Tag Archives: goals

30 day challenge

4 Reasons You Should Do A 30 Day Challenge

30 day challenge

Spring has finally arrived–which means summer is just around the corner. It is time to up the workout ante!

Challenge yourself to complete a 30 Day Challenge.

Your challenge can be whatever you want.

  • You can do the 30 Day Squat Challenge which should only take 2-5 minutes out of your day.
  • You can challenge yourself to run or walk a mile or more 30 days in a row.
  • You can do a yoga challenge, committing 60-90min a day to yourself.
  • You can Crossfit 30 days in a row.

Whatever sort of challenge you decide to do, here are 4 reasons you should do a 30 Day Challenge.

1.  You do have the time.  Find somewhere during your day to take a break for yourself.  If there isn’t space in the middle of your day, tack it to the beginning or the end.  You can always wake up 10 minutes earlier, or skip the hour (or more) of television you watch each night.  You’ll start to realize when you set aside time to focus on yourself, you’ll be able to  preform your other tasks and obligations more efficiently and more effectively.

2.  You will have set a new goal.  Broadcast this goal!  Let others know what you are doing!  They might do it with you!  The more the merrier.  It’s harder to break a commitment when others know you have one.

3.  You’ll push your boundaries.  It is easy to find an excuse to back out of our workouts when we are tired.  When you push through fatigue, your body is forced to rebuild itself back up stronger.  Your brain often fatigues before your body.  Teach the brain how strong you can be!  You’ll surprise yourself with how much you can improve in an activity when you work on it each day for a month!

4.  You can eat more food!  Obviously if your goal involves losing weight, you shouldn’t completely offset your exercise with extra food.  However, if you do a 30 Day Bikram Challenge, or push yourself to run 3-5 miles every day for the month of May, you will find you need to fuel your body better for this endeavor. Your body’s cravings can teach you what vitamins and minerals you’re lacking in. Once you’ve identified the vitamins you need it’s just a matter of visiting LuckyVitamin or going to your local Walgreens. The cleaner you keep your system and the more you ask of it, the more it can accurately tell you what you need. You will probably find your body actually craves lean meats and veggies! You will learn the food you eat is fuel for your hard working body!

Give it a try!

Push yourself!

See what you can do!

If you decide to hop in on the 30 day challenge,  talk about what you are doing below!

The more of us that join in the more support we have!

 

 

get in shape

Get in Shape this Year!

get in shape2013 — Here we are.

The Mayans were wrong. We didn’t die on Dec 21st, 2012. Your excuses are gone.

This is the year to start living the lifestyle you want to live.

If you have been talking about getting in shape, now the time.

It doesn’t start tomorrow or next week or next month. It starts now.

So now that that’s settled, how will YOU do it?

We all have our own personal methods for staying in shape. What’s your method?

Are you a runner, swimmer, biker, yogi?

Do you like zumba, barre method, or circuit training?

Do you hate exercise?

Whichever category you fall in, you can get in shape this year. Yes, even if you hate to exercise YOU can get in shape. All you need is a plan. What will your plan be this year?

2013 goals

2013 Goals

2013 goals

What are your goals for 2013?

I ask about your “2013 goals”, because I’m sure quite possibly you want to improve more than one thing in your life.  Maybe you want to learn to cook, lose weight, make money, etc, etc.  Whatever your goals are, I suggest you also add a physical goal to your list.  A physical goal can’t be to lose weight.  That would be a secondary goal.  I recommend setting a physical goal because when we set physical goals, activity becomes a part of our life.

Weight loss has an end point.  Once you reach your goal, you stop trying to be fit and will most likely end up where you started.  If you set a physical goal there is a much better chance that you will learn to love this activity, making it a part of your life.  This is a lifestyle change that will keep you healthy.

A physical goal could be to take up yoga, climb a mountain, something simple like starting each day with a run, or it could even be taking your running to the next level by running a marathon or half marathon.

 

What will your physical goal be this year?

Seriously I want to know!  Comment below!  I’d love to hear what you plan to do to stay healthy and fit in 2013 and beyond!!

 

7 Tips for Developing the Body You Want

I know so many people who are very competent and successful in the business world, yet they have high cholesterol, hypertension, Type II Diabetes and/or are just unhappy with the appearance of their body.  What’s interesting is that some of the same principals of running a successful business can be applied to having a healthy lifestyle.

