Today is a big day for me. It’s been 6 weeks since my son Marcos was born and it’s my first day back to work. Not only that, it’s also my first day back to exercising…woohoo!
I know for some people those are 2 things they totally dread, but for me (and maybe I’m crazy) I really love to do both. I love my job and love that I get to help people improve their health and lose weight. Likewise, I also love the feeling of being strong and fit and seeing myself improve my health and my body with each workout.
Today I want to share with you something extremely important I did over this past weekend to prepare myself to get back into the gym.
One thing I have learned over the past several years is that whenever you are starting any exercise program, getting back into an exercise routine or changing your current workouts there is a list of 5 things that you MUST do before you begin. Without this 5 step process, you may just be spinning your wheels and wasting a lot of time at the gym. I have found that going through these 5 things, not only gets me focused, but ensures that I am maximizing my workout time and getting maximum results.
Today, I’m going to give you the first 2 of the 5, because I really want you to take the time to go through these one at a time and think each one through. I highly encourage you to grab a pen and paper and take a few minutes to do this yourself.
Step 1:
Ask yourself,
“What is my ultimate goal with this workout program?” You really have to figure this out before you do absolutely anything else. And I should mention that is does not have to only be 1 goal, you can pick 2 or 3, but I definitely would not choose more than 3 at one time.
For myself, I have chosen the following 3 goals in this order.
- Core strengthening (very, very important after 9 months of being pregnant and giving birth).
- Increase muscle and muscle tone (I lost some muscle during my pregnancy).
- Lose some “baby fat” and get back to how lean I was before becoming pregnant.
Now, those are my personal goals. Yours may be very, very different. But the most important part is that you establish exactly where you’re going so you can then determine how best to get there. I know you’ve probably heard this plenty of times, but you can’t determine what map you need if you don’t know you’re exact destination. Your goals are your destination and now you can better determine what program to use as your “map”.
Step 2:
Now determine
how much time do I have to dedicate to my workouts? This is something you HAVE to be realistic about. For myself, with 2 small children, a job, and a house to take care of, I really need to figure out how much time is realistic for me to dedicate to exercise each week.
I keep using the word “realistic” because I want you to set yourself up to win and if you set up an exercise plan that is going to take hours and hours each week, that may not work for your current lifestyle (It definitely wouldn’t work for me!) I’ve determined that I can allocate 40 minutes 3 days a week to my program and need to be as efficient with that time as possible.
Take just a few minutes right now to go through these first 2 very important questions. You may find that you are not following the right exercise program for you based on your goals or you have not set up a “realistic” workout plan for your personal lifestyle.
You may have also heard fellow fitness author and fat loss expert, Dr. Kareem Samhouri, talk about the “right” and “wrong” approach to exercise (I really love his stuff!). Take a look at why he believes most people are not seeing the right results from their current exercise program and what you can do to avoid common exercise pitfalls.
>> Fat Loss BLUEPRINT + Special bonus <---- determine your schedule
Today Dr. K is celebrating the release of his now famous Full Throttle Fat Loss System. Not only that, he has also created a special Bonus for my readers, the 14 Day Fat Loss Plan.
>> Full Throttle Fat Loss + 14 Day Fat Loss Plan <----what are your goals?
I’ll be back tomorrow with Step 3 so be sure to cover Step 1 and 2 before then.
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