1. Believe In Yourself
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ”Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” – Mahammad Ali
In this fasted paced, instant gratification society we live in, we often forget that success takes hard work over an extended period of time. There are no real short cuts. Do you want to make a lot of money? Get ready to do a lot of hard work. Do you want to get in the best shape of your life? Get in the gym and starting working out. Also, get ready to start losing weight by denying yourself foods that you might really enjoy, but that will sabotage your fitness goals.
Ali’s words ring true; work hard and do not quit. Champions are not people that never fail. Champions are people that never quit. That is how you reach your goals. That is how you win. Doing nothing is easy. It is pain free. Anyone can do it. Only certain people are willing to work hard, do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes to succeed. Then they can enjoy the fruits of their labor for years to come.
Source: menshealth
Reaching your fitness goals takes belief in yourself. Belief that you can get it done. You need to be able to see yourself crossing the finish line. You need to be able to see yourself in your brand new body. Then you must make that vision of yourself a reality. Once you have reached your goals, you will find that over time you have made a complete lifestyle change. Now your workouts have become part of your life. Once upon a time, you had to talk yourself into going to the gym. Now the gym now is apart of your weekly routine. Once upon a time, you had to talk yourself out of not eating certain foods. Now you would not dare eat donuts for breakfast anymore. Welcome to the new you! As long as you maintain it, you will enjoy this ‘new you’ forever.
2. You Are What You Eat
“My body is like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I don’t think about it, I just have it.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
Source: bodybuilding.com
If you are exercising and lifting weights to build muscle, you have to eat. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat. Regardless of your fitness goals, you must eat. Just keep in mind that you are what you eat. Whatever you put into your body, your body will absorb and will use for better or for worse. Unfortunately, the latter seems to be the case for most people.
Obesity in the US is an epidemic. As Americans, we are getting fatter. This fact remains true for all of us regardles s of race, ethnicity or socio-economic status. There are two main reasons. First, there is an unending array of low cost, tasty, high calorie, fast food options all around us for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All too often, these foods are our first choices. Roland Sturm, a senior economist at the RAND Corporation and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School said, “If we want to solve the obesity problem, we have to figure out what has changed for everybody. And the thing that pops out is our food environment. That’s where the action is. And it’s not just that food is now cheap, relative to income, it’s also that it’s so much more convenient.” In our food selections, we are regularly choosing convenience while slowly sacrificing our health.
The second reason for the obesity epidemic is that our lifestyle has become increasingly sedentary. As a society, we have gotten away from physical jobs and have more desk related jobs. However, we generally work longer hours and any leisure time is spent relaxing, not exer- cising. Also, there is an abundance of electronic entertainment that encourages us to sit for long periods of time. This is especially true for children. In generations past, kids played outside virtu- ally all day long. They burned calories at a higher rate. The internet and electronic games makes kids want to stay inside. Kids today do not get the physical exercise of kids in past generations.
3. Energize Your Mornings
“Just stay ready. Stay in shape and then you don’t have to rush to train before the movie starts. I’ll show you my abs later because I’m in shape. But that idea, if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.” – Will Smith
It is easier to maintain an engine, keeping it running at it’s peak performance, then it is to try to re-build it after it has been neglected. Your body operates similarly. Staying physically fit is easier than getting physically fit. Maintaining your fitness goals requires tweaks in your workout routine. Staying in shape meanings working your muscles in different ways. Continue doing car- diovascular exercises, but select different programs. Mix up your workouts. Do supersets, cross training or hot yoga. Find new ways to maintain your fitness level.
This is not to say that if you are currently overweight and unhealthy that you should not begin a workout routine to get in shape. You should start right away. The point here is you once you have worked hard to reach your health and fitness goals, you should work hard to maintain it for the rest of your life. Enjoy the feeling of being healthy and in shape from now on.
One of the things you should take in to consideration is what time of day are you able to work- out. Your individual daily schedule will determine that. Many people find that working out early in the morning provides some advantages. First, you get it done and out of the way. As you get busier during the day, things often come up that demand your full attention. Before you realize it, the day is over, you are exhausted, and instead of hitting the gym you are hitting the pillow; another day gone by.
Working out in morning – Source: Internet
Another advantage of a morning workout is that during physical exercise the body releases endorphins. You will feel energized virtually the entire day. Then by the time your head finally does hit the pillow, you will fall sound asleep.
(to be continued…)