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Staying Motivated to Stay in Shape After the Summer

With the cooler weather swiftly approaching again, now is a good time to think about your winter workout routine. If you’re not a big fan of the cold and snow, you may need a little extra motivation to leave your warm bed on a chilly morning to get moving. Just because we trade our bathing suits for big sweaters doesn’t mean we should hibernate and take and take a vacation from exercise.

You’ll be taking in just as many calories as during the summer, possibly even more with all the favorite winter comfort foods. Nobody needs an analyst or a psychology degree to understand how it’s easier to pass on exercising and settle in on the couch with a big mug of hot cocoa while you watch the snow fly, but you aren’t doing yourself any favors. If you’re not burning those calories off somehow, ultimately, packing on the pounds is inevitable.

Healthy Knows no Season

Your skin may notice the change in temperature, but everything inside your body still functions the same way regardless of the calendar. Working out can make you look great on the outside, but the most important part of regular exercise is the beneficial effect it has on your heart, lungs, and muscles.

When you exercise and fuel your body with proper nutrition, it can perform much more efficiently. Keeping in mind that exercise will help you live a longer, healthier life is sometimes the only motivation you need.

Preventative Maintenance

Much like a car or any other machine, your body needs regular maintenance to keep it running smoothly. If you’re prone to catching colds, you should consider exercise and a healthy diet as two of your best weapons to fight them off. If you run or do other exercise outdoors, getting out in the fresh air is always good for you, especially during the colder months when the windows are usually closed. Working up a sweat can help the body rid itself of toxins and carcinogens. In addition, the rise in body temperature may slow down different types of bacterial growth, making recovery processes more effective if you do come down with something. Not only will you keep colds at bay, you’ll also be reducing the likelihood of some potentially major health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, and even cancer.

It’s Easier Mentally and Physically

The winter blues and cabin fever are other common problems many people face during the winter months. Regular exercise causes release of endorphins, which can make you feel happier and less stressed and keep depression in check.

Putting on weight over the winter is the main reason most people make New Year’s resolutions. By the time spring rolls around, they might feel the pressure with swimsuit season right around the corner. This is usually the time we shift our workouts into high gear, especially if we procrastinated for a few months.

If we instead stay motivated all winter and diligently stick with our exercise, we won’t have to make up for lost time. The vicious cycle can be broken if you keep exercise a part of your life throughout the entire year. If you have a hard time working out in the heat, autumn and winter weather could make your workout more comfortable, and getting into a yearlong exercise habit that much easier.

Try Something Fun

The change in season is also a great time to adjust your regular workout to make it more winter-friendly. There are plenty of recreational ways to stay active during the colder months. Sports such as skiing, skating, and snowboarding are some of the most popular choices. Other fun activities like sledding, building a snowman, and even a vigorous snowball fight can get your heart rate up and help you sneak in some exercise disguised as playtime.

Abandoning an exercise program just because it’s cold is never a good excuse. With the right attitude and a little willpower, anything is possible. The benefits are too many to ignore, and ultimately are the best motivation to make and maintain the commitment to exercise. If you’re the type of person that doesn’t like being cold, exercise is also a sure way to warm you up. When you’re done, you can look forward to a warm shower and a cozy sweater; but you won’t be using the sweater to hide anything.

About the Author:

Allison Gamble has been a curious student of psychology since high school. She brings her understanding of the mind to work in the weird world of internet marketing.” However, if you’d prefer to break the link, my bio is “Allison Gamble has been a curious student of psychology since high school. She brings her understanding of the mind to work in the weird world of internet marketing with psychologydegree.net.

While every endeavor is best met with confidence, setting the right fitness goals also involves a realistic approach. If a new fitness regimen is too aggressive, especially in the early stages, resolve will suffer and inevitably deter any serious progress. The best way to map out a successful workout regimen, then, is to first assess your ability, set specific goals, establish a workout program and allow room for self-forgiveness.

Assess Your Ability

Even if you feel intimated with your limits, designate a day to officially record your results in whatever areas you are looking to improve. If you want to achieve a certain mile time, for example, run a mile and record your time as day one of your exercise log. Make sure to note any relevant circumstances in doing this that may affect your trial, such as weather, amount of sleep, and so on. Once every relevant time, amount of weight, or maximum amount of repetitions is recorded, it’s time to establish a specific set of fitness goals.

