Spring is here, the days are getting longer, the sun is peeking thru the clouds. This is usually my favorite time of the year. It feels like renewal. A time open to new opportunities.
Covid-19 is still here,but the vaccination campaign is under way.The pools and gyms are slowly reopening and/or relaxing the rules. The great outdoor is offering us a full new array of available exercise activities.
The garden is waking up. It is time to think about planting those seeds which will bring us a bounty of healthy fruits and vegetables to spice up our meals.
Spring means the end of the tunnel, an optimistic mood, the best and easiest time to commit to health and fitness. New Year resolutions are hard to keep because it means starting in the middle of winter when the days are the shortest and the weather is rainy, snowy, and cold.The pandemic is offering us an incredible opportunity. We will set and start our new goals in March, and keep at it all summer and fall. By next winter, it will be such a part of our routine, it will be a breeze to remain consistent during the cold months.
Whatever your fitness goal is, researchers have found only one characteristic common to those who succeed with exercise. They move toward their goal one step at a time and are committed to constant, never-ending improvement. The challenge is not any hard session or day in particular, the challenge is showing up workout after workout, day after day, week after week. Fatigue is setting in, but you are chipping away, and it is gratifying to feel your fitness building. Whatever goal you are working toward, the important thing is to keep showing up.Consistency and persistency are keys to success.
Regardless of anything else- busy work schedules, lack of energy, lack of time, feeling old, feeling lazy, hating exercise, you make no excuses! At the same time, as an adult athlete of any age, you are able to effectively listen to your body and not be exercise obsessed. If you remain consistent and persistent thru the humps and bumps, you will reach your own goal. If you want to be healthy and fit 10 years from now, it is not what you do over the next six weeks that matters, it is what you do over the next 10 years. A commitment to health and fitness must be followed for the rest of your life.
The starting point of that journey is the hardest, and there is no better time to start than during spring. The days are getting longer, offering more opportunities after work. The Pacific Northwest Outdoor is a paradise for outside workouts, and the variety of sports is endless. Consistency does not mean the old same routine every single day. If the pool is not available for your hour swim, what about a bike ride, a stroll, a jog, kayak, paddleboard, ski, surfing, sailing, water rafting. Staying active day in and day out is your passport to health and fitness, even if no swimming competitions are held or swim practices are organized. The challenge is to show up workout after workout and get it ingrained in your DNA, so that you will be able to keep that active routine even when the cold and dark months of winter roll around.
Ready, set, go.Start and enjoy your new active lifestyle!! Be persistent, be consistent.
It is so nice to have you share your expertise in these thoughts, coming from an elite athlete I have always looked up to! Great article, thank you!!! Hope we’ll all be at some meets, soon!