Everyone meet Kelly and Jason, a husband and wife super team who combine their knowledge, experience and passion for everything health and fitness to become FitM.U.M & IronDAD. Admit it, you wish you’d thought of those nicknames. They’re your typical husband & wife and mum & dad, that have an incredibly busy life with two beautiful girls and know all too well how hard it can be to fit it all in. They’ve teamed up with Glam Adelaide to share with everyone that it is OK to prioritise your own health, fitness and happiness. With over a decade of industry experience between them, they’re here to get us off the couch, off our phones and enjoying a more healthy, active and happy lifestyle. We hope you enjoy reading their thoughts!
A topic I am very passionate about and one I come across regularly in my business is how we can overcome our strange apathy to exercise and lack of motivation to continue with a long term healthy lifestyle, even when you have a will to make exercise a part of your everyday life. As humans, we are creatures of habit… good habits, bad habits and often habits you don’t even know you have. We also don’t always love change and this can make addressing habits difficult. Studies suggest that it takes 21 days to break a habit and to instill a new one. That means being mindful of what it is you want to change and being consistent in your approach to changing it. Setting a specific, tangible and realistic goal is a great starting point. What is your driving goal when it comes to your health, fitness and happiness? We are usually driven to make decisions based on two main things: avoiding pain or seeking pleasure. This is extremely true when it comes to fitness and exercise routines. Find your true motivation and always keep it in the front of your mind.
Group classes are a perfect way to help stay motivated as you take your fitness journey with support all around you.
I always say to people that making the decision to start exercising and actually taking that first step and physically doing something about it is definitely the hardest part of the process. Whether it is walking into the gym for the first time, picking up the phone and calling a Personal Trainer or asking a friend to go running with you; they can all be very intimidating and we let fear take over and excuses kick in and before you know it you have talked yourself out of starting. It is very common for our fear and excuses to become stronger than our motivation, this is why we need to work as hard on our mindset, attitudes and behaviours as we do on our physical exercise. From my experience, one thing I am certain about is the exercise routine, once you get going, can actually become the easy part and it does become enjoyable. There are obviously varying types and levels of exercise. I am not overly concerned about ‘what’ exercise people do, but the fact that you make a conscious effort to incorporate some form of physical activity into each day and just move your body. You do not need to be at a certain level of fitness before you start training or working out.
A routine doesn’t just mean classes though, it can be a regular walk…
… it can mean making regular time to play with the kids!
There are a few things you can do to help make it easier to start and stick to a fitness regime. Here are a few of my top tips:
- Set a goal and write it down! You should have this somewhere that you can see daily. Designing and executing a plan for change will create momentum to achieve the results you want the most.
- Tell people about your goal/plan. This will help keep you accountable especially if you have thoughts of giving up.
- Try and exercise with a friend if you can. It provides much needed support, encouragement and a social element.
- Celebrate the small achievements and milestones along the way. It is important to stop and appreciate your success, improvement and wins no matter how big or small.
- Make every workout count. Use any opportunity you can to incorporate some form of activity.
- Don’t underestimate incidental exercise. This includes things such as; parking further away from the shops and walking, fit in some squats when you find yourself waiting for something at home (eg. Boiling the kettle, food in the microwave, blow drying your hair, adverts on TV)
- Involve your family. Try to incorporate fitness with and around your family. If you show your children that health and fitness is important you are not only being a wonderful role model, you are also setting them up to start thinking that this is ‘the norm’. You can go for nature walks, playground workouts, turn mundane tasks and trips into races (kids love a race), dance around the house…. Make it all about having fun! Before you know it they will be encouraging you to workout because they want to join in.
We need to learn how to overcome excuses with reasons. Arm yourself with strategies for those moments when the excuses overwhelm you.
Excuse: “Too tired at the end of the day”
Strategy: Get up 30 minutes earlier and workout in the morning. You will feel amazing and it will set you up for a great day!
Excuse: “Too cold”
Strategy: Exercise indoors. You will warm up quickly.
Excuse: “No time and no exercise equipment”
Strategy: There are plenty of short High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) style workouts you can do that require very little space and equipment.
I have written an Ebook called “Express Workouts for Women on the Go” that you might find helpful to get you started and when you just want to do a quick 10, 15 or 20 minute workout at home. You can find it here.
Now is the time to prioritise your health, fitness and happiness!
You can find FitM.U.M. on Facebook and Instagram or why not follow both FitM.U.M & IronDAD on Facebook and get the whole family involved?
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