Saturday Thought

Saturday Tip & Trick

Tip # 13: Take a day off! Muscles need a break, and so do you. You should be taking at least one day out of seven off, if not two. If you are exercising for the exercise and not for a specific event, you have plenty of time to get in shape!  Feel free to rotate which day you take off.  If you had a exercise day planned, but you are just not up to it, take the day off without guilt–as long as you didn’t do that for the last three days running 😉

Saturday Tips & Tricks

Tip # 12: Read this story: Oldest Marathon Runner. The motivational value should be self evident!

A bit more motivation….

Saturday Tip & Trick

Tip # 11: Focus only on yourself. There will always be someone fitter, faster or more flexible than you. Don’t compare your self to them, Endress says. Forget about them. Do not let them deter you from your goal. Your workout time is for you, and about you.                                                                                                                                                       —webmd,  Gerald Endress, exercise physiologist

Saturday Tips & Tricks

Tip # 10: Listen to your body. It knows what it is talking about. I always say I don’t consider it a run if I stop. But that means stopping because I am tired or the hill is too big. If I sprain my ankle, you know I am walking home. And when I hurt my back, I didn’t do anything to antagonize it. One blogger I read continued to run in a race long after her body said no. She knew she shouldn’t, but she let the months of training for the event persuade her that she needed to finish.  Instead of maybe a week of downtime recovering, she was out of the game for months. We all need to learn from that lesson.

Saturday Tips & Tricks

Tip # 9: Get dressed! This one works along the lines of getting up and doing other things. If you are dressed for whatever exercise you feel less than motivated for; eventually you have to make the decision to exercise or take off the clothes. It is quite likely you will choose to exercise–you are dressed for it after all! If you combined this one with tip # 1 (get up and do other things to get the blood flowing), your chances of actually exercising double!

Saturday Tips

Tip # 7: READ! READ! READ! May I say it again? Reading magazines, blogs, websites all motivate me to try new things. Reading can give me a new way of approaching a hurdle that has been in my way, and shows me the struggles and triumphs of other athletes. Maybe reading can inspire you to try a whole new sport. There is no end to the information and inspiration you can get from reading.

Saturday Tips

Tip # 6:  “Reach a goal. Set a goal for weight, or your waist measurement, or a number of days to work out, or a number of miles to run this week. Setting and tracking a goal helps motivate you to complete that goal. Make it easily achievable.”    –brought to us by Leo, at ZenHabits

Don’t forget to reward yourself after reaching your goal!

Saturday Tip

Tip #5: brought to us by the April issue of Fitness magazine–Pep talk yourself. Upbeat motivational speeches to yourself are free, easy, and effective. “A recent study published in Medicine & Science of Sports & Exercise found that athletes who practiced motivational self-talk were able to push harder for longer, which ultimately increased their endurance.”  So be sweet to yourself, encourage yourself going up that rise and think positive as you push at the end of your session. You can do it! 🙂

—check out the Saturday Tips & Tricks page to see the other tips