November 2008
Summer body and soul
Can you really become unstoppable, fearless, calm and full of life-force energy with unshakable confidence from a healthy and active lifestyle? You Bet!!!
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It's that time of year again - when you don't have to look too far to find an excuse not to exercise. There's work schedules and rosters to meet, family & friends to see, Christmas shopping to be done. With all this happening it becomes all too easy to 'shelve' our good intentions until we "find the time" or motivation for it. We need to get creative if we aren't going to 'let ourselves go' this summer festive season.
Summer movement isn't always about losing kilos, size, or increasing your energy. Although these are often the motivators we use to kick start our attack on treadmill. It is also about living life to the full, truly full to the brim. Do you remember a time or have you ever experienced a moment in your life where you were fully engaged in living? You exercise because the feeling you get after you have honored that commitment to yourself is untouchable. Knowing that you are walking amongst a growing percentage of people that value their bodies. Your commitment to better choices has taken life out or everyone else's hands and put it back into yours.
Laying a successful foundation
Don't fall into the promise of an easier tomorrow, next week, next month or next year. The obstacles will be the same, actually the obstacles will always be the same and will always be there.
When you look at the obstacles they are generally time, motivation, lack of knowledge, lack of focus, and a feeling of business and overwhelm. The factor that changes is not our environment- it's us! To help us achieve our goals we choose to overcome the promise of "tomorrow syndrome" and commit to today. It isn't just your muscles that strengthen and flex when you embark on or continue challenging your health and fitness goals, it is your mind and inner-will that strengthens. When you start saying yes to the right and no to the wrong things regarding your health and fitness you will also be saying no to all of the inner toxic thoughts we can carry around. Your body isn't the only thing that will detox, you will start to detox the negative emotions, mind sets and beliefs you have running through your system.
Time Poor? Is it the Clock or You that needs managing?
How do we take control of time? We already know the day to day obstacles of the week ahead; they are the same as the obstacles that stopped you yesterday and last week. We all know we are never going to find that elusive pocket of time that we are waiting on, to appear. The clock can't be mastered or controlled. We can only control the elements within the frame of time. The one element that we have control over is ourselves. You have to master time by mastering yourself. When you combine your health and fitness goals with the foundation of valuing yourself you create a powerful foundation for action. Time is something that we always want more of, to put towards those things that are important to us. Start to give yourself the time to honour those intentions.
Putting your self-value in visible action
Ask anyone if they value their health and they will say yes. What does that value really look like? Is it in the actions of missing our daily exercise routine or is it in our bad food choices, over indulgences in unhealthy lifestyle choices? It is about valuing you and putting that value in visible action. That visible action can be as simple as making small changes in your daily eating choices, taking 15 mins to prepare for the week ahead, being assertive with the inner voice that wants seconds or a bigger portion of food and doesn't feel like exercise.
Rather than being focused on the obstacles, become determined to find the solutions. You can stay integral to your goals regardless of where you are any day of the week.
What would that action look like?
- Use 15min opportunities of wasted or waiting time to prepare your day and week ahead.
- Establish what the obstacles are. Are they lack of preparation, what can you eat tomorrow for breakfast, what are you going to have for dinner, what are better bad choices you can make? Give yourself a solution.
- Prepare the night before. Get smarter. Know that you are probably going to sabotage your efforts when the alarm goes off a little earlier tomorrow morning. Understand that it will probably be the last thing you feel like doing after a full day at work. Reflect back on the excuses that you have justifiably convinced yourself of previously, at some stage you have to stop the cycle. Recognize those previous excuses and prepare your response for when they come up.
- Do your research. When you are traveling from city to city there is always a near by park, an in house gym and as the weather warms up you can take advantage of the pool. You have the benefit of never falling into workout monotony as you get to frequently exercise in a different environment. In fact maintaining an exercise regime while traveling can be the stability needed in a dynamic work environment.
- Mark out your goal posts and each time you return, measure your progress. This will provide you with continual reinforcement of improvement and progress. It will keep you motivated for your next stop.
- Start practicing the art of self-motivation. Grab your diary and start to keep record of the days you exercise. You want to aim for a minimum of 21 days of activity and exercise out of 30. On a weekly basis that means you need to be active for 5 days out of 7. You don't have to make all of your activities long and grueling to be worthwhile. Set a mini goal for the month "I am going to get 20mins of exercise in for 21 out of the 30 days".
- Work with what you have. Start to focus on what you can do rather than what you can't. If managing your schedule only allows for you to break your workout into smaller sections then go for it! You can break your workouts into a couple manageable time frames of 20 or 30 minutes. You could start your day with one 20min section and finish your day with the second.
- Practice portion control. You want to leave the table feeling satisfied not stuffed to the brim. Eat smaller meals more frequently and make better food choices. We might not always know what good food choices to make, but we are always aware of the bad choices we make.
Change your perspective and you change your attitude
So often we choose to treat ourselves with food that we "apparently" deserve. "I have worked hard all day I deserve it", "I have eaten really well this week I deserve it", "I am on track with my exercise I deserve it". Surely you deserve more than the illusion that unhealthy food choices give us. Why do we reward ourselves with inactivity and bad food choices, the same elements that are keeping us in our unhappy place? Why is it that we think we can appease ourselves with food? Food that increases your waistline and decreases your energy. Food that keeps us on the "one foot forward to steps back" cycle. You are worth injecting life into. You deserve to feel the vitality of life and energy rushing and flowing through your body
Give yourself a slice of sanity
While everything and everyone is rushing around you this summer give yourself a slice of sanity and get active by embracing the outdoors and everything summer has to offer. Instead of partaking in the activity of the internal mind buzz and talk that runs at the speed of light. You can head to the park, go for a walk, a run or head to the gym. Not only will your body thank you for it, you will slow the inner rush and buzz. It will allow you the opportunity to rid yourself of unnecessary stress hormones and replace them with happy, life lovin' ones. Not only will your body thank you with unstoppable energy and tight, toned muscles your inner-being will thank you. You will start to hold your head up high because you have conquered the one thing that has stopped you from achieving your health and fitness goals time and time again ... you!
Don't save your motivation for tomorrow, unleash it today. A new level of health, energy, vitality and that longed for summer body is just a couple of daily choices away and visible in few weeks.
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