YOU’RE GOING to be flooded with dietary advice and training tips the next fortnight so you’d better get used to it.
Chances are, you’ll be glad of it because you’ll try just about anything to lose those three kilos you put on over the festive period.
But if you’re heading to the gym to start a new workout programme, bear these three things in mind to get the most out of your training.
They might just keep you going to the gym by the middle of February.
1) Are you doing the same routine over and over again?
You’ll get a programme and vow to follow it devoutly.
But herein lies the problem.
You must follow it UNTIL you feel it’s time to change it up. And how do you know when that is?
Well, when you are not feeling a ‘burn’ after the same session you did three weeks ago.
The biggest mistake you can make in the gym is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.
Do NOT go into autopilot. Increase the weight or the reps, or both.
2) Why are you actually training?
Do you want to run a 5k? a 10k? Do a marathon? Do an adventure race? Lose weight? Improve your flexibility? Tone up?
Sorry. We lost the run of ourselves there. Every single person in the gym has a different goal – and only some of them know it.
What is yours? Write it down. Tell the gym instructor and get him or her to help you achieve it.
Ensure your goals are specific, realistic and easy to measure.
It’s also important to have smaller goals along the way to achieving your ultimate goal.
For example, if you want to run a 10k in under an hour in four months’ time, aim to run 6k in an hour by the end of month one, 7k in an hour after month two, 8k in an hour after month three and finally, 10k in an hour by the end.
A good way to help you is to write down what you are doing in the gym and out on the road when you’re doing it – distances, speeds, weights lifted, sets, reps, exercises, etc.
3) Not lifting heavy enough
Lifting? Huh? You better believe it.
Some of us, particularly women, have a morbid fear of getting ‘too big and muscly’ when prescribed an exercise programme that includes weights.
But that toned, sculpted body won’t be achieved without the use of same.
Getting toned is the result of lifting weights, disciplined dieting and plenty cardio. One isn’t useful without the other. So grab those weights and learn how to use them!