How to fall in love with your training

Beginnings are sometimes difficult and many people give up their effort before they have even started. But you don´t need much to make all your dreams come true. Maybe just a little bit of dedication and common sense. 🙂 A lot of people begin their healthy life style journey at 210%: they buy fancy sports clothes, throw away all the candy from their kitchen, they cut themselves off their social life and work out super hard every single day… After the first successful results, they increase their effort to 310%, they stubbornly refuse their grandmother’s pie, and they meet their friends only on facebook where they add photos of their new life style progress and then suddenly … in few days, in a week or two, or maybe in a month, they won’t be able to go on like this any longer and then…BANG! They turn their life around once again. The lust for candy, parties and beer wins… they rather give up … because why to suffer when you might rather enjoy life, right? … Rather be fat than tortured! Or is it really possible to be healthy and enjoy your life at the same time? Yes, indeed it is.

• Aim for realistic goals

Don´t expect too much from the beginning. If you have never run in your life even 800 meters without a break, it does not make sense to expect to run 5 km straight away. Go for it one step at a time. Just try to run or ride a bike a bit … as far as you can. You cannot go any further? Take a short break, walk a bit and then go on. The next time you can try to do a little more. Everyone has their own pace, each body is different, and everybody starts somewhere else. The fact that your buddy runs already 10 km and does not even break a sweat does not mean that you can do it right away as well and that also does not mean it will never happen to you either. Everyone has to start somewhere! If you discourage yourselves with unrealistic expectations since the very beginning, you will not get very far.

• Study and don´t be ashamed to ask for help

Do you want to know how to approach your new life style efficiently? Study! Read articles and books, visit forums or websites. Talk to people who also do sport and eat healthy. Do not be afraid to ask for help from a personal trainer! You will not get very far without basic knowledge and you can even hurt yourself. So many women and men have slipped into eating disorders or damaged their joints or backs in their effort to lose weight. Don´t  be one of them and approach this issue in a smart way!

• Don´t let the others discourage you and surround yourself by people who think the same way

“Why are you torturing yourself?” “Are you going to exercise again? Don’t be crazy, let’s go for beer instead!” Does it sound familiar? Your buddies may not mean it badly, but if they’re not healthy lifestyle fans, they probably will not help you. It’s so hard to run in the summer around the terraces, where sausages smell so nice and the chilled beer glitters in the glasses, it is so hard not to run straight away towards this temptation… That’s why you need a good support! We do not say you have to exchange all your friends, certainly not, but try to surround yourself with people who will support you. Go to the gym and try to talk to people who are on the same journey as you.  Join some bigger event in your city, where you can meet all kinds of people – beginners but also advanced sportsmen and get inspired! And remember one thing: First they’ll all ask you why you are you doing this but later on they will all want to know how you did it. 🙂

• Do what you like

If you do not enjoy running, you do not need to run 5 km every day. Try a bike, skating, and consult a coach who will set up a training plan designed for you.

• Find the right sport for yourself first and then invest in it

A lot of people decide for certain type of sport without knowing much about it; buy a bunch of sportswear and later on cry over the loss of money. Good advice: find out what you like and what suits you first and then invest in the sport equipment. In the very beginning, you can run those few meters in your old sneakers, no need for high tech running shoes. Also lifting those few kilo weights will feel the same in a promo T-shirt you got at work as in the luxurious functional sportswear. First, find out what you’re going to do and then start investing. In addition, you can use it as a reward for yourself when you reach one of your goals. 🙂

• Combine exercises

Combine cardio and power exercises. You will not only have more fun, but the results will also come sooner. 🙂 Lots of women are afraid of weight lifting because they do not want to look like Arnold Schwarzeneger …:D If you do not know, how to combine the exercises properly, do not hesitate to ask for a personal trainer’s help and again – study.

• Reward yourself and learn to rest

Do not think that just because you have a healthy lifestyle now, you have to train every day like crazy and that from now on you will see a cake only in a window of a cake store, on which you will be helplessly drooling. In order for your muscles to regenerate, you also need to give it a day off. Learn to put your feet up at least once a week and relax … or go for a massage, you deserve it. 🙂 If you eat healthy 6 times a week, it is okay to enjoy something fried or some kind of cake once a week; of course there is no need to clean the entire fridge at once. 😀 But you can have a good dinner or even a beer with friends.

• Buy yourself a good scale

The scale that shows you only your current weight will be useless to you. You can use this one only to weight your suitcases before your departure for holidays. But when it comes to a body transformation, think again … How will you feel when you find out that after a week of huge effort you lost only 200 grams? But what if you knew that you have lost 1 200 grams of fat and gained 1000 grams of muscle? That sounds better, doesn´t it? That’s why you need to buy proper scale that will measure the percentage of fat and muscle in your body. 🙂

• Learn to understand your body and do not freak out 😉

If yesterday was your “cheat day”, and you celebrated the evening  with your friends and the entire roasted pork knee, and this morning your scale shows 3kg more, do not throw all the sports equipment away and do not freak out! Your body can gain 1kg of fat when you receive about 7000 kcal more than you can burn, I believe most of the people are not able to consume this amount of calories in 1 day 😀 … So why does  your scale show those extra kilos?

1. Your stomach is full of undigested food.
2. Thanks to the salt in the food you have plenty of water in your system.

So continue your healthy style again and you will see that in a few days it will all be fine again.

• Eat tasty and variety of food

Being on a diet does not mean eating chicken breast and salad every day. There are plenty of tasty and balanced recipes. Study, get advises on healthy and tasty recipes. Diet does not need to be a torture!

• Do not change into a fanatic and do not annoy everyone around you

Good advice: when you start having fun with your new lifestyle, learn to maintain other aspects of your life, too. There is no need to turn into a sports fanatic who does not talk about anything but lifting and how often he lifts and the days of the week knows just as: “leg day”, “core day” … Sport is good and is very beneficial, but it is also important to cherish other aspects of life and to enjoy it to the fullest … even a cake, or an entire day spend in the bed has something in it and it is important for a happy soul. 😀 Moreover, your friends will be definitely happier, if you do not talk every day about your six-pack and the amount of calories in their beer and “schnitzel”. 😀 It´s up to you! FIT UP!