It’s approaching mid-January, and usually that means a couple of things. You have taken a break from routine and exercise over the festive period, and now you want to kickstart your exercise routine! Or, you are one step ahead and have started exercising again but are already beginning to wane.
If this sounds like you, to help you, we have written this blog containing 6 easy ways you can reach your fitness goals in 2023.
1. Have an End Goal and a Road Map
If you have set yourself a goal,and create your roadmap. This can consist of lots of small short to mid term goals to help you reach your primary goal. By doing this, you can increase your odds of staying committed to your goal, track your progress and feel your results!
2. Build It Up
If you’re new to exercise or returning after a break, you should build up the intensities of your exercise slowly. Over exertion can lead to exhaustion and injuries so listen to your body and respect your personal limits.
We recommend starting with something low impact like walking or swimming. Stick to this for a few weeks, if you’re finding the exercise easier, increase the impact a little and challenge yourself within your abilities.
3. Better Together
Having a friend, partner or family member that you exercise with regularly can be a huge motivator by adding sociability to the activity. After all, time flies when chatting to a friend while walking or jogging!
You are also less likely to abandon exercise plans if someone else is relying on you to show up. This combined with peer encouragement will also make you more likely to stick to your routine.
4. Remove Barriers
Let’s face it, excuses sometimes come hand in hand with exercise. We suggest identifying any barriers that are stopping you from carrying out your exercise plan and be honest yourself.
If you have a busy schedule, plan it into your day. If the activity you want to do is too expensive, try finding a cheaper alternative. Don’t enjoy an activity but force yourself to do it? Find something you do enjoy instead. Remember, exercise is supposed to be enjoyable.
Having less excuses not to do something will help you stay on track and build your physical activity into your routine.
5. Small Steps
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your ideal fitness level won’t be either. Small steps lead to success and you may need to tackle one goal at a time to be able to advance to the next stage of your exercise plan.
For instance, if you struggle with painful knees, going straight into running 5k isn’t going to make your knees better.
In a situation like this, prioritise being pain free with your knees and then ease into your exercise routine again.
Seeing a physiotherapist can help suggest muscle strengthening exercises and exercise techniques to help improve knee pain.
6. Be Flexible & Record Progress
Whilst staying committed to your goal is important, if you hit a challenge like an injury or change of health circumstances, it’s not the end of the world if you have to take a break.
When working towards your ultimate goal, it’s important to reflect on the progress that you’ve made so far. Pay attention to how exercise makes you feel and notice any improvements in fitness. This will no doubt give you the motivation to continue and succeed.
How Physiotherapy Can Help You Kickstart and Stick To Your Exercise Routine this year
We know getting out for your exercise every day may be a daunting experience for someone who is just starting out, returning from a break or suffering from pain in their knees, back or neck and shoulders.
If you have existing, recurring injuries or even niggles, we advise these are treated to ensure that you can exercise safely without injury.
At Urban Body we are passionate about helping you stay healthy, active and doing the things you love for longer. These may include cycling with your friends, running, playing with the grandchildren at the park, or long walks at the weekend.
Whatever your goal, we are here to support you getting started and this month we are offering an Injury Prevention Assessment. During the assessment one of our highly qualified physiotherapists will work with you to detect any weakness or imbalance that may result in injury when you start exercising. They will also make a suggestion on what kinds of exercises are best for you and how to safely perform them without causing injury.
At a special introductory offer of £40 for January only, start the year as you mean to go on and exercise safely throughout the year!
For more information contact us on 0121 270 6045
