How to Keep Your Fitness on Track
When I was a kid, I used to just play sports for fun and that would keep me in shape to where there were no problems. As we get older, there is less time for play or more time for adulting in which we stop playing sports or having fun while doing some sort of physical fitness.
As mentioned in my previous blog, I gained a bunch of weight during pharmacy school. During this time, I wasn’t really playing any sports or working out. I was kind of just going through the motions of life in terms of health. I remember playing Call of Duty in my bedroom having a big bowl on peanut butter M&Ms next to me and each kill I got in the game, I could have 1 M&M!
It wasn’t until I first started exercising that I discovered how to keep my fitness on track once I had started. It seems pretty simple but the truth of the matter is, I would set up a goal/reward when I reached a certain point in my training. Specifically, back in the day, the workouts came in DVD and not streamed online like it is today. My “reward” for completing a workout program was that I could buy another workout program. Being a college student, this wasn’t the cheapest of investments. But truthfully, this would keep me on track with my fitness.
Another example of staying on track for me is training with a certain accomplishment in mind. I used to so badly want to win in hockey that every time I worked out, I would just envision myself in past game or future game needing that one extra push to beat a defender or get after that loose puck.
Today, what has been working well for me is training for a certain obstacle course race. By registering for an event, it puts skin in the game so to speak where you are now financially committed to what you signed up for. This added monetary incentive will just push you one step further in your training. You know subconsciously that you need to train in order to compete in your event. This is also another great way to stay motivated in your workouts.
There are a lot of short-term goals you can set for yourself. Don’t make these goals “lose 10 pounds”. Instead, give yourself some sort of reward at the end of effort, regardless of the outcome and you will see yourself continually setting up these milestones.