Plateaus and Diminishing Returns

There are two major principles that every motivated person should apply when setting fitness goals. First is the concept of diminishing returns. If you can already run a mile in less than seven minutes, make sure to set expected progress levels at small increments. Expecting to drop a minute in a week, for example, is unrealistic for that mile time. On the other side of the spectrum, those with mile times of 9 minutes or more should expect to improve more rapidly, although every second shaved only comes with hard work. Both groups of people are capable of reaching the same goal, but less fit individuals will initially improve at a faster rate.

Next is the infamous plateau effect. Whether it is bench press weight or a mile time, athletes often talk of “the wall” that prevents them from meeting their goals. To anticipate plateaus when setting fitness goals, give yourself more time to achieve landmarks as you increase in fitness. This will incorporate both principles and give you the time to diversify your workout with muscle confusion and cross training to break through the wall.

Realism and Self-Forgiveness

As it concerns the numbers themselves, there is no equation relating a starting point to a final goal because of the variable of motivated effort. Even the most determined, however, need to allow self-forgiveness in setting realistic fitness goals. Telling yourself that it’s okay to miss one workout or have a burger once or twice a month, for example, will prevent the psyche from forcing the body into regression mode. After an aggressive, realistic program is established, the only thing left is to put in the hard work.

This guest article was contributed by Jennifer Bell from Health Training Guide. Check out her site to learn more about medical transcription training and other exciting health careers.

Exercise provides benefits in countless ways. For some, it lessens stress and prevents obesity. For many others however, it’s after effects aren’t always physical.

A recent study from the National Academy of Sciences provides that prolonged amounts of exercise can actually promote heightened cognitive functions, particular to the brain’s hippocampus (memory center). As we age, it’s been stated that the
brain loses 1 to 2% of volume each year. The effects of this are seen in ailments like dementia.

The study was quite simple actually – 60 Americans in their late 50s to early 80s walked 3 times a week for exactly 40 minutes. Another 60 performed yoga and various toning exercises. Using MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), it was demonstrated that the hippocampus in the walkers increased by 2% in volume. This was against a controlled experiment in which it shrank by 1.4%.

According to researchers, both groups showed tremendous development on spatial memory tests. Similar results demonstrate that most effects were prevalent in the anterior hippocampus, as opposed to the posterior. The anterior typically shows the most declines during these late stages of life.

Interestingly enough, physical exercises 3-4 times a week can help with things like anxiety, sleep disorders, metabolism problems, and short-term memory and self-esteem issues.

It’s only natural that after a great workout session, we feel better about ourselves. This comes hand in hand with naturally raised levels of endorphins throughout the body. These endorphins help relieve tension and psychological distress; they trigger positive feelings in the body, similar to that of morphine. Also known as “runners high,” this feeling can give anybody a positive outlook on life, and lead to increased satisfaction. Furthermore, this promotes habits that can be viewed as exercise for the brain, or mental stimulation.

Of course, everything is connected in one way or another, but increased physical exercise always seems to yield both physical and cognitive benefits.

Jim Rollince of Gym Source, distributor of home training equipment includingtreadmills, bikes, ellipticals, home gyms and more!

Those of us who are “lucky” enough to live in a place where weather extremes exist (variable scalding hot and blistering cold temperatures) know that our workouts can change from season to season. Particularly in winter, some of us will be confined to the indoors while others will still seek to find their adrenaline rush throughout the coldest of days. For those of you who love the outdoors or are interested in some healthy activities that are fueled by the cold, below is a list of activities you can do in the winter to keep yourself in shape.

1. Snowshoeing

   • Trekking through the depths of snow works your leg muscles as well as increases your heart rate. If you want to get a serious workout in, bring a partner along so you can motivate each other to keep a steady pace going. A 30 minute hike is a great way to get your cardio in for the day.
   • Snowshoeing doesn’t have to be an intense workout, it can also be a great activity for a group of people; bring your friends or family along to check out the wintery sites in your local park.
   • Go to your local parks and recreation center to see if there are trails in the area that you can rent snowshoes at.

