By Tara Ballard
Last week, I posted a question on Facebook asking everyone for new fitness goal ideas. As I talked about in my last post, life has been a little out of control lately. Things are starting to calm down a bit, but I’ve found myself in a bit of a rut. I’m sure you guys know what I’m talking about. It’s not that training is going badly, it’s just…I don’t know…like I need something more. I think part of this feeling stems from just wanting something different to focus on other than family stuff. Not that I’m trying to run from that, but just a bit of a diversion, something else to think about and work for. Also, I love goals, structure and routine…having a new goal to focus on means new structure and routine…yes!!
I loved the responses I received to my Facebook post! It started the creative juices flowing, and sparked some excitement. In no particular order, the following are the things you guys suggested trying, along with some of my own ideas that came to me as I read through your replies.
- Do 15 minutes of yoga every day for 30 days after working out
- Do 50 burpees every day for 50 days
- Train for a triathlon
- Train for an ultra trail run
- Train for a stair running competition
- Train for Women’s Tri-Fitness (Jill & I have been contemplating this for a few months now)
- Train for / do another figure competition
- Take agility lessons with my dog (my idea!)
- Take an adult gymnastics class
- Take dance lessons
- And my personal favorite from Jillian: see who can drink a bottle of wine the fastest! :)
So, what should I do? I must say, the last option sounds pretty appealing – I do like my wine after all, so I’m pretty sure I could excel at that! :) J/K.
I am still pondering what I might want to do, but in the meantime, I’m trying to keep things fresh and new by switching up my training a bit. For example, this week, I will be traveling for work. While I could go to the local gym, I’ve decided to take a break from that and do all my workouts either outdoors or in the hotel fitness center. I’m going to put my normal heavy weight training split on hold for 10 days or so, and focus on more full-body, Metabolic Effect-style workouts. It will be fun to break out of the mold for a few days, and will hopefully help me regroup, physically and mentally, for whatever new challenges and goals the new year will bring. Whatever those goals/challenges may be, I have decided on one very important ground rule:
The new challenge/goal should not make me miserable.
This should go without saying, right? But I’ve seen it all too often with myself when training for long distance runs, and also with clients training for physique competitions. Of course there will be good days and bad days – no matter how “fun” the goal. But if the bad days greatly outnumber the good, and your goal leaves you feeling stressed and dreading each workout, then I personally feel it’s not worth it. Find something else that you DO look forward to….something that excites you and keeps you wanting more. I’ve realized more and more over the past few weeks that life is way too short to not enjoy the ride!
I will keep you posted on what I decide to do…in the meantime, what are your goals and plans? How do you break out of a rut and keep the motivation going? I would love to know!! ox -T
