When I stumble into the gym before 6am rolls around, I congratulate myself just for being there.
Heck, it took an act of God for me to pull my ass out of bed, so the workout that follows should be just an added bonus! I've had great workouts, I've had decent workouts, and I've had workout sessions where I spent most of my time "recovering" from my last set.
(aka: Lying on the floor after a set of sit ups, contemplating what I'm going to do next!) Ha! Give me a shout out if you've been there before! But I'm leaving my results to chance if I show up at the gym without first creating a plan of action.
Just like a good business plan lays out the expected growth and projected profits for your business, so should you outline a plan for your fitness goals.
How can you possibly track your progress unless you have things written out? How can you know if you're on target if you haven't even set any goals? Yikes! Reality check.
**Confession time! I have yet to keep a journal for my workouts! I've HAVE thought about it (and we both know how far that's gotten us in the past, right?) So today's advice is a pill that I'm going to swallow along with you, are you in? I want the time I spend in the gym to give me maximum results, and if I know you, you want the same.
We spend hours there anyway, so let's get the most out of time.
1.
Plan: Before your week begins, sit down with a notebook and chart out your workouts for the week.
What is your schedule going to look like? The more specific you can be, the easier it will be to stick to it.
Figure out how many days you want to spend working out and how many days you'll have for recovery (include the time too and stick to it!).
I recommend 4-5 days on and 2-3 days off with a combination of resistance training and cardiovascular exercises.
2.
Record: Bring your journal with you and record your workout completely; the sets, reps, and duration of cardio.
It may seem like a royal pain at first, but I'm guessing that when you look back at how far you've come, it's going to be more motivation to stick to it.
Plus, if you hit any plateaus, you'll be able to detect it quickly, and make a couple changes to get back on track.
That sounds worth it to me! 3.
Track: Review what you've done at the end of the week before you start to plan for the future workouts.
Building off the idea I mentioned above, you'll want to know if you're stuck.
Sometimes just jotting something down on paper gives us a picture we didn't realize existed.
And, you'll really be proud of yourself as you see how your strength and endurance has increased over time.
Mark my words, these few changes will make a big difference to the results you and I are getting in the gym! Forming the habit is really just a matter of a few minutes a week, and a minimal investment in a journal or notebook.
So let's get to it! Don't forget to come back here and let me know of all the great progress you've had! Or if you've already started something similar, leave me a comment and let me know what you're doing and how it's working for you!
Heck, it took an act of God for me to pull my ass out of bed, so the workout that follows should be just an added bonus! I've had great workouts, I've had decent workouts, and I've had workout sessions where I spent most of my time "recovering" from my last set.
(aka: Lying on the floor after a set of sit ups, contemplating what I'm going to do next!) Ha! Give me a shout out if you've been there before! But I'm leaving my results to chance if I show up at the gym without first creating a plan of action.
Just like a good business plan lays out the expected growth and projected profits for your business, so should you outline a plan for your fitness goals.
How can you possibly track your progress unless you have things written out? How can you know if you're on target if you haven't even set any goals? Yikes! Reality check.
**Confession time! I have yet to keep a journal for my workouts! I've HAVE thought about it (and we both know how far that's gotten us in the past, right?) So today's advice is a pill that I'm going to swallow along with you, are you in? I want the time I spend in the gym to give me maximum results, and if I know you, you want the same.
We spend hours there anyway, so let's get the most out of time.
1.
Plan: Before your week begins, sit down with a notebook and chart out your workouts for the week.
What is your schedule going to look like? The more specific you can be, the easier it will be to stick to it.
Figure out how many days you want to spend working out and how many days you'll have for recovery (include the time too and stick to it!).
I recommend 4-5 days on and 2-3 days off with a combination of resistance training and cardiovascular exercises.
2.
Record: Bring your journal with you and record your workout completely; the sets, reps, and duration of cardio.
It may seem like a royal pain at first, but I'm guessing that when you look back at how far you've come, it's going to be more motivation to stick to it.
Plus, if you hit any plateaus, you'll be able to detect it quickly, and make a couple changes to get back on track.
That sounds worth it to me! 3.
Track: Review what you've done at the end of the week before you start to plan for the future workouts.
Building off the idea I mentioned above, you'll want to know if you're stuck.
Sometimes just jotting something down on paper gives us a picture we didn't realize existed.
And, you'll really be proud of yourself as you see how your strength and endurance has increased over time.
Mark my words, these few changes will make a big difference to the results you and I are getting in the gym! Forming the habit is really just a matter of a few minutes a week, and a minimal investment in a journal or notebook.
So let's get to it! Don't forget to come back here and let me know of all the great progress you've had! Or if you've already started something similar, leave me a comment and let me know what you're doing and how it's working for you!