Resolutions

Sorry for the small break after just starting this blog up!

The new year means new resolutions, right? Let me offer a few tips on making them with exercise since that is a common theme.
*Make your goals realistic. I could state that I resolve to workout 5 hours every day. First off, that's way too much for any normal person (and even for many athletic people). While it sounds awesome, I need something that I know that I can do. Something more realistic would be resolving to be active in some way for 20-30 minutes a day.
*Have a gameplan. Decide how you're going to accomplish your goal. If deciding to workout: how long, exactly when during your day, what thing(s) are you going to do, etc are very good questions to have answers for.
*Use small changes. Humans are creatures of habit and not all of us adapt to changes as well as others. It has been found that people are more successful when making changes to their lifestyle when doing only a few at a time, and smaller changes here and there. This means that Bill (just to have a name) who really doesn't move around much and loves eating out every meal would do better by choosing to go for a 5-10 minute walk everyday than trying to do intense 1 hour workouts and never eating out ever again. Bill could work himself up to that level if he chose to but would be more successful with small changes at a time rather than all at once.
*Stick to it!! No really, stick to the goal that you've made (unless health reasons conflict). Forget for one day? Don't stress about it. It happens, let it go, move on and continue with your goal. This is a part of learning. Did you kick your brand new bike to the curb when you fell off without training wheels? Get back on and ride :)