The festive season should be a fabulous time of year and I truly hope it has been for you.
If you read my previous post, Fitness Around Christmas then you've either taken some of the suggestions on board and want more support converting the benefits into further success...
OR...
You really struggled and want to get some ideas on how to turn things around.
Either way, the steps from this post are worth working through now.
Step 1. Record your New Year Resolutions Personally
New Year Resolutions are only of use if you record them AND refer back to them regularly. First write them down on a piece of paper in front of you...NOW.
Then, before you get back to the hustle and bustle of your routine day, turn them into an A3 or A4 Poster. It's up to you whether you do this with crayons, paint or a software programme like Paint.
If you're proud of how they look then you'll be proud to see them staring back at you on your screen saver, office/bedroom/bathroom wall.
Step 2. Tell Everyone!!
Whether you generally share your day to day thoughts in person, online, offline or all of the above, you'll feel much better about your resolutions if you share them with people who you know are going to support you in sticking to them.
This simple act will give people a range of ongoing topics to ask you about in conversation. Though this may sound a little scary, these are resolutions you've decided to hold yourself to right?
Why not allow your friends and family to also hold you accountable?
If, in the worst case scenario, you decide that any particular one of your resolutions has become unrealistic, there is no shame in telling friends why you have changed it. So long as you change your resolutions for reasons you're unashamed of then why should you be scared of sharing those reasons.
In the best case scenario you'll encounter ongoing support in turning your resolutions to reality and feel proud enough to inspire others with your success.
Step 3. Get your Eating Sorted Out
Regardless of whether your New Year Resolutions are around food or health, you're far more likely to make them happen if you know what foods agree with you and when to eat them.
There's far too much emphasis on quantities these days, with the highest profile diets based around points and calories. It doesn't matter how much or little you eat of any particular food if it causes an inflamatory reaction in your gut. It's going to make you feel poorly and distract you from carrying out your personal resolutions.
Next, know that you need to eat the foods which agree with you every 3-4 hours you're awake. Doing so any more or less often will stuff up your blood sugars and lead to poor levels of concentration, if not worse.
Detox Diets are extremely popular at this time of year and while many are seen as extreme or even dangerous, there are a variety of healthy Detox Plans which won't make you starve. If you're unsure see a nutrition professional who can help you make the plan work for the foods which agree with you.
While Detoxes are relatively short lived and not part of a lifestyle change, they can give you short term success. You can then convert this into a long term resolution to eat less of the foods which make you feel like rubbish and more of the foods which worked for you in the detox.
Step 4. Get your Exercise Sorted Out
By sorted out, I don't mean register for a 6, 8 or 12 week challenge.
I mean figure out what physically active pursuit actually excites you and plan a way to get into it. If you haven't done this yet then maybe you need a Fitness Philosophy to Change Your Life.
If you've found out what excites you, but you're not quite sure how to make the most out of that motivation then here's a quick process to follow:
1. Google events or a social/competitive season which you have time to prepare for. It should be at least 12 weeks away and within reach. If you're unsure whether it's possible just flick me an email telling me where you're currently at and what you want to do. I'll reply to let you know whether you're being realistic, based on what I know about our potential to improve over time.
2. Get out your calendar and put the event/ first match into your calendar. Figure out how many weeks you have left and what kind of fitness you'll need to have worked on before D-Day arrives.
Work backwards from the event
If you were to allow 4 weeks to work on the following 3 phases, would you still have time to be ready for your event?
Phase 3. Race/Game Specific Fitness and Explosive Power
Phase 2. High Intensity Training and Base Strength
Phase 1. Base Distance Training and Injury Prevention
If you spent the minimum time of 4 weeks on each of these phases then it'd take you 12 weeks. If you've got more time that this, you should add more weeks to each of the phases and start researching each of these phases so you know exactly what kind of activity you should be doing to improve them.
I would love to be able to offer more info on how to prepare for these phases but what you need to do depends so much on your and your sport's specific demands that it would be irresponsible for me to try and do so in this post.
Step 5. Get your Friends Involved or Find More!
Starting Fresh
If you're looking at doing something new then chances are you don't know too many people who are striving for the same thing. If this is the case then you have a fantastic opportunity to make some new friends. Look up training squads in your area and ask the organiser how you can find people who are looking to do the same thing you are.
Every administrator who runs a physical based club loves being approached by people because it means they didn't need to look for you. Just showing the nous to approach them is a clear sign of your commitment and commitment is what will encourage an administrator to invest their time in you.
Stepping it up
If you're working towards something which people already know about then you don't need to shove it down their throats. The beauty of Facebook and other social media is that anything you post about your fitness will show up on friends news feed, not arrive in their cluttered inbox.
