There's a lot to think about when you're starting your health and fitness journey, between well meaning friends and family and social media media, lots of people have very strong opinions on how you should go about improving your health and fitness.
One of our main roles as your coach is to help filter this information, so that you know is and isn't important as well as what you need to do now
I know we've said in previous newsletters that you should avoid following rigid food rules, but that doesn't mean that all rules are bad. Here are 8 basic rules we believe that everyone should follow...
1. Know What You Want to Achieve
Do you want to lose weight, build muscle or both? Do you want to improve your health and fitness, increase your energy or perform better at your sport? Or is it a combination of all of these things?
Clarifying your goals is an important step. It may sound silly but you need to know exactly what you want to achieve from training, otherwise you're just training for the sake of it without any purpose or direction. You have to ask yourself, what does success look like to you, so that you can work towards it.
2. Start Slow
If you want to stay consistent with your program, you should start slowly and build from there. Instead of throwing yourself into the deep and jumping into daily training, start off with a couple of sessions a week, and then add a third or even fourth session in once you've already established a routine.
3. Do Something You Enjoy
This is one area where my thoughts have changed over the years. I used to only think about which exercise or program is the best, but I now understand that best plan is the one that you will do for the longest, and the one you will do the longest is the one you enjoy the most.
Whether you like going for a run, smashing a spin class or doing yoga, do whatever you enjoy and do it for a lifetime. If you find that you're forcing yourself to do a workout that you hate, simply because you think you should, the odds are you won't continue doing it for very long.
4. Accept Setbacks
Setbacks are going to happen. Whether it's an injury, a sudden increase in your workload, or your childcare has fallen through, don't let these things stop you from achieving your goals.
Maybe you have to avoid training certain movements or muscles whilst an injury recovers, shorten your workouts so that you can complete your work, or train at home with limited equipment if you don't have access to a gym.
Whatever the issue, find a way to navigate around it, so that you can keep going forward on your path, even if it's at a slower pace. Remember, something is always better than nothing
5. Make the Most of Your Warm up
Although it may seem pointless, warm ups are important. Not only does your warm up help prepare your body for the upcoming workout, lowering the risk of injury and making the the workout more productive, but being mindful during your warm up gives you an opportunity to check in with yourself for the day and see how you are feeling, where your energy levels are at so you know how to approach your workout. .
6. Don't Compare Yourself To Others
This is something we commonly see when people first start out training with us, they see other people do a really advanced exercise and wonder why they can't do it, or doing the same exercise but with heavier weights.
The thing is, everyone is on their own health and fitness journey, just like you, they didn't just walk into the gym being able to do what they're doing now on day one, they've had to work hard and be consistent for a long time in order to get where they are now and to be capable of those things.
It's pointless comparing yourself, as a beginner, to somebody who has been training for years. It can lead to negative self-talk and demotivate you and at worse stop you from making progress. So instead, use them as motivation to get better and keep pushing forward.
7. Have Patience and Be Consistent
You won’t see results right away. It takes time, persistence, and dedication. trust the process, give it time, and the results will come.
8. Celebrate Your Small Wins
Did you complete all your sessions this week, manage one extra interval, average a faster pace, learn a new exercise, or lift a heavier weight?
Celebrate these small wins, and be grateful that you made taken another small step forward to achieving your goals
That's it for now!
You may not know where to start on your health and fitness journey. But hopefully these 8 tips will get you going in the right direction and as always, if you need any help, please don't hesitate to reach out and we'll try our best to help you