Right, so we are nearly at the end of March. MARCH. It will be April in two weeks, and I don't know about you but the mince pies, family festivities and overindulgence of Christmas genuinely doesn't seem like it was almost twelve weeks ago..
How quickly the time passes is scary, especially when you've set yourself health and fitness goals. That might be to look your personal best for June when you go on holiday, to run a half marathon, increase your deadlift weight, do a pull up - whatever these goals, the fact that time slips away from us so quickly means you can set a goal in say, January and come mid-March, life has got in the way and sticking to it hasn't exactly gone to plan...
Holland and Barrett have researched the differences in our bodies throughout December and January, and I think months are really important to factor in when setting goals - for example, setting a goal to train for a half marathon in December when there are umpteen cheat slip up opportunities is ultimately way harder than beginning in January, when most people are ready to embrace health again.
60% of people admitted consuming 3000 calories A DAY in December, and 70% of people felt more productive in January.. the difference in attitude is crazy!
How quickly the time passes is scary, especially when you've set yourself health and fitness goals. That might be to look your personal best for June when you go on holiday, to run a half marathon, increase your deadlift weight, do a pull up - whatever these goals, the fact that time slips away from us so quickly means you can set a goal in say, January and come mid-March, life has got in the way and sticking to it hasn't exactly gone to plan...
Holland and Barrett have researched the differences in our bodies throughout December and January, and I think months are really important to factor in when setting goals - for example, setting a goal to train for a half marathon in December when there are umpteen cheat slip up opportunities is ultimately way harder than beginning in January, when most people are ready to embrace health again.
60% of people admitted consuming 3000 calories A DAY in December, and 70% of people felt more productive in January.. the difference in attitude is crazy!
But it got me thinking about goals, how easy it is to jump from one month to the next and not see progression. So, to help me come up with more realistic, maintainable goals, I thought I'd share three tips to keep me (and you!) in check.
1. Keep them simple
Don't overcomplicate your goal, otherwise you run the risk of becoming demotivated and will be more likely to give up. Keep them attainable, but just out of reach, so you're pushing yourself to your limit, but can see small progress each time too.
2. Note your progress
Keep a note of how far you've run that week, what it felt like to squat a particular weight, if you've struggled with anything over the past few days and so on. Vocalising your experiences makes your goals seem more 'real', and can help motivate you as you look back on your progress.
3. Sharing is caring
Have you got a mate (or anyone) you could share goals with? Not necessarily to have the same goal (although if you're both training for a 10k, for example, this would be a perfect matchmake), but this person can be your support and motivator when, par exemple, you can't be arsed to get up for a run at 6am.
1. Keep them simple
Don't overcomplicate your goal, otherwise you run the risk of becoming demotivated and will be more likely to give up. Keep them attainable, but just out of reach, so you're pushing yourself to your limit, but can see small progress each time too.
2. Note your progress
Keep a note of how far you've run that week, what it felt like to squat a particular weight, if you've struggled with anything over the past few days and so on. Vocalising your experiences makes your goals seem more 'real', and can help motivate you as you look back on your progress.
3. Sharing is caring
Have you got a mate (or anyone) you could share goals with? Not necessarily to have the same goal (although if you're both training for a 10k, for example, this would be a perfect matchmake), but this person can be your support and motivator when, par exemple, you can't be arsed to get up for a run at 6am.
Are there any other mantras you swear by for keeping on track of your fitness goals?
It would be interesting to compare Holland and Barrett's results with July and September - July for me is heat of the summer and September for me always reminds me of starting 'fresh', returning to school, and the start of autumn.
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