Fitness: Things I've Learned Along The Way

How To Achieve Your Goals:

Hi Everyone, I hope everyone had a lovely week. Thank god it's another long weekend, I think I need the extra day before life starts again. As we're coming into the Summer and the weather has been unbelievable, I feel this post is so timely right now. A bit of sun goes a long way for motivation, I'm a culprit of this as well. I try to stay fit all year round, but the sun definitely pushes me to work harder.

OK so, let's talk fitness. I've learned so much over my fitness journey the past few years. If you don't know, I got my interest in fitness from a few different things. Firstly, I've always been involved in sport. I swam competitively and trained six mornings a week for years. But I was never really fond other activities. At 15 I started work placement in Kingfisher Club Waterford, our local gym and have been working here ever since. (Side note: I am actually working my last ever shift in 2 days, after nearly 7 years...it's such a weird feeling!) This is where I got my real interest in gym work though.

At first, I just wanted to be able to do all the things I saw my work mates do...but I was terrifies of the big heavy weights, I remember calling them JCB's which seems so silly now. I was also under the impression, like most young girls, that heavy weights would 'bulk' me up. It took so much convincing from the lads but after a while I let them do me a weight programme and help me on my journey. Best decision I ever made!! I can now squat up to 120KGs, and my legs are smaller than ever, so there were only benefits to this decision. I am so much healthier, fitter, stronger and I am so much more confident in my appearance so girls get lifting!

One of my friends also gave me a couple personal training sessions coming up to my 21st last year, which helped whip me into shape and keep me motivated through college.I know they might not always be the most affordable but the results don't lie. Another option is classes. Often if I'm not in the mood to train, which happens to everybody, I might book into a spin class so someone else can motivate me into shape. I love spinning I always feel amazing after it! And our instructors in Kingfisher are incredible at their job, they really don't get enough credit.

Fitness Tips

1. Routine is Everything

Definitely one thing I learned through my journey is that you have to stick to it. Yes, it's OK to have a bad day. Of course, it's OK to skip a gym session or have a meal out, but getting straight back on track is the trick. Integrating fitness as a part of your daily routine, makes all the difference from becoming a phase to a lifestyle. So if this is something you're new to, don't give up. Slowly build your routine until it becomes a habit you do naturally.

2. Listen to Your Body

This is so important and honestly I neglected it myself for so long. If I woke up drained, I would train on top of it to "not be lazy". But to really become healthy, learning to understand your body is probably the best advice I could give, and I was certainly given. I saw a quote recently that puts it all into perspective, especially given that we're all mobile obsessed. It was relating our bodies to our devices, not many of us would go too long without recharging our phones. The same can't be said for our bodies, so many of us forget to slow down and listen to what our bodies are telling us. Here are a couple ways we could all listen to what our bodies need:

Sleep: I love my sleep so much, maybe it's from so many early mornings growing up swimming, but a late night for me is probably 10.30pm. Most nights I get more than the recommended 8 hours and I think it helps so much, in both my body recovering and my focus for work the entire day. However, I understand most people aren't like me and struggle to fit 8 hours sleep in. If you're serious about your fitness journey, it's one strategy I recommend taking, it's by far the best and easiest. There are literally no con's to increasing your sleep. You just might have to focus more to get your day sorted faster, or cut one episode from your night schedule or something.

Water VS Caffeine: Your water intake is essential. I would be the biggest hypocrite if I said to cut out caffeine. Caffeine is not the worst but in moderation, everything that goes up after all, must come down. I try to only have one or two coffees max in my daily routine. I love monster cans for energy too, but I try to only have one a week. Water is so important though and i'm not the best for it. So, one of my friends recommended to me last year and I find it great, is swap some coffees for hot water and lemon. Tastes delicious and gets me more water in my day.

Food is Fuel: If you're training hard, you need to provide you body the best possible energy. MyFitnessPal is a great tool to monitor this. I have a good understanding of what my body needs and what I should eat, but sometimes I wish I understood it all like my friends do. I am lucky in the sense I can get a guide from hem on what to eat before/after training etc. I'm not overly conscious of my calories, I eat when I'm hungry and try to stick with a good nutritious routine overall.

Push Yourself: Another thing I struggled with for so long, was a fear for upping my weights. I thought the heavier I lifted the bigger I would get. But if you're body is able for more than you should push it, obviously within limits. If something is easy it wont change you.

3.Never Skip Mondays

We can all agree that Monday is the worst day of the week. You might have ate or drank a bit too much at the weekend and you might even still be feeling it a bit. I try to make a point of never missing a Monday workout. It gets me focused for the week, and puts me back on track. Also I find starting on Monday, I've no excuses for the rest of the week.

Why Start Now?

OK, so tips and advice can only get you so far, you really have to get the motivation to do this on your own. So if you've found that you keep putting things off here's a couple reasons why you should just jump straight into it.

Feel Better

Exercise is the ultimate way to feel better both mentally and physically. You set goals for a reason right? Maybe you want to feel physically fitter or relieve some stress. Whatever your goal, the only way to achieve i is to start. And once you fully understand what it can do for you it makes going to the gym that little bit easier.

Realistically the first thing you're going to notice is that it's hard. You'll probably be out of breath and sweating a lot, this gets less annoying as time goes on. Your body will adapt to this over time, things that were tough will become easier and you might even start enjoying your workouts!

If you stick it out, your muscles will adapt, you'll begin to achieve your goals be it lose weight or build muscle etc. You'll find yourself leaner, stronger, fitter and you'll probably begin to have way more energy.

Not only will you see these changes, your mental health will improve tonnes. I'll never forget a quote I saw on Grey's Anatomy once. 'Exercise creates endorphins, and endorphins make you happy'. It's also a major stress reliever. I run so much better and longer if I've had a bad day, usually I forget all about what upset me too.

Energy

Ever have a week of just doing nothing, and you feel worse from it? Your body actually gets way more energy from an active lifestyle. Resting is important to this lifestyle also but when you actually need the rest.

Exercising regularly will probably improve your sleep patterns too, you'll certainly look for an earlier night after a tough workout. Exercise is so important for this and honestly, people will notice the energy you start to give out as well, it's so much nicer to be the bubbly, perky person rather than the zombie version of them.

As always thanks so much for reading.

Feel free to comment, & best of luck with your journey,

Char

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