Plan, Don't Just Do, Your Workouts

How many times have you considered just getting your tired body to the gym a victory in and of itself?

The prevailing attitude where exercise is concerned typically goes something like this: if I'm here (at the gym), I'll do something, and that's better than nothing at all. It's an attitude that I personally subscribed to for years. It was typically only after I arrived at the gym that I started trying to really figure out what I wanted to do with my body that day. And let's face it, the brilliant majority of us often say the same things when asked what we plan to do on that day: "cardio and some weights", "a spinning class", or some "Pilates or Zumba".

Not that there's anything wrong with any of those answers, but after your 20th Zumba class, are you really feeling challenged anymore?

Just think about that for a second.

As for me, my rut was cured naturally when my responsibilities as a mom and wife started to get prioritized ahead of most everything else. I dumped the gym trips in favor of building a personal home gym instead –both for convenience and monetary reasons–and the fly-by-day exercise routines in favor of a more focused approach to building my body into the goddess figure I saw dream for it to become.

More specifically, I've begun taking a spiral notebook to write out my weekly regimen and that has been a massive time saver for me because I know ahead of time where my attention will go and I'm more motivated to take on that challenge without feeling guilty that I didn't do enough that day.

It's important to take your approach to your fitness plan seriously because, in the end, you are the person responsible for how successful your regimen will be for you. Challenge yourself and think creatively about how you can maximize each and every minute, of each and every workout, and then be consistent with it on a weekly basis.

Plan first, then execute.