Whatever you do, be sure to take a few deep breaths throughout the day to calm your mind. — 123rf
Is it only me who thinks the years are moving at breakneck speed, or does everyone have similar thoughts?
Annual birthdays and cultural/religious festivals re-appear before I’ve relished celebrating them, just like the start of the new year.
As we know, the beginning of another year usually sees most people declaring some kind of fitness resolution.
This could be getting up 15 minutes earlier to meditate, walking everyday, eating healthier, starting a strength-training programme or running routine, losing 5kg, etc.
They start off zealously with an all-or-nothing attitude, and by the time Chinese New Year rolls around, these resolutions fall to the wayside.
It’s not necessarily due to lack of motivation, but rather, their resolutions are sometimes unrealistic.
For example, if you know you’re not an early riser (that’s me!), why make a resolution to slip in a 15-minute walk at sunrise when you know you’re going to be hitting the snooze button a few times?
I’m a night owl, albeit highly disciplined when it comes to fitness, and normally fit in my workouts in the later part of the day.
That’s when I have more energy and my body tells me: “Ok, I’m ready to be worked, just don’t abuse me too much, please.”
A schoolmate of mine went on a weight-loss programme earlier this year.
She lost 30kg over nine months, reversed her type 2 diabetes and glowed with good health.
Losing 0.5-1kg a week is considered safe and sustainable, and to her credit, she did it the right way.
Compliments flowed freely.
Impressive, I thought, though I was sceptical if she could maintain this in the long run as I knew she had a weakness for food and disliked exercising.
As I suspected, she was unable to stick to this strict regime and regained most of the weight as evidenced in her recent social media posting.
None of our mutual friends dared to comment or ask her what had happened.
Hence, you need to reframe how you approach your resolutions by building habits that can fit into your current lifestyle and personality.
Everyone claims to be busy, from the young people to retirees, but we all need to allocate time – even five minutes daily – for self-care and growth.
So, if you’re planning on making and sticking to reasonable resolutions, here are five helpful tips.
Start small, go slow
Avoid setting goals that are too ambitious.
Jumping from zero to working out every single day for two hours is basically setting yourself up to crash and burn.
Instead of aiming to complete a 10km race in two months when you’ve never run before, start with walking 10 minutes once a week, which is realistic.
Once you’ve achieved that and it feels easy, add five more minutes to your walk or add one more day to your routine.
This gradual progression prevents plateaus and keeps you moving forward without overwhelming yourself.
Find activities you love
Exercise should never be a forced chore.
It should be a rewarding celebration of body movements – when you perform activities you enjoy, you tend to stick to them.
Finding enjoyable activities such as dancing, hiking, yoga and playing pickleball, and aligning workouts with your personality, can turn movement into a sustainable pleasure that enhances mental and physical well-being.
Besides, you may also find yourself making friends in a like-minded community, and with another buddy or buddies to work out with, you will feed off their energy and be more motivated to exercise.
Exercising should never be a dreaded activity that leaves you exhausted even before you start. — AFP
Slot in mini-workouts throughout the day
These brief, yet practical, exercise “snacks” can seamlessly fit into your daily routine, helping you kickstart your movement goals and support your health despite a busy schedule.
Mini-workouts involve breaking down a longer, 30- to 45-minute workout into shorter, three to 15-minute sessions that can be done almost anywhere.
Research has shown that accumulating physical activity throughout the day is just as effective for improving health and fitness as doing one workout, provided that an equal amount of time is devoted to each.
For example, do 30 seconds of squats after climbing a flight of stairs at work.
While on a conference call or during a break, set your watch for three minutes and do alternating sets of 30 seconds of squats followed by 30 seconds of calf raises.
Then get back to work before the boss breathes down your neck.
Focus on the process
Rather than focusing on the end result, set your sights on what you need to do to reach that result (i.e. a process goal).
In the case of a runner, that might mean working on his stride or technique, rather than simply aiming to run faster (i.e. the end goal).
Focusing on the process gives you a sense of control and power in the present moment; outcome goals are largely beyond the power of our full control.
It’s okay to miss a workout
Setbacks happen to everyone, so don’t beat yourself up.
You could be ill, injured, have a family emergency, work late, experience bad weather, etc.
Missing one workout (or even a week) doesn’t mean you’ve failed, just get back on track as soon as you can.
Should you run out of steam, recommit yourself for 24 hours, monitor how you feel and build from there.
The key is to treat your fitness journey as a long-term lifestyle change, not a short-term sprint.
It’s normal to have setbacks, but they don’t define your journey.
What matters is getting back up every time you fall and continuing the journey, like how you do in most other aspects of life.
We fall, we get up and we go, again and again.
On that note, here’s to healthier bodies, minds and a better year ahead.
Felicem Annum Novum!
Revathi Murugappan is a certified fitness trainer who tries to battle gravity and continues to dance to express herself artistically and nourish her soul. For more information, email starhealth@thestar.com.my. The information contained in this column is for general educational purposes only. Neither The Star nor the author gives any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to such information. The Star and the author disclaim all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.
