Tips to Fall back into Fitness

Welcome to the “no excuse zone.”

Summer is a great time of the year - vacations, time relaxing by the pool.   However, the problem with summer is that the old, lazy habits creep back in. We procrastinate, we indulge a little bit more, we eat ice cream. We go on vacation from our work and also from our fitness routines. We have fun all summer long and then fall hits us out of nowhere and the reality of daily life starts to set back in.

The Labor Day holiday closes out the season of barbecues, lounging by the pool and overindulging during summer vacations. As you embark on a new month and a new fall season, you have an important choice to make. Are you going to jump on the train to a healthy and fit lifestyle or opt for a layover until the New Year’s resolution season rolls around?

Fall is the perfect time to use this window of opportunity to get back into the healthy habits that you may have abandoned during the summer months. It’s time to bust through your excuses and fall back into a routine that will get you the results you want.

It's tough to get back into that fitness routine. Here are some tips to help you make that transition back to your workout as smooth as possible.

Positivity
Maintaining a positive attitude is key. Try not to be harsh on yourself as you will only make it harder. So, take the view that you have had a wonderfully fun few months and now you are just as excited to adopt your healthy lifestyle once more!

Sleep: You should be sleeping seven to nine hours a night. Now I know most of you will be leaning more towards the seven; that’s fine. Sleep is a great fat burner and an extremely overlooked component of health and wellness. In my opinion, this trumps everything else. Very simply, sleep and resting help your body repair and recover. Our hormones will function more optimally which means an overall better you.

Find an Accountability Partner:
Having a friend or family member join you on getting back in to the swing of things can be a great idea. Someone to hold you accountable sometimes is the deciding factor for getting up for an early morning workout or skipping the bowl of ice cream before bed. We all have friends and family who are in the same boat as us so finding that person can sometimes make the process that much easier.

Join a group fitness class.
Not only are they a fun way to incorporate fitness, but in many cases, class attendees become like family, since these members will hold you accountable to show up to class, much like coaches or players on an athletic team.  Most of you know I teach many different group fitness classes in our area.  Ask me about my classes in Waverly and Owego.

Move Your Body Daily! 

You should never ask yourself should you work out today. The answer to that question is almost always yes! You should always try to do something every day to move your body. It doesn’t need to be a challenging workout in the gym everyday but could be as simple as a 30 minute walk after dinner or on your lunch break.

Cut Out Processed Junk Food 

This can be a hard one for most people but if you can remove products such as fast food, chips, candy bars, and pastries, you can quickly start to feel better. A good rule of thumb is to purchase the majority of your groceries on the edges of your grocery store and minimize your purchases in the aisles. Go for fresh!

You have the power to do whatever it is you want to do. So how bad do you want it? The choice is yours.