Is working out a chore for you? If so, you’re probably not going to stick with it. As I’ve shown with my other posts, fitness and healthy living really is a lifestyle choice. You go and get a masters degree once; you have that masters for the rest of your life (along with the loan payments). You get in shape for the summer; it’s only going to last as long as your commitment to maintaining it. So all you 25-year-olds who want to be one of those hot daddies in the Pines, you’re in for a lot of early mornings or happy hours spent pumping iron.
The keys to sticking with a workout plan are setting goals (so that you can see your progress and keep motivated), eliminating excuses (so that you can’t justify not going to the gym, even if just for a half hour), and accountability (having to answer to someone else).
Setting Goals
Anyone who has ever worked in sales or any other field where your performance is constantly monitored will tell you how annoying important setting realistic goals is. The same thing goes for getting fit and here’s why: staying motivated for the first couple of weeks is easy. You’re in a new routine; you’re taking charge of a situation and empowering yourself; and it feels great! But often, people who aren’t realistic about their goals (or those who don’t have any) wonder why they haven’t seen any change after all this hard work!
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| image from reallifecoaching.net |
Keep in mind that changes in your body usually happen as a result of your body adjusting to repeated (slight) damage to its muscles or a change in caloric balance (what you consume versus what you burn). Often, it takes several weeks to see results in the mirror. So saying you want to look like Zac Efron with your shirt off may not be so great of a goal to get you through those first few weeks. But losing 6 lbs might be. So might gaining 3 lbs (if you’re looking to bulk up). Or increasing the weight that you use for your reps by 10%. Depending on your body type and routine, these may be quite ambitious goals, but losing 3 lbs when you were aiming for 6 is still tangible progress. And when you add a few months of progress up, your achievement will fuel even more motivation.
Another good way to track your progress is to take measurements (with a tape measure) and pictures (with a camera). While it’s hard to set a concrete and achievable goal based on pictures, before and after photos speak volumes about your progress (as opposed to the mirror, where you see yourself every day). Inches or centimeters lost or gained can easily be incorporated into your fitness goals. But for both of these methods, consistency is key. Take pictures in the same lighting from the same distance with the same posture. If you flex with your first measurement, make a note of it and flex with your follow up measurements. And no sucking in!
Eliminating Excuses
There’s always an excuse to skip a workout plan: “I’m tired;” “I worked late;” “I’m throwing up blood.” Okay, the last one is actually a good excuse for skipping a workout (leaving bodily fluids on gym equipment would be considered improper gym etiquette), but the fact is that if you’re looking, there will always be an excuse. And let’s be honest: skipping one workout won’t kill your routine. It’s when skipping becomes part of your routine that you run into problems.
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| image from freakingfitness.com |
One solution that worked for me: I left my cheap-but-cute gym in Chelsea (almost 40 blocks from my office headed away from home) for the cheap-and-not-so-cute gym that was one block from my office. Ironically, when I was unemployed and living way out in Queens, I had no problem trekking 1.5 hours to the gym on a regular basis. But when my situation changed (moving to Manhattan, working long days, dealing with rush hour on the subway), I had to adjust appropriately and realistically.
Affordability was another factor. I still had a good 3 months left in my contract at the old gym when I joined the new one, but the convenience made the purchase worthwhile. I’d wager most people pay $80-$150/mo for the gym in NYC. I paid about $30 per month for the old gym and $330 up front for 14 months at the current gym (no pool, steam room, or sauna… and towels cost extra). When the newer gym was convenient to work and already paid for, I had no excuse not to go.
I also had a flexible, short workout program. From the time I walked in to the time I walk out is about an hour and a half, including changing and showering. I’d do a warm-up on the elliptical, stretching, agility exercises, and a warm-up weight-lifting set followed by two “real” weight-lifting sets, ending with more stretching. But in a pinch, it’s better to do a truncated workout than to skip all together. If need be, I could do the 3 weight-lifting sets and be out in 30-40 minutes. However, the stretching and warming up help to prevent injury, so I don’t skip them on a regular basis. And the agility exercises? Who knows when you’ll have to pull a
Russian out of your back pocket!
If I couldn’t make all my gym days during the week, I knew I had to drag my ass down 100 blocks to the gym on Saturday and get my workout in. Talk about motivation not to skip workouts!
Accountability
Holding yourself accountable to someone can make or break a workout routine. You’re a lot less likely to wimp out because you had a bad day or because you’re hung over if you have to answer to another person because of it. If you can afford it, a trainer can be hugely helpful because, in addition to showing you how to do exercises correctly and safely, s/he is an appointment that you have to keep. All of a sudden, staying up til 3am playing World of Warcraft doesn’t sound like such a great skipping excuse when it means you’ll have to cancel on somebody.
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| image from onlinevideopersonaltrainingbootcamp.com |
And if you can’t afford a trainer, have a workout partner. Ideally, this is someone around your fitness level with similar goals. But you don’t necessarily have to do the same workout as your partner; you guys can show up, greet, and do your own things. As long as the two of you (or more) are accountable to each other, you will motivate each other. People say they’re looking for workout partners on Manhunt, Adam4Adam, and Grindr all the time, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend being delusional lying to yourself making that the focus of your profile.
I work out by myself, so who holds me accountable? You guys. No seriously. With the pictures I have on Facebook, Twitter, Adam4Adam, Manhunt, Grindr, DudesNude (you get the picture), I really have to keep up my fitness!
One night, I was on RealJock.com’s webcam chat (to promote the blog, of course), and I got this email from a European guy:
Shout out to my frank Euro readers. And in my defense, our living room has awful webcam lighting. In fact, that inspires another nugget of fitness advice: always find the best lighting possible.
Let’s face it: if it were easy to be in shape, everyone would be. It’s a huge commitment, and unless you can stay motivated, you’re setting yourself up for failure. I’m not going to tell you that reading this will make you look like me (rather, like I did two years ago), but if you go into working out with a plan, you’re going to make significant progress. Set realistic goals so that you can see your progress (and where you need to improve) along the way. Make sure you have no excuses to miss workouts by making your gym routine flexible and your gym’s location convenient. And find a workout buddy or hire a trainer so that you’re accountable to someone and have an obligation not to break that external commitment. You may not get a six-pack, but you’ll definitely have swagger to spare.
Note: I am not a certified fitness/health professional. Just a gym rat who reads a lot.
Click here to check out TheBlackoutBlog Workout Log: Intro. Click here to check out TheBlackoutBlog Workout Log: My Fitness Journey. Click here to check out TheBlackoutBlog Workout Log: Food and Diet.
Click here to check out TheBlackoutBlob Workout Log: How I Did It.
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