2. Cross-Country Skiing

   • Cross Country skiing is one of the most demanding winter sports that anyone can do. Heck, it’s an Olympic sport! What you put into your workout (no matter what it is) is reflective of what you are going to get out of it. If you want to train for a winter cross-country skiing race, all power to you. There are tons of races throughout the year that are calling your name. The intensity of the training regimen is sure to work your entire body. However, just like snowshoeing, cross-country skiing can also just be a great way to just get outside, explore a park or simply check out the scenery without the stress of competition bearing down on you.

   

3. Running Outdoors

   • If winter happens to have hit in your area, going to the gym can be frustrating because most of them are packed and you have to wait in line to use the exercise equipment. Granted, if you own your own fitness equipment, like ellipticals or treadmills, you wouldn’t be affected by the influx of people working out indoors. In any event, running outdoors can be an excellent supplement to any public gym or home gym workout. If you want to time yourself or run a specific distance, map out a path first with your car. You should probably slip your running into a lower gear in slick conditions, being sure to create traction on whatever surface you are running on (for safety purposes). At the same time, an inhibiting terrain would likely create a tougher challenge for you ultimately making you work a little harder but earn better results.
   • To further your safety while running, find a nice area that you can run and be safe in. Big neighborhoods are always a good choice. The elaborate houses decorated to the 9s with their seasonal cheer can always put someone in the winter spirit. Also, most of the time the roads and sidewalks will be shoveled, plowed and even salted for your running needs.
   • If you don’t want to run through the neighborhoods, try sticking to some of the main roads or for a much more peaceful run check out the path “over the river and thru the woods.” Let someone know where you are headed before you go and, as long as you know it to be safe, the path to grandma’s house will probably be a rewarding journey!

4. Shoveling

   • It is a necessary evil. Shoveling can help tone your body significantly! Just remember to implement proper mechanics – being sure to bend at your legs and not your back! If you shovel incorrectly there is a high percent that you will throw out your back. In that case you’ll likely sit out the rest of the winter season from exercises, stuck on the couch. While you might find great joy cuddling up in your “Snuggie” drinking hot cocoa and baileys -fully taking advantage of the laziness associated with having an injury – just remember all of the fun you might miss out on with friends and family during the holidays as a result of suffering an exercise related injury. Use caution! On a side note, shoveling is also a great way to get on your neighbors good side, and will make you feel good about helping those around you. Perfect for the holiday season!

5. Downhill Skiing/Snowboarding/Sledding

   • Many families like to plan vacations during the winter. If you have decided to go to a ski resort, skiing, snowboarding, and sledding are fun ways to be outdoors and get a workout in. Stay active during your trip, take lessons and stay on the slopes all day long, and then end your evening snuggling up next to the fire place.
   • If you are naturally fit individual, none of these actitivies should be too difficult for you. Snowboarding and skiing rely a lot on ab and leg strength, along with flexibility. If you want to tone up your abs and leg muscles before your trip do some exercises from your home gym.

Megan Gates is an outreach representative for Gym Source (gymsource.com) – a leading retailer of home gyms and various other exercise and fitness equipment. Megan contributes written work to the blogosphere related to health and fitness.

I can’t seem to run as fast as I could. I have aches and pains in my joints. How much of my problems are a part of aging, and what am I willing to give up?

A few years ago I was half way up Mount Rainier. I thought I had prepared myself adequately. I was 56 at the time. I didn’t make it and it was one of the few times in my life I missed a peak. Rainier was an important to me. I had planned on this summit for years. Now I was there and this was the time. The few weeks after that event caused me to learn a very valuable lesson.

I had pain everywhere. The bottoms of my feet hurt. My ankles hurt, my knees and hips hurt. I was so disappointed that I didn’t summit on Mt. Rainier, I was determined that I would do what I could to continue hiking and climbing regardless of the cost. Was I just getting old. Was it time for me to adjust my expectations for myself?

