knows just how much that encouragement means and pushes me to strive for further success.

But with that remember that not everyone will understand your journey or some of the decisions you will make along the way – like when you choose the salad and opt out of dessert or passing on a hang out because you’ve already made plans to hit the gym. This is another reason why having some kind of support is vital, in my opinion. Whatever you do, do not let others bring you down. I’ve definitely had my fair share of criticisms for working out “too much” or not eating that cookie. It’s tough to face sometimes and it has definitely hurt some of my friendships in the past because they didn’t take the time to understand why I do it and that’s okay. At the end of the day, this lifestyle is about bettering myself, bettering ourselves, and making sure living a long, healthy life is in the future. So don’t be ashamed to put yourself first and achieve those goals, after all it is your life, no one elses.

3. Set Goals
As little tykes, our parents always encouraged us to dream big, be the go-getter. Reminding us along the way that we can do anything we set our minds to with hard work and dedication. Saying, “oh you fell down, well get back up and try again!” Then sooner or later we were able to peddle off down Poplar Lane without dads hand secretly on the back of our seat. It felt good didn’t it? But do you remember how you got to that point? The peddling off into the sunset? You may not have realized it but you unintentionally set goals and achieved them. Let’s break it down.

First you had the ultimate goal, to ride a bike all by your little self. No training wheels, no help, no nothin’. Well you didn’t just go hop on a two-wheeler and go. You had to practice. You had to take steps to get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ (but if you’re anything like me it was probably ‘Z’ because I kept running into the mailbox). Once you dedicated yourself, ENVISIONED yourself riding that beautiful bike your begged your parents for, it was time to give it a shot. That is when you set you first short-term goal. You decided you wouldn’t be scared to fall off. Then came other mini-goals like, practing for 10 minutes every day until you did it. Getting to the mailbox without falling off, even if it was only 5 feet away. Then it was getting to old man Rivers’ house three doors down. You could probably throw in the something about not screaming anymore if you started to crash to the ground. The one thing you didn’t do was set the goal of riding a bike and try to pop a wheelie and eat a donut all at once. Do you see where I’m going with all of this? You have to have this same mentality when it comes to succeeding in developing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. By setting smart mini goals, that will help you achieve your ultimate goal, you are setting yourself up for pure success.

So the first part in developing your goals is, again, having that long-term goal in place. Is it to lose 50 pounds? Is it to be able to run a half marathon in 2.5 hours? It might even be to have 6-pack abs. Have more than 1? That’s okay, the more the merrier as long as they don’t make you feel like you’re on the merry-go-round spinning out of control. I personally have a few different long-term goals but if at any time I feel overwhelmed, I re-prioritize so that I don’t burn myself out trying to accomplish too much at once. Reality is, yes, our bodies can do anything if we try but there is a breaking point, literally.

Once you’ve set your long-term goal, now create a series of mini-goals to help you along the way. Targets like being able to jog to the stop sign and back without feeling out of breath before trying that half mile loop around the neighborhood. Limiting yourself to 3 sodas a week so eventually you can cut them out all together. Track your food intake everyday to help you lose, say, 5 pounds in the month. Try weaning yourself off or into things, just like you would a baby.

The people who choose not to set smaller, more detailed goals, are more likely to fail. This has nothing to do with lack of intentions or the drive to achieve their goals, it’s the fact that they try to do too much too fast with no organization or idea on getting there. Long-term goals need the support of the short-term goals in order to propel you forward in a positive, healthy way. Starting with a focus on these smaller goals will help you keep a straight head and not try to do too much at once or leave you feeling discouraged. For example, if your goal is to lose a pound a week, of course you could just cut out all junk food and only eat salads and tuna, workout every single day for an hour and accomplish this. But how long do you think you’ll be able to keep that up? I can promise you that it won’t be long and you’ll soon become burnt out, discouraged and right back in your old routine with no intention of trying that horrific adventure again any time soon – and don’t even get me started on the unbearable cravings you will have going that route. And people think breaking a bone is bad. Pshhhhh.

So just be smart and set goals, talk about them with someone else (like your support buddy) and ask for their honest opinion of if you are being realistic. You want to do this journey the right way, not the fast and unhealthy way!

4. Be consistent
Now every day we’re faced with so many questions that can be very intimidating and scary. The number one question being “WHERE DO I START?!” as we throw our hands in the air like we’re Hermoine Granger yelling at Ron and Harry again. Now it’s time to decide if you are going to join a gym or do the at-home thing. Either one is fine as long as you hold yourself accountable and build a routine you can stick with. I personally LOVE having a gym membership. I always joke that I would give up my cell phone before I give up my membership for a multitude of reasons. For starters, it really does help keep me on a routine by getting me out of the house and around others that have similar goals as me sweating our butts off together. I mean, who doesn’t love sweating like your Rocky training for your next big fight? How is that not motivating and completely bad ass? I mean we’re all here for a common purpose. To work out. So work out, let others motivate you and you motivate others.

