Hello, 2009!! Whether you rang it in with a pash, a snooze or one too many cocktails, the new year is here and with it that age old tradition of the resolution.
Resolutions come in a wide variety from the financial ‘start a stock portfolio’ to the personal ‘get a partner and/or get rid of one’ to the most commonly made (and most commonly broken) resolution I like to think of as the ‘look better naked’ resolution. And like half of Perth shocked by the sight of themselves in a swimsuit as summer came all too soon (much like a bad one-night stand), I am vowing that 2009 is the year I get hotter and fitter than ever before.
For me the resolution was made post the typical Christmas-Boxing Day two-day overindulgence fest. After gorging myself on turkey, ham and Christmas cookies (not too mention a fair few glasses of champers and wine) and lounging by the pool in a bikini, I decided it was time for a change – it was time to look better naked. As my head slowly cleared from the nasty red, white and bubbly combo, I realized there were two ways to reach my goal – a lot of money and a good surgeon or old-fashioned sweat and diet.
Short of cash and not too keen on getting under a knife, this year I’m opting for the second path to a lighter body. I’ve been at this junction plenty of years before, looking at the clean slate of a new year with nothing but optimism, only to fall off the bandwagon before the hangover has worn off (damn you, MacDonald’s, damn you for being such greasy goodness!)
This year, however, I will foil Macca’s, Cadbury, the screenwriters for 30 Rock and Heroes and anyone else who tries to distract me from my goal. How will I do this you ask? Well, I’ve got a plan, a ‘9-steps in ’09’ plan to get fighting fit and stay that way.
So, if you, like me have tried and failed, and tried again… and failed again, but somehow still bounced back in 2009 with a resolution to look and feel better, throw away the crappy glossy how-to magazine plan and try this one instead.
Step 1 – Credit Card Guilt. With the holidays over and work starting again for most of us, step 1 is about finding the motivation to start a workout and a diet amid all the stress of a full-time job or full-time studies. To help get myself motivated I’ve got a brand spankin’ new credit card and am going to use it for two purchases – a gym membership and a road bike. The way I see it my credit card bill should be guilt enough to motivate me to make the purchases worth the interest rate.
Step 2 – Peer Pressure. Pretty much every single article about how to actually follow through on a ‘get fit’ goal says to get a workout buddy. There’s a reason for that – it works. I believe it’s a proven psychological fact (and if it isn’t it should be) that you are more likely to stick to a goal if you feel accountable to someone else. If you are worried that you won’t be able to convince anyone to join you on your journey to fitdom, then try my sure-fire strategy. At the next party while all your mates are semi-intoxicated propose a joint new year’s resolution. Set your first date, and then guilt trip them into following through.
Step 3 – Plan for an Afterparty. Following on from Step 2, one of my more hard-core workout buddies announced that he was going to run the Bunbury Marathon. My first thought was that beer never tastes better than at the finish line, and so, I signed myself up as well for 42km on May 17th. WA has a multitude of events, so if running a marathon makes you slightly nauseous look into some other options, such as the Busselton Half Ironman (May 2), the Rottnest Channel Swim (February 21), City to Surf (August 30) and Anaconda Adventure Race (TBD November).
Step 4 – Detox. With a marathon looming, step 4 is about getting the holiday sugar and cocktails out of the system with a few weeks of detox. There are a wide-range of detox programs from actual detox camps to detox-in-a-box. Personally, the idea of drinking some herbal cocktail and poo-ing every hour on the hour doesn’t really appeal. Instead, I’m opting to create my own detox around a rather simple context, I’ll plan well-balanced meals for 3 weeks and commit to giving up alcohol and chocolate. In that three week period, the idea is to give my body time to reset its appetites and cravings and recover from all the holiday partying.
Step 5 – Weigh In. While I (and quite a few health professionals) would advise most people to focus less on kilograms and more on feeling healthy and changing lifestyle, the numbers can be a helpful way of gauging progress and staying accountable. In my case, I came up with the optimum weight I should be running a marathon at and the healthy range for body fat, and so I weigh myself every weekend and record the kgs and body fat percentage to track how my progress. Anyone aiming to lose/gain weight and/or change your body’s muscle to fat ratio, know what your healthy, optimum weight and body fat percentage are and recognize that it will take time to reach it (losing 6 kilos in a week is a sign of severe glandular fever not healthy progress!)
Step 6 – Work the Routine. It’s easy enough when on holidays to decide to get fit, but it’s an entirely different story when a 40-hour work week is looming, full of a million excuses not to exercise. Step 6 on my home-made program is about working my work out into my routine. This goes hand-in-hand with step 2 and is about coming up with a strategy to beat your excuses before you can meet them. I make appointments with friends and personal trainers (as an added tip, for shameless singles out there, a hot personal trainer can be a wonderful motivational tool) for the days I know are going to be the toughest to motivate. On days that I know will be busy, I plan to get a workout in first thing in the morning.
Step 7 – A Catchy Motto. Even with all the planning, there will still be times when I just don’t feel like exercise. And like Nike, I’ve decided to get a catchy little slogan to remind myself why it’s so important that I ‘just do it’. In my case, my catchy little motto is ‘look better naked, get off your ass.’ Now, don’t steal mine – come up with your own (and post it in the comment section below).
Step 8 – Visualize. Step 8 is to visualize your event and in the lead up your workouts before you do them. As you visualize think of how strong you feel during a good workout, the pride of crossing the finish line, whatever positive emotions that will remind you there is actually something fun about getting fit.
Step 9 – Get Excited. Almost there… just a little further to go… the final step is a big one – come up with a week-by-week plan to get myself excited about the individual workouts. After all, it’s one thing to be excited to run a marathon, quite another to be excited to go for a 10km run at 6.30am on a Monday morning. From planning workouts that I think of as fun, such as a run on the beach followed by brunch, to rewards for meeting my goal that week – massage, anyone? – I break the bigger goal down into one week and one day at a time… or as Bill Murray puts it in ‘What About Bob?’ – ‘baby steps.’
So, that’s my plan, and so far so good, though we are only 6 days into 2009 (which is 6 days further than I got with my resolution last year)…
Made a similar resolution or have tips of your own for being buff in the buff? Tell me about it below!
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