When you find different ways to condition your body, it’s
important to keep them going until you move on to the next method. However,
some of us like me can’t always keep up with what we want to do or get bored
easily so now what? We improvise and become creative. When I say upkeep I don’t
always mean tuning your exercises or routine but my way of up keeping is to
train as daily as possible whether for 5 min. or 1 hour. It keeps you on your
toes and you feel a sense of accomplishment.
Make your
goals interesting, don’t always be a straight arrow and generic with “I’m doing
this to lose weight or doing that to build strength” and my personal favorite
“Just to look good the season.” Those are great goals to have but there’s more
to them than meets the eye. Go after your goals but put in a little extra
something that keeps your goals interesting like adding an animal exercise for
fun or slap in some isometrics that you always wanted to learn. I always
believed in the value of having fun and challenging yourself with a smile
because most look at it as punishment when in reality it’s all in their head.
If you’re not having fun then your goals won’t be that satisfying or worth it.
Whether you
practice one method or many, it’s important to keep yourself progressing. The
upkeep of exercise is not always what you have to do on a certain day or you
have to do this or that at a specific time. Make it a habit to keep up with
yourself, that’s the secret to up keeping your conditioning is by up keeping
yourself. I practice a lot of things so I have many ways to keep up with my
mind and how my body reacts to what I want to do. For some they focus on one
method and believe it’s the end-all be all which is great for them but that’s
only part of the puzzle. Training is like a puzzle, in your mind there are
either so many pieces to put together or you have chunks of pieces and you have
only a few to put together either way there’s something to put together. You
can create your own puzzle, no one can build it for you, the question is what
do you want to put together that creates what you want?
There are
24 hours in a day yet most people don’t realize they can get in a kick ass
workout in under less than 10 minutes, why because they don’t have the ambition
and the motivation. It’s sad because if only they knew that even one small
workout or spreading your exercises throughout the day can have a profound
effect even on the toughest of schedules. Learn to remind yourself that it’s OK
to not have a hardcore workout and train 4-5 hours a day, that’s impossible for
most people, hell to me that’s way too much, put in a few minutes here and
there; on a break, do a few push-ups and squats, got kids, play with them
that’s a lot of exercise in itself and before you conk out on your bed do a
couple minutes of stretches, it’s about working on what’s best for you. Make
the time even if it’s a small chunk of your day.
Start with
1 min. if that’s all you have, build it up by 30 seconds each time you train
and before you know it, you’d have done 15 min. worth of exercise throughout
the day. It’s not complicated, make it work for you and you will find it easier
to get things done. Now get to it. Want to know what’s funny, if you read this,
you can certainly do a few exercises. Watch your favorite TV show and do some
exercise during the commercials, doesn't have to be a lot of reps, do what’s
comfortable. Keep up with yourself, don’t try to keep up with everyone else.