That doesn’t go to say I don’t do the at-home thing as well. There are times where I don’t want to drive to the gym or don’t have that extra time to do so but I want some kind of workout in the evening. So I have a couple of free weights, a kettle ball, elastic bands and the Nike App to make it happen. These days there are so many ways to make your home a gym, whether you have weights or not. So no more excuses right?
Once you’ve decided which workout path you’re going to take, it’s time to build your workout regime. The key to doing this is making it as realistic as possible. Remember that it’s not about having time, it’s about making time. I would ideally love to workout every evening after work to make it to the group classes that I love so much, but it’s not always guarantee that I can make it on time, which is why I make time in the morning before work. So figure out what time during the day works best for you to get that 30 minutes to an hour in; before work, during lunch, after the kids go to bed and it’s midnight? Either way, you should pat yourself on the back for getting it done!

So now that you’ve decided when you’re going to work out, let’s focus on the what you’re going to workout. Most people think that they just need to do cardio to lose weight or they think back to the 80s of Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda with their step aerobics and bad dancer counting and fail to educate themselves on all the benefits of a well rounded workout that includes, dun dun duuunnnnn, weight lifting. I think it’s because society has given the general public the wrong idea of weight lifting with the hype of Crossfit and competitive power lifting, as these are two extreme ways of lifting and not for everyone. We forget that it’s okay to go back to the basics, as finding an appropriate balance between cardio and weight lifting is essential to your overall fitness success.

Let’s start with looking more at getting started with weight lifting. I’m doing this because studies have shown that by starting your workout with weight lifting and finishing with cardio, you’ll burn more fat during your cardio session thanks to what is known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). Boom, science. Learn more here in an article that took me forever to find but that breaks down EPOC in 7 ways for better understanding in layman’s terms.

With weight lifting it’s VERY important to understand the lifts you are about to perform and not lift more than you should. It’s also important to not try to lift every body part every single day. I give each body section it’s own day (i.e. Monday is back, Tuesday is legs, Wednesday is chest, Thursday is shoulders and Friday is arms). By breaking up my body like this, I am able to give a good amount of attention to each of these muscle groups without overdoing it. I also get to focus on a variety of lifting techniques since each section is made of many muscles that need attending to. You can use the machinery the gym provides or look into some free weight exercises that can be done at both a gym or in the comfort of your living room. I have found that BodyBuilding.com tends to provide the best variety of lifting routines from beginners to the most experienced. I started out using Jaime Eason’s Live Fit plan. Through that I was able to learn the techniques and adapt my routine to encompass similar lifts, yet expand past a beginners level to continue to advance myself each day.

I’m also a huge fan of not focusing on how much weight you are lifting. I think it’s much more important to have proper and controlled technique and build up that weight than to say, “I lifted x-amount of weight, look at me!”  and have the worst form – we’ve all seen the videos. I want to make sure I’m getting everything out of my lift I can and that can only be achieved if you are doing it properly. You know, let the muscle definition speak for itself. Besides who wants to rip or strain a muscle because you bit off more than you could chew? That’s embarrassing.

Once you have finished your lifting, cardio is a great way to wrap up your workout and keep that heart rate up. The Mayo Clinic suggests that adults set a goal to have at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day. This could include walking, running, elliptical work, etc. It’s up to you to decide how involved you’re going to be and what kind of cardio you want to partake in. As a long distance runner, I mix up my running with a HIIT exercise or low intensity session on the Arc Trainer or with an incline walk on the treadmill. This is so I’m not over exerting my body everyday with a pounding run or becoming burnt out too often on cardio. You want to be able to look forward to the next cardio session, not dread it.

5. Know that you can do it!
Yep, I saved the best for last because having the mentality of the little engine that could will help you get through anything you set your mind to. Yes, we’re 5 years old again. There will be days that you are so sore you feel like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill telling yourself to simply wiggle your big toe and can’t. There will be days where you just don’t feel like going and could find every excuse not to. There will be the days when you step on the scale and have gained a pound (or more) leaving you feeling lost and completely discouraged because “it’s just not working.” I know you’ll have those days because I still have those days. We all have those days. Those are the days that you look yourself in the mirror and say, “All the more reason to go!” Sore today, strong tomorrow right? By fighting that little sugar devil in your head pushing you to not go, you are making yourself stronger and better than yesterday because even if you can’t physically see the results you’re working towards, know that every single minute you put in, you are changing your body and you are going to get there. One of the greatest moments is realizing that even last week, your body couldn’t have done what you just did. So believe in yourself and don’t ever let that go!

Boom goes the dynamite
To close up, just remember that this entire lifestyle is about taking one step at a time. Take some time to imagine the person you want to be and figure out the smart way of getting there. Maybe that’s working out 3 days a week to start, then upping it to four, then five and so on and so forth. Form a plan. Stay dedicated. And please stop wishing to feel better and take the steps to actually feel better. Don’t be afraid or ashamed to find someone to talk to and share all your feelings with in all of this. Trust me, even those of us who have been doing this for years and years still have hard times with every aspect of it. I can’t even tell you the number of times a week I want to give up and eat an entire bag of Oreos, and not the sleeve of 8 you get at the convenience store either. Or how just the other day I went to get off the couch and fell to the ground because my legs were so spent, I literally couldn’t walk. One thing I will promise you is, that if you put the faith in yourself and work hard you will achieve your goals and you will become that person you have been wanting to be. I did and I couldn’t be happier.

If you do choose to start this journey but feel like you have no one to turn or talk to, please know I am here to listen and be a support to anyone who needs it.

 Now go get FitSlapped!