I lived in the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon along the western edge of the Wasatch Mountains (upper east bench of Salt Lake City). I decided I would revisit as many of the hikes I had taken and peaks I had climbed over the previous years as I could. I began hiking the easy trails in Millcreek and Big Cottonwood canyons. Before each hike I wrapped my ankles. I purchased insoles for my sore feet. I placed warming supports around my knees. I took a couple of ibuprofen and started out. I did this for four weeks. What happened next caught me off guard.

About four weeks later, I started feeling pretty good again. I realized that I had strengthened muscles that had grown weak and flabby. As these muscles started doing their work again, my aches and pains slowly disappeared. I took out the insoles, quit wrapping my ankles, and stopped wearing the knee warmers. By the end of that year I was hiking pain free and pushing myself as hard as I had twenty years earlier. I recorded that year on my Maintain Fit personal journal. My last hike that year was a winter ascent on Mount Olympus between Christmas and the new year. I recorded 80,000 vertical feet and 180 miles of trails. Along the way I summited 37 peaks.

What if I had decided that I was too old and that my body was telling me to slow down. To this day I would still have those sore feet, and probably several more problems. The pattern is all too clear. One problem cascades into several. We don’t always know when we can work ourselves out of a problem, or whether it truly is the end of an era. But we will never know if we don’t test it. I am older now. I really am slowing down, but I have tested the theory again this past six months. I broke my femur in July. Once again, I worked hard to get back to my best level of performance (whatever that is, not what it was) and my body is once again responding to hard work and consistency. I don’t hear people talking about this miracle of recovery, especially for older men and women. I may never get back to the tough peaks, but I am on the trails, in the river, walking, hiking and climbing again.

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Get started today with a free exercise log from Maintain Fit
Photography by Elise McLaughlin

It is January. I have been surprised at how busy the gym is. I usually go when fewer people attend so I can enjoy the relative loneliness of a workout. I realized that it is January. Each January and into a little of February people are still working on New Year’s Resolutions. In two more weeks the gym will be quiet again. The larger question is how to stay motivated. Whether your personal choice is running, hiking, weights, aerobics, etc, how do you keep from burning out? Look to your dreams.

My preference is trails and peaks. I love to gain altitude and feel my heart pumping and my lungs taking the punishment. Unfortunately, I broke my femur in July. During my recovery, two dreams have driven me to recuperate. The first dream is one I have had several times in the last twenty plus years. I am running on a trail. It is autumn; I am in the oak brush and mountain maples. The ground cover of tall grass and low bushes is turning yellow. The trail is winding with small spurts of ups and downs and I am running. I feel great. I feel strong and my running is effortless.

Can you imagine a better motivator? That is why I must go to the gym, and get up on the trails. I am too young to give up that piece of my life. I am reminded (in three dimensional full life images with every sense fully engaged) that this is what I love. And I don’t want to give it up.
The other dream is quite opposite. We all have dreams that are somewhat similar. The common thread in these dreams is weakness. I am trying to run from something frightening but I can’t. I am in slow motion grabbing the cracks in the concrete to pull myself along. Since my accident this dream has adjusted to fit my scenario. My accident has left my legs weak, especially my thighs. In my dreams now I fall to the ground but I can’t get up. I am struggling to push myself to a standing position. Last night I was being chased by a huge cinnamon colored grizzly bear who talked. As he approached me I knew that he was going to come after me. I asked, “Is it my turn?”. He responded that it was. The weakness in my legs was enlarged in my dream.

Once again, what a powerful motivator. Each time this dream, or similar one occurs, I wake and remember why I can’t slack off. I am reminded from the depths of my own brain that I must and I will keep working to have the personal strength and health to perform at my best levels. I got up this morning and went for hike. An inch of new snow covered the already two or three feet on the trail. I only got a mile up the trail, but I was on a trail.

I will be on the trail or in the gym next December with a small handful of other diehards. These dreams are even motivating me to run, which I dislike. I am up to one and half miles now. I am so grateful when I am now on a trail, or walking along a stream, or kicking through the fast water that I am back doing the things I love.

I know you have dreams and some of them are like mine. Use their power to keep you doing what you love.