This morning, I read a blog on INC.com called 7 Tips for Creating Your Own Destiny.  While reading, I thought that if you could apply these tips to you business ventures then you could easily apply them to your health.

developing the body you want

1. Plan A Preferred Future Body

Notice, I said body and not weight.  Being fit doesn’t mean that you have to fit a Hollywood standard of slim.  For some of us, a happy body weight would be to be average.  For ome of us our preferred future body is just those 5 lbs we can’t get off.  Whatever, you ideal body is, think about the actions it will take to get there!  What does the average healthy weighted person do.  What does you friend who looks like a fitness model do?  Think about these things and write them down.  Being healthy comes down to the daily habits you do over time, not while on a weight loss program.  What activities are you going to incorporate into your daily routine for the rest of your life?  What foods are you going to put into your body to fuel these activities?

2. Be Pragmatic

Set reasonable check in goals.  If you have a lot of weight to lose, focus on 3 month periods of a time.  If we look at one huge number, often we get frustrated and give up.  Your ultimate goal might be to lose 100lbs, but each 20lb mark is a huge milestone.  Recognize each milestone along the way as a huge success.  When you reach the end, don’t get hung up on a number.  When you are overweight it is hard to estimate what weight you will be happy with.  Weight is just a number, healthy is an image.  Be happy when you reach the image you want to be!

On the flip side, if you goal is to lose those last 5lbs be reasonable about the steps it will take to get there.  I promise you that fitness model friend NEVER gets the scone with her coffee.  Maybe, be ok with those last 3 but set rules about when you are allowed that scone. 😉

3.  Decide Who not What  

Take ownership of the actions you will do to meet you goals.  Many people adopt exercise and diets habits while on a weightloss program, but do not identify with them because they see those habits as something “fit” people do, not what they do.  Well, I hate to break it to you, but if those are the actions that are working for you to lose weight, they are what YOU do!  Embrace this!  These will also be the actions that keep you at your ideal body image.

4. Be Honest

Be honest with yourself.  Do you really deserve that scoop of ice cream?  Is it really ok to take a full week of exercise off while on vacation?  Maybe you did a Bikram yoga double, or just ran an a marathon and deserve that treat or rest.  Or maybe you are just justifying it.  Be honest with yourself and have an a person who can keep you accountable for those times when you start to justify.

5. Consider the tools around you old and new

Like I said before, if something worked for you in the past, KEEP DOING IT!  Also, keep your eyes open for new classes and challenges.  Read healthy recipe blogs.  Find new ways to cook those healthy proteins.  Keep a journal of the things you like.  When you are all out of ideas, go back to the beginning of the journal.  I am sure there are things that you LOVE, that you have forgotten about.

6. Ignore the Naysayers

There are going to be people on your quest to get healthy that encourage you to go out for pizza.  They will order the nachos when you were good and ordered a salad, dressing on the side and tell you,”A couple chips won’t throw your diet off.”  They will scoff at your stories about your exercise highs and try to argue that exercise is bad for your body and your joints.  Think deeper about those comments.  Are they true?  No they are not, but that “friend” hasn’t made the commitment you have to being fit.  If they sabotage you, they can justify living their unhealthy lifestyle.  Really their comments are their own insecurities about their unhealthy habits.  If you give in to them, you are giving them justification for the way they are living.  You have two options, 1. Ditch them or 2. Fight for your new beliefs.  Remember, you are your plan.

7.  Don’t Settle For Mediocrity

You may never be a fitness model, but that doesn’t mean you need to settle for who you are right now.  If you are fit, set a new goal.  You can always be stronger, start running, run a 5k, run a 10k, run a 1/2 marathon, run a marathon.  You can take up yoga, climb a mountain, bike to work.  There is always a new goal out there.  Keep setting goals.  Would you just settle for just one launch?  No, once you launch you start working on the next product. Always keep working on the healthy YOU!

 

What’s the Plan for the week

What are your workouts going to be this week?  I plan to hit 5 yoga classes, a 6 miler, an easy 4 miler, 2 speed workouts, 2 leg strength days + 1 upper body strength day.  Check got that down, but why I am going to do all that?  I’m hitting my week to help me get ready for the Seattle Rock N Roll 1/2 marathon in June.  I have a specified run schedule designed so I peak on race day, I have strength workouts planned to power me up those Seattle hills and keep me injury free, and I have yoga to keep me limber and balanced.

Why are you doing your workout plan for the week.  We may not all have a race or specific event we are training for, but we should all have a purpose.  Many of you might say to lose weight.  I say pick something more specific and then keep making a new goal when you get to the next.  Some good small goals:

1.To get some killer endorphins to start your day off right!–Repeat tomorrow, and the next day, and the next!

2. To feel slim by the time Friday rolls around.–Then repeat the following week!

3.To put your training buddy to shame.–P.S. They have the same goal as you!

4.  To eat that piece of Chocolate cake.–You better be going all out!

If you have a more personalized reason to workout rather than a vague weight loss goal, you will be more excited for your workout.  Like Elle Woods says: “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t. ”  It’s simple lawyer logic.  Get your workout in! 🙂