If they're interested in what you're up to then they'll read your links and as a result get more of your status updates in their news feed. Those who have any chance of either wanting to join you or simply become inspired by you will "like", comment or contact you to show their support.
As with the NY Resolutions, any feedback you get will either further encourage you to consolidate your fitness aspirations or give you someone to prove wrong.
Step 6. Commit to Cycles of Improvement
The beauty of working around a cycle of training and social/serious competition is that there is always something different going on.
At any given time you're either:
Even if these motivations provide some short term success they're not sustainable because they don't offer a long term cycle of variation and improvement.
Step 7. Record Everything!
Take photos of everything you do. If you bring your car to a training or match then make sure you've got a camera to capture you in your kit and ready to play. The results you get and the fun you have will mean even more if you have ongoing records of what you accomplished.
If you didn't quite achieve what you set out for in a particular season then having records of the approach you took becomes invaluable in deciding how to go about things the next time around.
Maybe you had the race of your life a few months back, but can't figure out why you were so strong. If you only kept the programme then you'd be able to look back and find out what worked for you back then.
It doesn't have to be Time Consuming
When I tell people to record things they often think about the time it takes to do so but it can be very easy if you set things out properly from the start. If you've got a programme mapped out before you start it then you don't need to record what you did, you just tick it off on the programme which was already there from the start.
If you embrace the social sharing idea then that's another great way to record what you did and how it made you feel. The details you post friends about your training can be made up of the exact details you should be recording.
Any time you want to know how you dealt with an event or phase in the past, just have a look through your status updates or blog posts to find out.
It's far more fun writing things down when you know someone else could read them. A blog is a great way to record how things are going, while also giving people to opportunity to read, encourage you and become inspired by your success.
In Summary
Congratulations for making it to the end of this post on what is likely to be a busy day for you.
The key messages to take out of this article are based around Cycles:
It really is the sharing and feedback which keeps them coming back for more.
Why not share this post?
Please take a few minutes to share this post with your friends any way you can.
Even better, comment on how you plan on making this your best year ever, then share this post!
If you read my previous post, Fitness Around Christmas then you've either taken some of the suggestions on board and want more support converting the benefits into further success...
OR...You really struggled and want to get some ideas on how to turn things around.
Either way, the steps from this post are worth working through now.
Step 1. Record your New Year Resolutions Personally
New Year Resolutions are only of use if you record them AND refer back to them regularly. First write them down on a piece of paper in front of you...NOW.
Then, before you get back to the hustle and bustle of your routine day, turn them into an A3 or A4 Poster. It's up to you whether you do this with crayons, paint or a software programme like Paint.
If you're proud of how they look then you'll be proud to see them staring back at you on your screen saver, office/bedroom/bathroom wall.
Step 2. Tell Everyone!!
Whether you generally share your day to day thoughts in person, online, offline or all of the above, you'll feel much better about your resolutions if you share them with people who you know are going to support you in sticking to them.
This simple act will give people a range of ongoing topics to ask you about in conversation. Though this may sound a little scary, these are resolutions you've decided to hold yourself to right?
Why not allow your friends and family to also hold you accountable?
If, in the worst case scenario, you decide that any particular one of your resolutions has become unrealistic, there is no shame in telling friends why you have changed it. So long as you change your resolutions for reasons you're unashamed of then why should you be scared of sharing those reasons.
In the best case scenario you'll encounter ongoing support in turning your resolutions to reality and feel proud enough to inspire others with your success.
Sharing your success is about more than you...it's about inspiring others to do the same.
Step 3. Get your Eating Sorted Out
Regardless of whether your New Year Resolutions are around food or health, you're far more likely to make them happen if you know what foods agree with you and when to eat them.
There's far too much emphasis on quantities these days, with the highest profile diets based around points and calories. It doesn't matter how much or little you eat of any particular food if it causes an inflamatory reaction in your gut. It's going to make you feel poorly and distract you from carrying out your personal resolutions.
Next, know that you need to eat the foods which agree with you every 3-4 hours you're awake. Doing so any more or less often will stuff up your blood sugars and lead to poor levels of concentration, if not worse.
Detox Diets are extremely popular at this time of year and while many are seen as extreme or even dangerous, there are a variety of healthy Detox Plans which won't make you starve. If you're unsure see a nutrition professional who can help you make the plan work for the foods which agree with you.
While Detoxes are relatively short lived and not part of a lifestyle change, they can give you short term success. You can then convert this into a long term resolution to eat less of the foods which make you feel like rubbish and more of the foods which worked for you in the detox.
