According to the great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, "You seldom, if ever, get lucky sitting down". So many of us want to start that exercise programme that's going to drastically improve our lives, but we've all been there, with that gleaming new training routine visualised in our minds and gleaming new kit to match. We know exactly what we're going to do, we can't wait to get started, in fact we can virtually see the weight coming off already!
The next thing that happens is the big moment arrives, you get your kit on then spend the next hour doing snippets of exercises that you've half made up and half seen other people doing and basically scratching your head feeling lost and increasingly more frustrated.
It always looks nice and seamless when you've seen other people doing it, so you stand there and think why isn't it the same for me? The answer lies in the preparation. Those individuals you've seen efficiently gliding from one exercise to the other will nine times out of ten have a plan.
So anyway, here are 5 top planning tips to ensure your workouts go as smoothly as possible and that you don't end up kicking any small children or pets out of frustration.
1. Keep a mini journal - You can pick up a little notebook from as little as 17p from Wilkinsons. This is all you need to get your planning under way. 5 mins prep is all you need for a workout. A good starting point would be to divide a page into cardio one one side and resistance (weights) on the other. For cardio simply note the exercise you are going to do and the duration (eg: 6 x intervals of 30 secs fast 30 secs slow) For resistance you would simply note the exercise, number of repetitions, rest periods and number of sets (rounds)
2. Know the body - When planning a resistance workout it is important to know which exercise works which muscle, as it'd be pretty useless doing bicep curls to tone your bum. Frederic Delavier's book Strength Training Anatomy For Women (ISBN:0736048138) provides very clear illustrations of which exercise work which area and makes a very useful tool for planning your workouts.
3. Always Plan it the day before - If you like to workout in the mornings, make sure that all the thinking is done before you throw on your shorts and tshirt. There's nothing more demotivating than not having a clear idea of what you're about to do. This also makes your workouts time efficient, so you're in and out nice and sharp. Alternatively, you could set aside 20 mins on a Sunday to plan all of the coming weeks workouts.
4. Keep it short and sweet - If you're serious about embarking on a new fitness regime this is the golden rule. Don't get too ambitious, throwing in one hour of cardio, followed by an hour of resistance then 20 mins of core stability. The more you try and do the greater your chances of not sticking with it. A 90 minute session may seem appealing on some days, but probably not everyday. You always want your workouts to be something you look forward to. Short and sharp keeps it that way. Aim for 20-45mins.
5. Make it a habit - When you know that you always watch Eastenders at 7pm it's hard to accidentally forget it. Not that that'd be a bad thing! Always do your workouts at the same time where possible and cement that routine into your life. Eventually you'll get to the point of not even having to remind yourself, you'll just do it automatically. That's what I call a positive habit. As Aristotle said "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit"
So what you need to do right away is get yourself a notepad and a book on exercise and start making up your own workouts. Experiment, mix it up, they're your workouts so you have the creative license, don't just do what you've seen others do. And last of all fire up your iPod and make it fun.
By Jonathan Pittam
Jonathan Pittam is a Fat loss expert, Personal Trainer and Speaker from Coventry, UK
[http://blastbodytransformations.com]
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