In my opinion exercise is extremely important and this article promotes exercise goals for beginners. I know you are at a spiritual web site and here you are reading an article about exercise. Just remember your spirit lives through your physical body. Your physical body is designed to move and carry your spirit/soul. You don’t need to do anything extreme but regular exercise will go a long way to making your body function at its best and therefore your souls experience through your body will be optimum.
Of course the biggest problem non “exercise junkies” have is actually doing the exercise or in other words just turning up. Here are some tricks that I have employed over the years to keep me going and to prevent getting stale. One of the main ways to keep moving forward is to have exercise goals. This works! At the time of writing this I have continuously exercised without a break for the last 42 years.
5 Ways to Stick With Your Exercise Goals For Beginners
1. Goals
Actually have exercise goals. They keep you moving forward, its as simple as that. You can change your goal whenever you like if that’s what you want – or keep the same goal for a life time of exercise. I change my goal as soon as I get bored or feel stale. Your exercise goal doesn’t have to be complicated or of a particular high standard. Just what suits you or perhaps I should say what inspires you to move to the next position in your life.
Simple goals can be;
- Increasing the weight you lift for a particular exercise at the gym.
- Turning up to the gym every second day no matter what – for a period of 4 weeks.
- Going for a walk every morning / second morning before work.
- Being able to run continuously for 1 / 2 / 5 / 10 / 20 kilometers
I can easily fill page after page with exercise goals I have used successfully over the years to motivate myself. Here are some;
- Lose a certain percentage of body fat without losing any muscle.
- Lose a percentage of body fat and increase my strength to …
- Decrease my 100 m sprint time
- Compete in amateur boxing
- Earn a particular swimming certification.
- Learn a martial art.
- Run 4 min km’s but remain over 100 kg’s in body weight.
- The ability to run 20 km’s
- Carry 30 kg weight in a pack during this 20km run
- Gain strength to the level I had in my 20’s whilst I am in my late 40’s.
- Train a Basket Ball team.
I can go on and and on. Notice that the goals are personal to me – there is no right or wrong.
2. Habit
Build the habit – go at the same time or a similar time each day or every second day.After a while it becomes habit – but to make it to that stage you need to make it easy on yourself.
A friend of mine who never exercised would often ask me “Aymen, what should I do? What sort’s of exercise will work for me and can you write me a program” I knew if spent hours designing a program for him it would be wasted unless he formed the habit first. My reply was always. “When you wake up in the morning get dressed and walk to your letter box (20 meters)and back then do 2 push ups. When you have done this every morning for a month we can talk again”.
Make your exercise easy – and build a habit first.
3. Momentum
Keep your momentum up. You have built a habit don’t break it. If you have just started your habit and you are off on a two week holiday or the boss has you working longer hours, you break your leg you have to keep your momentum going. Don’t stop. Just adjust your routine. On holidays you can still do light exercise. When you work late you can still go for a walk at lunch time and with a broken leg you can still do push ups and chin ups.
One of things i have always done is join a gym that’s located between my house and my place of work so that i have to drive past it twice a day.
Just continually “do” – we already know courtesy of Isaac Newton that an object at rest tends to stay at rest. if you are already moving it’s easy to stay that way!
4. Rewards
Give your self rewards continually. Rewards are subjective and personal. I often find that reaching the goal is the reward and this brings me plenty of pleasure. However there is noting like a new pair of runners or any other present that you give yourself when you reach a goal. I like to load my I-pod with new music that I can listen to during workouts, this gives me another thing to look forward to during my workouts. Rewards reinforce your achievement of a goal.
5. Be Accountable
One way of being accountable is train with a friend – make an appointment so that you have to be there. Get a personal trainer if you can afford it – you will have a greater chance of showing up and achieving your exercise goals.
Being accountable helps you tell the truth. If you write down everything you do then your exercise goals will be realistic and easy to stick to. Writing everything down allows you to see what you really did this week or last. It stops you deluding yourself and telling little white lies. It’s easy to tell yourself that you train a lot – but a well maintained diary will tell you exactly how often you train. A well maintained diary lets you know if you are making progress. It’s amazing how many people I see in the gym year after year that have made no progress doing the same thing all the time. Write it down so that you have a chance of improvement.
It’s your ego that prevents you seeing the truth of your progress – Your ego makes it all go away by justifying it into non existence. ” Oh I couldn’t train today because I didn’t get enough sleep last night” “I couldn’t go for a run because my toe is a bit sore” Your ego protects you from the reality of your life – that’s it’s job – but the flip side is that you don’t get to see the truth. Your ego prevents you from seeing the world as it really is. It makes you overweight to protect you from rejection. It stops you attempting a goal so that if you fail, you are not hurt.
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