You know that feeling when you walk into your home after being at work and all you want to do is have dinner, curl up on the sofa and watch trashy TV. It’s overwhelming at times, so there’s no surprise your inner chimp wins and you cancel your workout, get your pj’s on and stay in the warm instead.
I can relate to that, I’ve certainly had moments like this, but what stops us from doing it each night and giving up on our fitness during the winter?
You may be surprised to know it’s not willpower. (That too becomes exhausted and eventually you will succumb to the couch.) What really lies beneath the success of your fitness plan is the awareness of your behaviour and habits. In order to be better at making decisions and sticking to them, you would need to train your brain to respond differently. Just like if you were going to run a marathon, you would achieve this by running regularly and building up endurance.
The same thing is necessary for transforming the way you think. You will need to practise separating your thoughts and feelings, plus questioning any barriers or excuses you may be giving yourself as a reason not to workout.
For example, when you’re not feeling like leaving the house to go to your session, understand that your feelings are not something you can control, but what you are able to change are you actions. You have the ability to do things even of you don’t feel like it.
Having this awareness will hopefully allow you to make better decisions in the future and keep you on the road to success.
Below are a few tips to keep you on track this winter.
- If you’re heading to the gym after work, have your kit with you as this avoids going home and feeling the ‘staying in’ moment.
- Commit to going 3 or 4 times per week and make yourself accountable by writing it down on sticky notes and add them to you car dashboard. That way you’ll be reading them frequently.
- Compromise – choose to enjoy your cosy evening in after your workout or give yourself permission to have 1 evening snuggled up on the couch.
- Reward yourself – if you’ve set yourself the challenge of 4 workouts this week, reward yourself for hitting them. It doesn’t have to be expensive or extravagant, just something you like that makes you feel happy.
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