Your Fittest Year Starts Here

With 2020 only 10 weeks away some of you may be freaking out about Christmas presents, plans you are making with your family, any holidays you are going on and among all of that the one thing you usually forget about is your health !

Whilst, you may be making lots of plans it is also important to have your fitness resolutions started RIGHT NOW ! You don't need to wait for the "New Year, New me" fad in order to start your fitness journey. You could make small changes right now to set you up once 2020 comes around. The New Year brings a great opportunity to set about being fitter and becoming healthier not only for you but your entire family !

To start your year off on the right foot I am going to share with you my top 8 tips that are going to help you lose those last 3, 5, 7, 10+kg's and help to reshape your life in 2020.

1. Have an accountability buddy

It's always better to workout with a group or a friend ! If you find yourself stuck for company try joining an online program with an online community. When you have a community or a like-minded friend who is ready to kick goals it stops you from making excuses and helps keep the momentum going. When joining any kind of gym, group fitness or online program always see if they have an accountability section. That way when you don't show up someone at the studio is going to keep you accountable and give you encouragement to keep you on the right track.

At my studio I provide an online private Facebook group where all of my members can build a friendship and share how they are going with their fitness goals. You can see the freidnships & relationships developing as they all supports, inspire and encourage each other.

2. Plan Ahead (Meal Prep, Workouts, Scheduling)

Most of the time when we eat bad, don't exercise or get 'to busy' to do anything besides go home and sleep it's because we're just 'going with the flow' and sorry to say guys but if you want 2020 to be your year going with the flow isn't going to cut it. Much of what we do is reactive not proactive meaning we react to our disorganization so when we are hungry, we react to the quickest thing we can grab (healthy or not), when summer comes and we aren't feeling ready for the beach we start cutting carbs, sugars, going on crazy diets & challenges etc. In order to make the struggles easier each week, on a Sunday, write down ALL of the meals you will be eating that week, breakfast, lunch & dinner. Choose foods you love and always have extra veggies on the side. Write down all of the workouts you will be doing on what days and write a goal for each workout. What do you want to achieve ? How are you going to get there ? When you set yourself a goal for the workout it makes it harder to make up an excuse to stop !

3. Be clear on what you want

Speaking of goals, what are yours ? I don't mean 'get fit & tone up' I mean what do you REALLY want? Because if you were clear enough on what you wanted you, then you would know how you would achieve it and you would already be there, am I right ? You need to be specific on every aspect of your goal, the actual goal, let's say lose 5kg's, what feelings will occur when you hit that goal? Confidence, beauty, proud, and when do you want to be there by ? 1 month,2 months, Christmas time ? Every aspect needs to be thought of because once you're clear you will never struggle for motivation again !

4. Mindset is where the excuses STOP

Most people when they start off their training they are pumped and excited to get started but for some reason always have this little voice in the back of their mind. It is telling them they can't, it's to hard, coming up with all the excuses why they shouldn't do it and that is their laack of training talking. Not physical training but mental, they haven't worked on their mindset at all and that's where the negative thoughts and actions show up. If you don't ever want to question your goals or motivation then mindset is 100% where you need to work on before you start your physical training !

5. Start off steady

The most common mistake most people make when starting out is going to hard to fast. They start out doing absolutely nothing and then join a gym and go 6 days per week ! I have known people to go from couch potatoes to coming into the studio 5 days a week twice a day, now that is intense. Do I recommend it ? ABSOLUTELY NOT ! This is the quickest way to burn yourself out and end up back at square one in 3 weeks time.

Instead try and pace yourself, start off light with 1-2 session per week with brisk walks in between training's. Once you feel up for it increase to 3 then 4 and possibly add in a weekend sesh once you are 5-8 weeks in. This will allow you time to adjust to the new healthy living lifestyle that puts your health as a priority.

6. Make small changes, don't go cold turkey !

This rule goes hand in hand with 'start off steady'. You don't want to go in to hard to fast with your eating & nutrition. 'Cold turkey' in my opinion is a sure fire way to fall back into bad eating habits. When you have done something for so long it is a habit and we all know how hard it is to break a bad habit. You could be drinking 4-6 cups of coffee per day and instead of cutting off cold turkey try and drop to 1 or 2 per day when you REALLY need it. If you have a whole bowl of ice cream with chocolate on top for your after dinner dessert try just having one scoop with little or no chocolate. By making these small changes you are letting your body adjust to this new lifestyle. Once you start cutting down the portions of your foods or opting them for healthier options you will eventually find you won't crave the unhealthy food like you once did and eventually won't want it anymore. Small changes lead to big results !

7. Track your progress

Tracking your progress is NECESSARY ! No if's, and or but's about it you have to do this ! Whenever I start off with a new clients or a 4,6 or 8 Week Challenge I always do fitness testing, measurements, and weigh-ins because it keeps track of where they started and now have a goal of where they want to be. In about 4-8 weeks time we will do the whole process again so we can see their results and whether they hit their goals or not. This helps them push harder to get better results because they know where they started and know where they want to be. Always make sure you are not basing your results just on weight and measurements but also the way your physical fitness has improved (fitness testing). There are lots of ways to track your progress so make sure you are using at least 1-2 different methods of progress tracking.

8. Find an environment that excites you !

This is the most important tip of all because if you don't enjoy the space you are working out in and don't have like-minded people around to support and push you then I have no doubt in my mind you will be coming back to this blog in another 6-12 months time asking "What did I do wrong?". You have to enjoy what you are doing and I believe 80% of that has to do with your surroundings.

At FIT4U Training I always make sure that whoever is joining vibes with everyone well and has that same passion and energy FIT4U Training is all about. This makes for an exciting, encouraging, supportive and fun environment which all my members love to come to. If they didn't have fun coming then I wouldn't be doing my job right. Finding something that suits you whether it be group fitness, a 24 hour gym, home workouts, online programs make sure you LOVE IT because this is a lifestyle not a short term solution !

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Thank you guys so much for supporting & reading our new blog post ! I will be posting up every Wednesday so if you have any topics you would like me to cover feel free to message us on our Facebook Page FIT4U Training.

Prepare for 2020 and I would love if you could share this with your workout buddies, thanks guys x