Start your exercise plan knowing what you are looking to achieve, how you will achieve it and how much time it will take. Then, whatever the plan, stick to it. It will be difficult at times – that’s why you have had to build up to it. But regardless of how much you may feel one day that you cannot be bothered, if you carry on and do it those feelings will dissipate. It should be mentioned at this point that if you are injured or ill, “sticking to it” goes out the window. Your body will not go through the process as it needs to, you will do yourself more harm than good, and it will make the exercise pointless.

But is it is just a matter of being unmotivated, you need to power through and get on with it. Lack of motivation is what you are fighting against, so don’t let it win. You may be able to think of a hundred things you would rather be doing than training, but be aware that there will be a little voice in your head if you do them instead, and it will be saying “you should be training” – you won’t enjoy it as much as you would if you had gone through with the training first. That is just life’s way of guilt-tripping you into sticking at it – and if you do that, YOU will be the winner.

Share on Facebook

If you are going to be running, make sure that you have properly cushioned soles. These are the shock absorbers of the sneaker world. Just think about how hard and unmoving that surface is when you are running. It is your body that takes that impact, and the shoes are your buffer. Without proper cushioning the impact will run all the way up into your hip and jar it to a point where the wear and tear can become chronic. It really is not worth putting yourself in that position, whatever the short term benefits. The new sneakers may cost a few dollars more, but they will be worth what you pay.

The clothes that you wear are important too. Time was when we would just wear an old T-shirt and a pair of shorts. But the fact is that when you exert yourself, you will sweat. When you sweat into a t-shirt, it becomes heavy and soaked, and hugely uncomfortable. As stupid as this sounds, it will affect how you run, and your exercise regime will lose efficiency as a result. Again, it is worth the up front cost of buying a running vest in a fabric which draws sweat away from the body and allows it to evaporate on the surface – keeping your body temperature regulated and your performance constant.

Share on Facebook

After Usain Bolt’s amazing double Olympic gold and world record performances in 2008, he let the world in on his diet secret – he ate Kentucky Fried Chicken. An advertising coup for the fast food chain, no doubt, but the fact of the matter is that he won despite what fast food did for him. He’s just that fast, that good a trainer and that mentally strong. But it should not be a message for children to eat fried chicken before races – back in the days gone past people could eat what they wanted, but they didn’t run 100 meters in a sub 9.7 time, unless what they ate gave them food poisoning and the bathroom was that far away.

Back then it was considered a good idea to drink a fizzy carbonated soda after a race because the sugar was good for energy – and in the short term it is. But it is also highly acidic, and with a combination of nervous energy and physical exertion already doing a lot to heighten stomach acid levels, dropping a carbonated drink into the mix is the equivalent of feeding dynamite to a fire-breathing dragon. It will go off, and the results will be neither pretty nor healthy. No, things are not what they used to be, and for that we should be thankful.

Share on Facebook

Don’t overdo things. You may feel like going the extra mile on top of what you had planned because you feel like you can. But a regime is a regime, and doing too much will have detrimental effects just as not doing enough will leave you short of the level you were aiming for. Neither situation is welcome

Do prepare with a decent meal. Nothing heavy that will sit on the stomach. Your body will go through a lot of processes as you are training, and attempting to digest heavy food at the same time will lead to complications, and potentially the meal making an unwelcome reappearance at an inopportune time. Not what you want.

Don’t skip lunch before you go training in the afternoon. You need the energy levels that it will bring, and if you go without you will find yourself paying for it by becoming light-headed and weak, and will not be able to train to any real intensity. The effect will be such that you may as well not have bothered training at all.

Do allow yourself a break if you are feeling pain. Some people live by the maxim “no pain, no gain”. But if that pain happens to be a muscle tear or a lack of any one of a number of important bodily nutrients, the gain will be just about non-existent unless you have excellent health insurance. Listen to your body.

Don’t stop running because you are bored and think you can come back and do it the next day. A health regime is designed to be stuck to, and by moving it around to suit your whims you are messing with its efficiency. If you are getting bored, challenge yourself to finish, with the reward being a healthy but tasty meal at a restaurant.

Share on Facebook

The latest development to allow athletes to optimise their performance is a GPS watch. By using one of these you can track just about every different measure of your performance that has any relevance. Calories burned – so training to get into shape is catered for – but also the technical measures that athletes need to track to know how well they are doing. You can track lap times – so you know how much you are improving and where you still need to improve. You can track your top speed and average speed, so you know how to pace yourself so as not to throw everything away in the early stages of your run.

All of the technological advances that have been brought to bear on the athletics track in recent years are designed to push the level up by another notch. This is high-intensity training that we are talking about. The benefits of which are to make you that little bit more ready to face whatever it is that you need to face. If you just want a better all round level of wellness, there are plenty of machines that affect that too. Whatever your end goal, there will be a machine that gets you there – and beyond. Just remember that all the technology in the world will be useless unless you put the effort in yourself.

