How To Readjust Your Fitness Plans
Don’t let your workout leave you thinking, “What went wrong?”
I learned such a great and valuable lesson over the past few weeks…
When one strategy doesn’t work, you’ve got to try another and another until you find the one that works.
Sound obvious? Well it may be. But many times after we make an attempt to accomplish a goal and it doesn’t work exactly the way we had planned the first and second time, we’re tempted to just throw in the towel and just tell ourselves (and others) a bunch of excuses as to why it didn’t work.
Let me explain…
Before the birth of my son 3 months ago, I always exercised at home. With just a few items (a few dumbbells, an exercise ball and a spinning bike) I could put together an effective and intense workout.
Well, all of that drastically changed when my son was born. I made every attempt to do my workouts at home…waited until he was asleep, put him in a swing, even tried to sing to him while doing squats and lunges. None of that ever really worked. Sure, I might have gotten a few of the first exercises done, but it was never quite a complete and focused workout (How focused can you be singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” during a set of squats?)
If I was committed to get myself back into my pre-baby shape I had to re-adjust my fitness plans!
First and foremost I decided to join a gym near my house where they offer a wonderful babysitting service. Yes, I would rather workout at home, but that clearly was not working and I am open minded and willing to give something new a try. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even meet some other new moms and we can keep each other motivated.
Secondly, I had to put some structure back into my workouts. I wasn’t following any specific plan and I was kind of just “winging” it each time. I know firsthand this is NOT the way to reach any fitness goal. So shame on me for not setting myself on a structured plan sooner.
Like I told you earlier this week, the program for me is going to be Rob Poulos’ Fat Burning Furnace. I chose Rob’s program not only because it is intense and effective, but because it only requires 3 workouts a week, each only taking 30-40 minutes. Yes, I am committed to my fitness goals, but my time is very, very limited these days (whose isn’t right?) so I do need to get in and out of the gym and back in front of the computer in less than 1 hour. Rob’s workouts are put together in a way that allows me to do just that, without sacrificing intensity or results.
What can you do if your current workout strategy is just not working?
1. If you’ve tried over and over again to fit exercising into a certain time of the day without success, try something different! Switch to a morning workout instead of an evening workout where you may already be tired from a long day. If kids are what’s keeping you down, recruit another parent to watch your kids during your workout and then you watch theirs while they work out. Or even setting up dinner in the morning in the crockpot so you have more time after work to fit in some exercise would work well 2-3 days per week. The point here is to get creative and keep trying until you find the scenario that works best for you.
2. Pick one program and commit to it for a minimum of 6-8 weeks. If you need a plan that’s time efficient, effective and easy to follow you can start Rob’s program along with me. Or you may already have a program you like that you want to follow. Whichever it may be, pick one and COMMIT to it. I’ve already added the following reminders into my online calendar “Start FBF – Day 1″ (this is tomorrow morning, Saturday Nov. 7, 2009). After 3 weeks I’ve added “Assess FBF Progress” (Nov 28th). After 6 weeks I’ve added “Re-take full body pictures” (Dec. 20th).
Oh that reminds me….
I am going to do something I’ve never done before. I am going to post my before and after pictures, after 6 weeks on the Fat Burning Furnace program, on my blog on December 21st, 2009 (right before I leave for my holiday vacation). I need accountability and motivation just as much as anybody else (I’m not superhuman you know). This kind of accountability will ensure that I stop using the lame excuse “I didn’t have time today to workout”.
How about you? Why don’t you do this along with me? Take some pictures today and get started on Rob’s program with me tomorrow. We’ll be in this for the next 6 weeks together. I’ll even post your before and after shots on my blog alongside mine if that would give you even more motivation. Email me today and tell me if you’re onboard.
If you didn’t get a chance to take a look at Rob’s program, you can read about it here:
You can also read a great article Rob wrote here:
Hey Isabel…..it is day 14 for me and I have had a few hiccups. First 5 days were great, weekend I slipped a little, got back on track during the week and with the scale only dropping 2# in 14 days I feel a little frustrated YET, keep hanging on and listening and looking. Between your tips today (11/19) and some thing I have heard through Craig B., I am ready to march into another weekend with better focus. Here is to making today count (cheers)…..xo, D
Hi Isabel! I’m in Japan now and let me tell you that is really hard and too expensive not to eat white rice. what I usually do is prepare the white rice along with some others grains like millet,barley,job’s tear, corn, sesame seed and whole rice. This came in a 1Kg package($5)all mix together so, I spread about 2 tea spoons to two cops of rice. The thing is that the 10 kg of rice is about $25 and 2 kg of whole rice is about $20-25. Is that rice preparation proportionately fine or still considerate “white”?
What about the brown sugar? I can’t find stevia for a reazonable price.
Thanks for all you do. You are a genius!!!
Hey Evelyn,
It’s still considered white rice even though all those other grains are mixed in. You can try replacing rice with a vegetable and see if that works for you.
You can look for xylitol or agave nectar as well, but you must be careful with these. Some have reported that they have issues digesting xylitol and agave contains some calories, so it must be limited to once in a while.
Thanks again! I alredy replacing the white rice with sweet potato and eggplant and great results by the way! Here in Japan is a totally diferent world, people eat healthy food most of the time but they way too diferent than US food and many others food options( so confusing). Is so hard to know what you are eating most of the time so have to take with me the Kanji (japanese characters) dictionary all the time
. Almost every thing is with white rice and soy souce, noodles rice, crackers rice, etc.
cheers!