Step 4. Get your Exercise Sorted OutBy sorted out, I don't mean register for a 6, 8 or 12 week challenge.
I mean figure out what physically active pursuit actually excites you and plan a way to get into it. If you haven't done this yet then maybe you need a Fitness Philosophy to Change Your Life.
If you've found out what excites you, but you're not quite sure how to make the most out of that motivation then here's a quick process to follow:
1. Google events or a social/competitive season which you have time to prepare for. It should be at least 12 weeks away and within reach. If you're unsure whether it's possible just flick me an email telling me where you're currently at and what you want to do. I'll reply to let you know whether you're being realistic, based on what I know about our potential to improve over time.
2. Get out your calendar and put the event/ first match into your calendar. Figure out how many weeks you have left and what kind of fitness you'll need to have worked on before D-Day arrives.Work backwards from the event
If you were to allow 4 weeks to work on the following 3 phases, would you still have time to be ready for your event?
Phase 3. Race/Game Specific Fitness and Explosive Power
Phase 2. High Intensity Training and Base Strength
Phase 1. Base Distance Training and Injury Prevention
If you spent the minimum time of 4 weeks on each of these phases then it'd take you 12 weeks. If you've got more time that this, you should add more weeks to each of the phases and start researching each of these phases so you know exactly what kind of activity you should be doing to improve them.I would love to be able to offer more info on how to prepare for these phases but what you need to do depends so much on your and your sport's specific demands that it would be irresponsible for me to try and do so in this post.
Step 5. Get your Friends Involved or Find More!
Starting Fresh
If you're looking at doing something new then chances are you don't know too many people who are striving for the same thing. If this is the case then you have a fantastic opportunity to make some new friends. Look up training squads in your area and ask the organiser how you can find people who are looking to do the same thing you are.
Every administrator who runs a physical based club loves being approached by people because it means they didn't need to look for you. Just showing the nous to approach them is a clear sign of your commitment and commitment is what will encourage an administrator to invest their time in you.Stepping it up
If you're working towards something which people already know about then you don't need to shove it down their throats. The beauty of Facebook and other social media is that anything you post about your fitness will show up on friends news feed, not arrive in their cluttered inbox.
If they're interested in what you're up to then they'll read your links and as a result get more of your status updates in their news feed. Those who have any chance of either wanting to join you or simply become inspired by you will "like", comment or contact you to show their support.
As with the NY Resolutions, any feedback you get will either further encourage you to consolidate your fitness aspirations or give you someone to prove wrong.
Step 6. Commit to Cycles of Improvement
The beauty of working around a cycle of training and social/serious competition is that there is always something different going on.
At any given time you're either:
- recovering from a training, match or season
- preparing for a training, match or season
- participating in a training, match or season
Your day, week, month and year all go through cycles of improvement and stories are coming out of each event.
Unfortunately, the most common way people look to get fit does not offer such variation. Without a season or competition to look forward to you're essentially just training to:
- train
- get fit
- loose weight or tone up
Step 7. Record Everything!
Take photos of everything you do. If you bring your car to a training or match then make sure you've got a camera to capture you in your kit and ready to play. The results you get and the fun you have will mean even more if you have ongoing records of what you accomplished.
If you didn't quite achieve what you set out for in a particular season then having records of the approach you took becomes invaluable in deciding how to go about things the next time around.
Maybe you had the race of your life a few months back, but can't figure out why you were so strong. If you only kept the programme then you'd be able to look back and find out what worked for you back then.It doesn't have to be Time Consuming
When I tell people to record things they often think about the time it takes to do so but it can be very easy if you set things out properly from the start. If you've got a programme mapped out before you start it then you don't need to record what you did, you just tick it off on the programme which was already there from the start.
If you embrace the social sharing idea then that's another great way to record what you did and how it made you feel. The details you post friends about your training can be made up of the exact details you should be recording.
Any time you want to know how you dealt with an event or phase in the past, just have a look through your status updates or blog posts to find out.
It's far more fun writing things down when you know someone else could read them. A blog is a great way to record how things are going, while also giving people to opportunity to read, encourage you and become inspired by your success.
In Summary
Congratulations for making it to the end of this post on what is likely to be a busy day for you.
The key messages to take out of this article are based around Cycles:
- Plan what you're going to do
- Share it with your friends
- Do what you've planned
- Share it with your friends
- Record what you do
- Share it with your friends
- Plan what you're going to do....and so on :-)
It really is the sharing and feedback which keeps them coming back for more.
Why not share this post?
Please take a few minutes to share this post with your friends any way you can.
Even better, comment on how you plan on making this your best year ever, then share this post!
