You’re in your fitness routine. You’ve been exercising for the last three months for at least two days a week. It’s been great/good/fine/annoying. And you find yourself proud of FINALLY sticking to something that works for you.
You’ve taken an approach that looks to offer consistency over immediate impact. You’ve shown up and put in the work, sometimes begrudgingly. But now you’re starting to get tired of the routine…
WHAT COMES NEXT?
A God damn congratulations comes next. You’re doing a hell of a job and deserve to give yourself a pat on the back. Look back at what you’ve done. What have you enjoyed? What have you suffered through?
That’s honestly the best answer I can give to you. It may sound like fluff and it’s building you up, let’s get real.
First, I’ll prompt you with two very important questions:
“What does your body need?”
“What do you want from your body?”
Our discussion devolves into a wide array of topics, depending on the person.
- You need to improve your health risk factors? Let’s talk about ways to decrease your BMI/bodyfat/bloodwork levels.
- You want to lose weight because you felt a bit better about your body when you got married? Let’s start by talking about budgeting your Calories – and really making those sour patch kids worth it.
- You want to improve the way your body moves when you’re playing sports? Let’s talk about increasing your mobility, power, agility and strength. We can incorporate different types of Olympic lifts, different components of gymnastics or outdoor field work.
- You want to improve the variety in the workouts? Let’s talk about the different types of fitness and spend some time discussing different types of functional training. Let’s incorporate different types of partner workouts to make them enjoyable and fun in the group setting.
- You want to improve you adherence to movement outside of training sessions? Wear a step tracker and set a goal to achieve 8,000 steps daily, especially on the days you work from home. We can go over at home workouts. Or give each other challenges to hold each other accountable.
Next, we can talk about setting a specific goal.
Something you give a shit about.
Not just ‘oh, I want to lose a few more pounds’.
That’s weaker than a spaghetti noodle under the weight of my cats.
- What I give a shit about is feeling confident in my body. I love playing sports. And I’ve had some injuries in the past.
And I’ve found that keeping up with my strength routines helps me stay off the couch. So I train to stay strong to play, without the ever-present fear of injury happening when I throw a ball.
- Maybe you’re getting older and you’re having trouble keeping up with your kids. And you want to actually play with them.
I’m talking run after them, chase them around the playground. You want to show them how to do the monkey bars. You want to be there when they do their first hand stand. Or down dog. You want to run, play, chase, crawl and explore alongside your little pal. Because you want to be there with them. Not watch them from the benches at the park.
- Or maybe you’ve never really been active due to a life of focusing on work.
You’re starting to realize that your peers are starting to get bigger. Friends are telling you about their very real health problems. You notice you’re having a hard time walking up the stairs to work. And you hate to admit that it’s still a little more difficult than you want it to be.
There are so many facets of health you can improve. And the hardest, most difficult piece for most people can be building in the next step once you have established consistency. And you DESERVE to feel accomplished.
What does your body need?
What do you want from your body?
And what are you willing to do to get to your next step?
Stella Fitness 