Blogs

Tue, 1 Nov 2011

Dust off your treadmill and gear up for party season!

By Joli Guenther MSSW, NASM

If you've relaxed your fitness routine since the Summer, you may find yourself wondering how to get back on track in time to look and feel great for the party season. Getting back into your fitness routine after a break can be challenging, so here are a few tips to help you succeed.

Honest Assessment: Assess your current fitness and start from there. Many would-be athletes jump into their new programme with great intentions, but find themselves struggling with fatigue or injury by the end of the second week. A successful programme starts with what your fitness is, not what you think it should be. If you're a runner who's taken some time off, start with a walk/run programme and increase the time spent running each week. If you've been sitting on the couch rather than your recumbent bike lately, starting with a short routine that will get you moving is more effective than jumping into a challenging hill workout.

Establish a Plan: At first a successful plan may be more about showing up for the workouts than the miles covered. If you're just getting started on cardio exercise after a long break, commit to a plan that gets you moving every day for a set period of time (20-30 minutes is a good start). As you succeed at sticking to these workouts, increase the duration of your workouts each week by 10% until you find yourself meeting your goal. Wondering what that goal should be? If you're looking to lose weight from working out, you want to work up to at least an hour per day. For weight management and overall fitness, 30 minutes most days of the week is sufficient.

Create Accountability: Find a way of building accountability in to your workout plan to stay on track. Local running and walking groups can add a social aspect to your workouts, motivating you to stick to your programme. You can also use a calendar to break down your training programme and planned increases, track your workouts in your schedule, and using online communities to report and track your workouts. 

Reassess Periodically: As you stick with your programme, your body will adapt and grow stronger quickly. Continue to slowly increase your workouts every week or two and consider adding a new challenge to your workouts after the first four to six weeks of sticking with your new programme. You'll find challenging options in the programmes offered through your Vision Fitness equipment. You may want to consider adding in an interval or hill workout each week to boost your fitness further and enjoy the energy-boosting effects of these workouts on your metabolism.