Sticking to your workout

Here's a good article that appeared in Men's Health, written by Adam Campbell on how to stick to your workout.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Switch your training partners
Working out with a partner who will hold you accountable for showing up at the gym works well—for a while. But the more familiar you are with the partner, the easier it becomes to back out of workout plans. "Close friends and family members don't always make the best training partners because they may allow you to slack off or cancel workouts," says Jacqueline Wagner, C.S.C.S., a trainer in New York City. To keep this from happening, find a new, less forgiving workout partner every few months.

I think what happens if you workout with someone that you don't know, you get self-conscious, but that can actually motivate you because you don't want the other person to think you're a slacker. So, you end up not only showing up for every workout, but you also workout at a nice high intensity.

Here's another one:

Think about fat
Your body is storing and burning fat simultaneously, but it's always doing one faster than the other. "Understanding that you're getting either fatter or leaner at any one time will keep you body-conscious so you won't overeat or underexercise," says Alwyn Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., owner of Results Fitness Training in Santa Clarita, California.

I would also add that it's important not to undereat and overexercise. You need fuel in order to burn fat, at the same time, you need recovery time in order for your body to repair the muscles you destroyed during the workout. It's all about finding that balance.

Last one:

Plan your workouts in advance
At the start of each month, schedule all of your workouts at once, and cross them off as they're completed. For an average month, you might try for a total of 16 workouts. If any are left undone at the end of the month, tack them on to the following month. And make sure you have a contingency plan for bad weather and unscheduled meetings. "You're about 40 percent more likely to work out if you have strategies to help you overcome these obstacles," says Rod Dishman, Ph.D., an exercise scientist at the University of Georgia.

Would you build a house without a plan written out first? No. That's why you need a plan to reach your fitness goals. Layout a workout for a full month and you've got a plan. Just make sure you follow it!

Oh, can't get away without posting another picture of the new addition to my family:



www.leanbodyfitness.com