Share on Facebook

By learning a martial art, you learn a lot more than just how to hit someone in a way that really hurts (although if it is required, experts still have that in their locker). It teaches you about breath control, clearing the mind and focusing on the self in such a way that you are always ready to stand and fight. This requires both physical and mental exercise, and when the body and mind work together as martial arts teach, there is a devastating combination. To reach such a level takes discipline, and if you have discipline you are already well on the way to your ideal physical condition. Plus you are versed in self-defence, which is never a bad thing.

You don’t need to have a full understanding of the mystic background to how a martial arts black belt works in order to use it as a keep-fit regimen. As long as you enrol in a class with a good teacher (or sensei) and pay attention to what is taught, you will pick up what you need in order to really up your levels of physical fitness to a point where you can stand and fight someone if needs be – but more importantly you will have upped your levels of physical and mental discipline in a way that can improve every aspect of your life. Look for a class today – karate, judo, tae kwon do or any other – all have valuable lessons to impart.

Share on Facebook

At its most basic level, Pilates is lying on a big beach ball doing exercises. To its adherents it is a lot more than that. Its inventor, Joseph Pilates designed it with the principle of mind over matter at its core, allowing the body and the mind to fuse, and letting the body move with grace and balance in a way that other exercise regimes did not address. Along with breathing exercises, Pilates encourages the body to flush away waste toxins that are linked with fatigue. The overall effect of the exercise regime that is involved in Pilates is to improve the individual on a number of levels.

It certainly seems to work. Pilates is growing in popularity all the time, and there are few gyms or leisure centers in the world that do not have a Pilates group operating at least once a week. At its best when associated with other exercise regimes, Pilates is something that has really taken off, and with a lot of satisfied customers, it would appear that Joseph Pilates was on to something when he designed it. Born in 1880, and plagued by illness and poor fitness as a child, by the age of 14 Pilates was posing for anatomical charts as an example of what the body could look like with the right exercise regime, and when he died he was 87 years of age. So he was doing something right.

Share on Facebook

Even if you have not had a major injury – and even if you have been injury free all your life, swimming is an excellent way of getting into shape. If you go for regular runs, you need to make sure that so many factors are right – pace, surface, footwear and running style. If they are not in tune you can pull muscles, damage ligaments or tendons and several other potential nasty injuries. While it is worth getting a running regime going for cardio-vascular exercise, swimming is one way to get fit where all you need is a swimming costume and access to a pool. Once those are in place, you’re away.

In comparison to running, swimming is a very safe way to get in shape. You have the low impact of water rather than hard, concrete surfaces that exist in most towns, or the treadmills in the gym. In the early days of your training regime, swimming is an excellent way to build towards the right shape, strength and fitness levels. You may well find that you really enjoy it too. There is something incredibly soothing about moving about underwater and letting it wash over you. It’s like a giant bath, only you are not going to accidentally pull the plug.

Share on Facebook

Fresh fruit and veg are vitally important. The range of vitamins and minerals that they provide will allow you to function at a greatly increased level, having an effect on all sorts of things from bones to eyes – for example, if you eat bananas regularly you will find that they allow you to function at a higher level for a prolonged period. This is because they contain lots of potassium, which is good for slow-release energy. If you ever watch Championship tennis matches, you will see players eating bananas between games. This is because over the course of a match, a declining energy level can see a player lose performance and be at risk from injury. Keeping the energy coming prevents this.

For your body to function well, you also need to get lots of fiber. Fresh fruit and veg are a good source for this too, while brown and wholemeal bread are also packed with fiber, as are cereals and baked goods with a lot of bran in them. But whatever the issue that you are seeking to address via your diet, make sure that you don’t concentrate on it to the detriment of other areas. This will just move your problems to another area – and after some time you’ll be looking for a way to fix that, too.

Share on Facebook

Don’t get drawn into the old trap of paying for a gym membership and then saying to yourself “That’s that sorted out” – and then never going, or just going every month or so. If you are paying out for a gym membership, then you should try to get there at least once a week. Work on the areas that you feel need the most work, and when they have been addressed go for an all-over workout in order to maintain a trim shape. You will find that the effects are far from just being cosmetic. You will have more energy and drive, and will really notice an all round effect on how you feel physically. Plus, exercising releases endorphins – the body’s “happy chemical” – so you will feel better in mind as well as body.

Do not let it become all that you do, though. Sticking to a strict gym regime may give you a better body shape and more of the body’s natural boosts, but there are risks to going so often that it becomes an obsession. Pro sports players spend hours in the most expensive, technologically advanced gyms in the world, and still some end up the victims of over-training. You may find that your frame is uncomfortable with the amount of muscle you build from exercising, so take it slow and don’t overdo it. When you follow your own pace and let your body benefit from being allowed to have a rest, you will get a true feel for what you need.

Share on Facebook