Staying Motivated in the New Year

I presume a whole bunch of you will be listing a few New Year's resolutions, and some of them might involve getting into shape, loseing the flab, or sticking to your training routines for once.

There are a number of simple things you can do to help stay the course with any programme.
While this is aimed at beginners, sticking with changes in our diet and workouts is something tha affects all of us at some point.

1. Avoid getting bored
You might have the will to do your training, but ANY routine that you do day in day out can get boring. You are far more likely to actually do your workout if you enjoy it and are challenged by it.
Add some variety, if you spend all your time in the gym, get outdoors every once in a while.
Use the treadmill all the time? Change your cardio machine, or heaven forbid, try a jog.
Play a sport, soccer, basketball, touch rugby, whatever it is, inject some fun into it.

2. Don't let ambition get in the way of consistency
You might pen down a workout programme, and it may well be very good and very challenging. BUT if it will result in overtraining after a period of time, or it is too ambitious for you, there's a chance you might start missing sessions and taking a rest

Set a realistic programme, even if its just 3 times a week, and then confidently rest in between.
If you have a loosely structured programme, that involves working out when you can, then even if you are busy and dont have time, just do something, even 20 minutes.
It will be far more useful to train consistenly in the long run, than to have a stop/start approach to working out

3. Get a training partner
You are far more likely to get out of bed and turn up for a workout if there is someone there you've commited your time to.

4. Keep a training diary
People often get pretty low when they've hit a plateau, and feel like their whole programme isn't working. Referring to a diary can help you gain some perspective on your achievment to date, and show you how your training is progressing.

5. Make small incremental changes in your diet
I'm sure most of us could put together an near ideal menu plan for the next month, but the chances of sticking to it are slim, as its a huge shock to your current habits.
Make a small change to your diet: cut some carbs, add a vegetable to your recipe, add another protein portion to your favourite meal.
These are things that you CAN do, and are likely to do in the long term, and this simple fact will be a better improvement to your diet, than an "ideal" diet for 2 weeks.

6. Get some sleep
Recovery is often underrated in performance training and weight loss training. Getting anough sleep will help you recover better, and will make your training more effective. Proper rest is also likely to improve your mood, and make it easier to look forward to training sessions.

Wishing you all the best in the New Year,

James.

p.s. Hope you all have a great party tonight, and for gods sake don't deny yourself some enjoyment, just because you have a training and diet programme.

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