10 Fitness Tips For The Year
Time to take charge of your fitness! You only have so much willpower and if you try to use too much of it on any given day — or on any given goal, like your resolution — you’ll exhaust your resources.
Master Brown knows that working your muscles too hard lifting weights, taxing your willpower reserves on a continual basis will destine you to failure. This is why if you have a tendency to make multiple New Year’s resolutions — lose weight, get out of debt, getting to the dojang another two days a week, eat healthier, go to sleep earlier, and spend more time with your kids — you’ll likely experience hardcore burnout, and fast.
The same goes for putting too much emphasis on your resolution right out of the gate. Let’s say that you have been training Taekwondo two times a weeks and during the first part of the year you up it to five. This can result in burnout. It will simply feel like too much, too soon, leaving you overwhelmed and exhausted instead of energized and refreshed.
So what’s the answer?
Master Michael Brown wants you to make Lifestyle changes. These will insure that goals turn into actions that turn in to habits which make you a healthier you! Instead of making a New Year’s resolution to exercise, a better choice is to design a plan for year-round fitness, one that fits into your lifestyle and addresses your specific needs. Rather than associating your fitness goals with the New Year, the tips that follow will help you to view fitness as a lifestyle choice that will stay with you all year long — not just the first month or two.
10 Tips to Achieve Your Fitness Goals
1. Make Exercise Part of Your Routine Exercise should be a regular part of your day, not something sporadic. Just as you set aside time for meals, sleep, kids and work, set aside time for exercise. Pencil it in on your calendar, program it into your smartphone and stick to it just like you would any other important appointment. Make your training work for you. People forget that getting healthier doesn’t always mean more time. The intensity that you train with your kicks can increase without having to schedule more days a week!
2. Give Yourself Permission to Spend Time on “You” Many adults juggling work and family life find it difficult to justify taking time for exercise, as that’s time that could be spent with family, running errands or getting ahead at work. If you fall into this mindset, it’s time to give yourself permission to exercise. This “me” time will not only boost your health on both physical and emotional levels, but it will provide an excellent example for your children on how to lead a healthy lifestyle. If you’re not feeling fit and healthy, you won’t be able to take care of the rest of your obligations, or your family, so let go of any feelings of guilt you have about taking time to workout. You might decide to ‘kill two birds with one stone’. Why not enroll the whole family in Taekwondo? Now you don’t have to feel guilty about leaving the family behind!
3. Set Realistic Goals Your fitness program should fit in with your lifestyle. This means you may head to the Taekwondo studio three days a week, then spend weekends out riding bikes with your family, ice skating, working in your garden, dancing, or playing sports with friends. Remember that physical fitness is not just about how many minutes you log on the treadmill, it’s a lifestyle that you can tailor to your unique needs and interests. Keep this in mind when setting your exercise goals; if you know you’ll be miserable jogging at the gym, plan to get your cardio in by hitting an extra sparring class or a challenging hiking trail instead.
4. Get a Workout Buddy The beauty of training in Taekwondo is that your instructor is your Personal Trainer! Asking questions of your Chief Instructor and getting tips from them will insure that you get the best results … it’s the motivation factor, too. When you set appointments with your instructor, you suddenly have someone to hold you accountable, making it much less likely that you’ll skip out on your workout at the last minute (not to mention that you’ve invested money in it, too). Getting a workout buddy — a friend, family member, colleague — can give you many of the same benefits on the motivation front. When you set up a workout schedule with your buddy, you both act as each other’s personal cheerleaders, encouraging one another to stick with the plan. You can also celebrate your milestones and exercise successes together. Think about a friend that you would like to train with and ask your instructor for a free month pass to see if Taekwondo is for them. It might be the best thing you ever did for them!
5. Keep Your Eyes on the Prize Working out is, well, work, and there will be times when you’d rather sink into your couch and put your feet up instead of heading to the studio. For these times when motivation is lacking, remember why you’ve committed to your exercise program in the first place: your health or safety. New research shows that exercise can help you prevent about two-dozen health conditions, including cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, obesity, depression, high blood pressure and dementia. It can even slow down your rate of aging. Plus, exercise will tone your muscles and reduce your body fat, helping you to look great on the outside, and boosting self-esteem in the process. Just try to get benefits like these from sitting on the couch. Master Brown knows always likes to point out that while you are getting fit, you also are working on skills that could save your life
6. Make it Convenient Exercise really should be an enjoyable part of your day, a time you look forward to and embrace. But keeping this attitude will be difficult if things are not planned. Some times it might be more convenient if you keep the families uniforms in the car. That way you can save a trip to the house. Putting your sparring bag in the truck will also save you some trips.. Another great idea if you have the space and budget is to purchase a few key pieces of exercise equipment for your own home, such as a heavy bag, treadmill, or weight set. Ask your instructor about maybe purchasing one of our heavy bags at cost.
7. Fit in Workouts Even on Your “Off” Time These days, everyone is so busy, so even with the best intentions your workouts may sometimes get sidetracked by travel, work or kids. Learn to roll with the punches and on the days when you don’t have time for a regular workout, squeeze in some exercises on the sly. Stretching and practicing your form and doing some pushups is a great way to throw in an impromptu workout. Some additional things could be jumping jacks, squats and lunges just about anywhere, or try standing with your back against the wall, then lowering your knees to a 90-degree angle (as though you’re “sitting” without a chair) and holding for 60-90 seconds. You can even keep a set of 5-, 10-, or 20-pound weights near your desk and do some quick bicep curls while making phone calls.
8. Keep it Fun Try out a variety of classes this year. If you haven’t picked out a new weapon to master this year, go for it. This sort of variety is an essential way to keep things fun and exciting. If the whole family is involved. Let your children be in charge of a workout at home. This can be entertaining and good for their confidence. But also it goes with one of Master Brown’s favorite sayings. “The Family that Kicks Together,, Sticks Together!”
9. Reward Yourself When you’ve stuck with your exercise plan for a week, a month or more, stop to give yourself a great big pat on the back … or treat yourself to a special treat, like a massage or a new piece of clothing to show off your new fit physique. This will keep exercise in a positive perspective and help you to keep striving to reach your next exercise milestone.
10. Support Your Exercise Habits With a Healthy Lifestyle As you become more physically active, support your newfound healthy habit by broadening into other positive habits as well. Eating right, getting plenty of sleep and keeping your stress levels to a minimum go hand-in-hand with exercise, and when combined are one of the best “prescriptions” for health and happiness out there. The Martial Arts is a great way to stay in shape and a great place to work on all your other goals. Fill your instructor in on all the goals you would like to accomplish and let them help motivate you. Master Brown and all the Instructors at ATA Leadership Martial Arts would like to make this the most productive year yet!
ATA Leadership Martial Arts and Leadership Krav Maga also offer Firearm Safety courses, College Bound Readiness courses as well as many others. Check out all your options at SEE MORE .
Michael Brown is a seventh degree black belt and Senior Master Instructor in Taekwondo and a certified instructor in Krav Maga for over 15 years. He is a two time world champion in sparring and a former Captain in the United States Marine Corps. He is a fire arms saftey expert and also trains individuals in concealed and carry tactics. Master Brown has been working with families and training people in personal defense in North Carolina for 24 years. He and his wife, Master Kimberly Brown love working with military personnel, law enforcement and civilians to become combat ready and helping them develop skills that will enable them to be the ‘First Responders’ for their families.
ATA Leadership Martial Arts serves the communities of: Fayetteville NC, Hope Mills NC, Spring Lake NC, Linden NC
Learn more about our academy at PunchNKick.com.