I’ve had a gym membership for 10 years but I’ve barely utilized it. I would go now and then purely out of guilt and with zero results. But things changed this past year. If you are following me on Instagram, you’ll see a lot of gym content and a very obvious sense of enjoyment. So what changes have I made? Maybe these can help you too.
Let me begin by telling you why I hated the gym – in fact many of you may relate with my reasons.
1. Firstly, I never had a plan for what I was going to do in those 45 minutes at the gym. Should I do legs or should I do biceps today is not a decision you take once you have reached the gym!! And if by chance you have decided on time that it is leg day today, wandering around trying to figure out which 5-6 exercises you should do for your legs is also not a great idea. Since I never had a plan, I found myself aimlessly wandering around trying one thing after another, a complete lack of focus invariably resulting in me slinking off to any cardio machine that I could find free and strolling on it.
2. I always felt very intimidated by all the fit type people at the gym. I constantly felt I was being judged for my wrong usage of the machines, or my wrong form, or my weight, or my clothes…you get the drift!
3. And last but not the least…I’m not seeing any difference in myself. Why bother? My weight is not going down.
Last year, on a holiday abroad, my husband and I made an impulsive decision to go on a short trek. First of all, I’m married to a man who is poles apart from me as far as fitness is concerned. We were somewhere in the Alps so not trying his hand at a trek was out of question. We settled on a route which we were told was of medium difficulty and would take us about 2.5 hours to finish.
It was all fun and games when we started.
30 minutes into the trek and I began to lose steam. When we reached the option of choosing between the flatter route and the steep one (which apparently had the best view of the largest glacier in Europe), we were both clear – I wanted to take the flatter option while my husband was adamant that we would take the steeper one. “You’ll regret it Dipika, if we don’t, that we came till here and we couldn’t do this”. Valid point, I thought. So I pushed myself. And it was totally worth it.
But a major life lesson happened that day.
When you are unfit and young, it doesn’t matter. When you are unfit in your forties, your body doesn’t cooperate even if you have the will.
So I realized that if I wanted to keep doing the things that I enjoyed doing, if I wanted to continue living the active life I had up till now, fitness would need to be a lifestyle and not something that loomed it’s head forcibly because I had to lose 2 kgs to get into shape for a family wedding event!!
The Gameplan
- Get yourself a fitness buddy: in my case I enlisted the help of my husband – who was delighted. Instead of running away from him and deliberately not going to the gym at the same time as him, I turned myself into a diligent student.
The advantage of a gym buddy is that he or she is able to push you to do that little bit extra. The difference in your body shape will only take place when you push yourself out of the comfort zone. With a fitness buddy, it is also easier to put together a daily plan on what you guys are going to do at the gym. Most importantly, on days that you feel lazy, a buddy is able to kick your ass.
- Think through a daily workout plan. Atleast a day before, you should have an idea of what you will be doing in the gym the next day. Upper body? Glutes? HIIT? Cardio? Within that, you need to know what 6-8 exercises you will be doing to attack that body part.
A good way to keep yourself motivated and not get bored is to look at variations for the same body part every time. Let me explain. If you are doing legs one day, put together a set of 6 exercises that you will do. The next time you do legs, change up the routine slightly and replace a few of those 6-8 exercises with other options. I follow a few Instagram accounts to look for variations of the same body part. There is no dearth of variations in exercises that you can try.
- Started weight training. OK. This is especially for you, ladies. I cannot even begin to tell you the difference. Don’t even start on that argument that weight training will make you look bulky. It will not. Instead you will feel powerful and you will look toned, shapely and younger, and most of all, you will feel and look sexy!!
Your bones or your skeleton rests on your muscles. If you want to stay fitter and active for longer, your muscles have to stay stronger in order to support your skeleton. Which is why weight training is a must.
- On the subject of weights- don’t pick up the lightest weight, do 15 reps and feel accomplished! You need to find that weight which will make the workout worth it. What weight is that? It is the weight at which you reach failure at your 12 th rep and have to push yourself to do the last 3 reps. Also, for each exercise you have to do a minimum of 3 sets to see any change in yourself.
- Get yourself sexy gymwear – whatever your shape. Don’t hide behind loose t shirts and loose track pants. I wear lipstick to the gym. So?!
- Mix up your workouts so you don’t get bored. I do Yoga and deep stretching on Sundays. On some days when I’m bored I just do functional training. It’s so fun.
- Invest in a fitness watch. What it does is it tells you how many calories you lost during your workout. How else do you measure daily output? Set a calorie target and stick to it. Even if you don’t wear it through the day, wear it during your gym session so you can track progress. I wear a Fitbit – basic but very helpful.
- Give that one hour your best. Come out broken but happy.
And now for a bonus tip.
For many years, I set weight loss goals. I now realize how wrong that is. How do you know what is the right weight for your body? Why “I have to be 60 kgs. Or I have to be 55 kgs”?
And that can be achieved by starving, no?
Keep fitness goals. I should be able to do 200 squats in one session by the end of 3 months. Or I should be able to climb 20 floors at the end of the month. The minute you start thinking fitness everything will fall into place.
Leave me a comment telling me if fitness is a challenge for you. I would love to have a conversation. I am so kicked with my progress that I’m bursting to help others with my tips.
Stay fit.
Dipika, She Means Business
In case you need help setting fitness goals, watch my video on a 3 step plan to achieve any goal. It will help.