As summer comes to a close, you might find a renewed excitement for your fitness and yoga practice.
September is a time when we often re-evaluate our current programs, and maybe feel a bit guilty about summer. So where do you start when you’re looking to either begin fresh or get back into it after taking time off? The best place is with honesty, and with follow-through.
Just start again. It’s only difficult in your mind. Be honest about what it is you want and need out of your training, and how much you can commit to.
Looking and performing like a fitness model, athlete, or bodybuilder is possible, but is it what you want and need, and can you commit to it? These fitness types are specialists. They often wear their bodies down for their sport, to be the best, and do suffer later because of that approach.
Carefully consider what will serve you best. Most of us can relate to the desire to wake up feeling good, without aches and pains, and not struggling to move. No one wants to be the person who pulled their back reaching for a light switch.
If you have a desk job, for example, going to the gym and pushing your body to its maximum every single day, especially in one way only, may not yield the long-term results that will do your body and you the most good. Not only that, but could you realistically commit to it?
The one thing we often forget to do is listen to our bodies. It’s great to feel a little sore the day after training. But if you are waking up feeling immobile, and every day that same way, you are going to break, not bend. Strength with flexibility, mobility with strength, and always recovery.
Make some realistic, measurable goals. Then follow through on them. Maybe training like an athlete because you like the look of their body isn’t the best idea. Specialist training is just that.
Most of us should focus on becoming generalists: learning how to move our bodies well, so we can do all things with mobility, strength and ease.
Your goals should be something you can measure, whether weight loss or gain, strength gain, or otherwise. They should also be things that you personally want to achieve, not what others say you should do. Seek out professional advice whenever you can, try different places and programs, and when you find what works for you, stick with it.
Do what you can with what you have where you are, and always prioritize the positive.
Melissa Sloos is a certified group fitness instructor, spin instructor and co-owner at Coast Fitness in Powell River.
