The hardest part of starting a new workout regiment or diet, is starting. Its been shown that setting a specific time, or landmark event, will produce a higher chance of you actually getting started. For this reason, there is a large population that starts to chase new health goals around holidays, especially new years day. Here are a few tips that have been proven to help through research studies and polls, that will help you reach those health goals.
– The first step is planning.
Plan out when you are going to start, how you are going to exercise and the frequency of your exercise. Plan not to cut out sweets completely but actually put on paper how you will not eat all the sweets.
– Set a goal.
Whether its weight you are wanting to lose, muscles you are wanting to build, or a time you are wanting to finish in set a goal and put it in writing. 3 months is a good standard to follow for a time frame but it can be tailored to each persons goal. But once you decide how long you’d like to take to complete the goal write it down as well.
– Determine what the reward is for completing the goal.
The important thing is to choose something that you do not need. That way you do not get it if you do not reach your goal.
– If possible, get a partner to tag along with the work put plan and set their own goals.
Studies are very clear that people are more successful at working out and continuing to work out when they have a workout partner.
– Workout before you go home.
It is also clear in studies that you decrease your chances of working out by double if you go home before working out after work.
– Get sleep.
Whenever you do not get enough sleep, you are going to produce more cortisol, which is a hormone that is the antagonist to testosterone and with it you are more prone to stress, weight gain, drowsiness, depression, and an insatiable appetite.
– If there is a meal that is unhealthy you are having that day, have it within 30 minutes following a good workout.
A good workout is one that you produced sweat but is preferred you worked to some point of exhaustion. At this point your body is going to breakdown whatever you eat to replace your glucose and glycogen stores that your muscles use for energy when contracting. So if your gonna eat pizza, plan a strenuous workout to end 15 to 30 minutes before eating and the pizza will go straight to your muscles. Optimally you’d eat something with more protein following the workout but using this tip for those cheat days will go a long way.
– Get adjusted
While there’s always going to be a point that you have to push through not feeling well, improve how your body is feeling on top of the range of motion to get the most efficient results out of your workouts. Get adjusted regularly to stay at your peak performance potential.
– Be more social
Get out of the house. Especially around the holidays, there are more sweets just sitting around waiting to be casually grazed upon. Eliminate those chances by avoiding them. Suggest everyone play a game, or go for a walk. The more down time you have around sweets the more sweets you will eat.
– Most importantly, get excited.
Get excited to reach your goals. Its hard to do. There are billions of dollars paid to programs every year to try and help people get healthier. This would not be the case if it were easy. You can follow an expensive program and these tips, but if you are not motivated to be healthier its’s not gonna matter. The results if reached won’t last long nor would they be appreciated. Get excited to start your next health plan and really make some life changes with how well you do.
Now, go buy some new workout gear, a new shaker, if you need some headphones to work out in get some of those too. Taking the next step is a big deal, so treat it as such.
