August 20, 2011

Nothing worth knowing can be taught

3 things I’ve learned over these past 3 weeks:

1) Start small. I believe in tiny things. I’ve spent most of my life at a towering height of 5 feet, fiercely defending the age-old mantra “big things come in small packages”. After reading a great little article on micro-actions, I decided to use my newfound knowledge to ‘trick’ myself into going to the gym. Tiny goal #1: wear gym gear to bed. Ok… so far so good. Waking up in my gym gear, tiny goal #2: go to work via St James. Getting near Pitt St, tiny goal #3: get coffee at the Virgin Active café. SUCCESS.

2) Focus on your strengths. Like any other project, I started off this fitness journey pumped and full of good intentions to “fix” everything that had failed in similar projects before. I disliked running - and even moreso - running on the spot on a treadmill. Ugh. So starting with my first principle, I started tiny. Quick bursts of 2-3 min intervals at various inclines for 10-15mins, snuck in-between cross fits, steppers and fun group exercise classes. Simple, achievable goals. Which brings me to…

3) Measure your progress. Walking aimlessly when you’re on vacation, set on exploring the city with all of the time in the world… bliss. Running towards nothing on a treadmill… torturous! Set goals, big and small, then measure constantly. Getting specific about where you stand at the outset will help you set goals and build up your fitness. It’s not just height, weight and body fat - but measure heart rate, distance, average pace per km, steps, calories burned, weights. Fun twist: switch between metric and Imperial measurements. I like pounds for weight and kilometres for distance - the more the merrier. I find that TechnoGym key and heart rate monitors are super helpful as well (I’m lucky to have them!).

Reflectively yours,
J

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See Post tags #fitness #progress #reflection #motivation #learning