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Get started today with a free exercise log from Maintain Fit
Photography by Sara Moses

This last few months has had more than its share of sickness. We have the regular flu which kills about 35,000 Americans yearly. In addition to that we have had the Swine Flu. Other colds and flu viruses have kept American families hopping with one child, a parent, another sibling and so on sick until it seems some families have been sick for many weeks at a time.

Remember that one of the best ways to keep immunities high is to keep active. Regular trips to the gym, and or maintaining your personal exercise routine is the modern apple a day. You know this. You have heard your friends, family and the small communities of people with whom you share your particular passions the stories of how they got sick when they quit running, hiking, swimming, etc for a few weeks. This fact keeps many of us maintaining our routines.

Be smart. If it is too cold, or the roads are icy, make adjustments. If work gets hectic, or schedules fill up, make adjustments. Sometimes taking a week or two off can help sore muscles heal, and tendons repair themselves. But the trick is to get back to some kind of activity quickly. Run stairs at work. Do leg exercises in your cubicle. Do the low crawl as you do housework. Park your car at the far end of the parking lot. Put your fry sauce at the far end of the counter so you have to reach farther.

Nothing good can happen in your life without personal discipline. This is another word for sacrifice. Sacrifice bears its own special fruit. One of the choice fruits of regular exercise is health. Our immune systems are stronger. We are susceptible to fewer illnesses. This connection between regular exercise and strong immune systems has been demonstrated. We know it works, and it is cheap. We all have other people, our jobs, our children, who need us. When they get sick, or have their emergencies, it is we who fill in and make life work. Stay healthy and keep exercising for your sake and the sakes of the people who depend on you.

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Get started today with a free exercise log from Maintain Fit

Over the years I’ve done a number of surveys and polls for people that come to my web site. There are two primary drivers for most people that end up at maintainfit.com and they are to:

1. Lose Weight
2. Stay motivated

The thing that I find so interesting is that they searched for something like exercise log, rather than just searching for lose weight. What I’ve observed is that most of the population wants to achieve these two goals, but only a few are willing to put in the effort to get there. Everyone else wants a free ride.

That’s interesting, but not as interesting as the thing they don’t tell me. The more I dig into what people tell me in my surveys, the more convinced I am that what they really want is a better looking body.

Body image trumps all

What people want is to look beautiful or handsome. They want others to see them as sexy and attractive. It’s the ideal body image that their really after.

That’s why I wrote this post about not believing everything you see. As it turns out, the body image we’re all seeking isn’t always achievable. There are some really skilled makeup and touch up artists in the world.

So I know there is a group of people that want to lose weight and are willing to do the work to get there. The question I have now is whether or not those people have a more realistic attitude about what their body image should be. I know that the more healthy I live, the more my opinion changes. I don’t need to look like the Incredible Hulk anymore. It’s enough to feel healthy and know that I’m doing all I can to avoid an early heart attack.

And when you do meet one of those 1 in a million people that approximate that perfect body image that you want, don’t dwell too much on it. Remember that God gives us each the strengths we need to get through this life. Take it in stride and go for a long run!

I’ve noticed that a log of people like to have something to printout or store right on their computer when it comes to their exercise log. Just like the printable food diary that I posted a few months ago, you can download this as a PDF and print it out right now.

Printable Exercise Log as PDF

This is a very simple printable exercise log that will get you where you’re going. It will help you track exercise, difficulty, and other important values, without getting in your way. The best part is that you can easily transfer your information into your fitness log here at maintainfit.com for graphing and storage.

Post a comment with questions or suggestions.

I just published the last planned press release for the 2010 Fitness Jumpstart. There are 3 days left to register for the program and it’s getting a lot of buzz. Articles were published in local papers and on Yahoo! News. Hundreds of people found it through Google too.

What excites me most about it is that the people that are looking for this type of program understand that there’s more to fitness than pills and surgery. There’s still a large percentage of the population that really believes that you get out of fitness what you put into it. And what you put into fitness should be some effort.

Anyway, here’s the final press release if you’re interested: Mr. USA gives live training.

The real details are over here, and you might want to hurry since registration closes on Saturday night: http://www.maintainfit.com/2010jumpstart/

Post a comment if you have any questions, or if you signed up and want to chat about the cools bonuses that are already in the members area.