This is a sponsored feature. All opinions are 100% from Her Campus.
Hey Fitness Friends!
So it’s officially the 2nd week of my new fitness plan! I am definitely starting to feel the benefits (and hopefully many of you are too!) – working out is getting a little less painful, I’m getting better at running, and I overall just feel one step closer to truly being fit!
But it’s not all sunshine when it comes to the beginning of week 2 (and I’m not talking about the weather!)…
Let me describe a scenario for you…
You finally decide you are going to “get fit,” “get back in shape,” “get hot” – whatever you call it. So that first day you wake up ready and excited to workout. Then the next day you’re still excited to workout… and the next! But then the end of the week comes, so you give yourself a day off, and then it comes time to start week 2… and you just can’t get yourself to do it! You’re tired, your body is sore, your homework has caught up to you, and you can’t think of any more workouts that are different than what you’ve already done…
Well, ladies, that is exactly what happens to me every time I start a new fitness plan (or as one of my friends likes to call it, “Project Get Hot”)….
But it’s not going to happen this time! As your Fearless Fitness Leader, I pinky promise (remember those?) you that I will not give up, and I will stick with my fitness plan through my 3 weeks of blogging, and way past that (we’re all trying to learn how to stay fit for life, right?)!
But as I am making this promise, I know it won’t be an easy one… so I came up with some specific things that I will do to make sure I don’t fall into a slump! And, without further adieu, here they are:
1. Change it up! Whether you change your outfit, your playlist, or your actual workout, there’s plenty of ways to make sure you don’t get Workout A.D.D. (which I get often – but I broke through it on my 2nd run! Read how I did it here). What we all need to do is realize that working out doesn’t have to be boring – we don’t have to a.) all do the same type of workouts, and b.) do typical workouts all the time!
For a.) The workouts that work for me may not be the same ones that work for you! New Balance Fitness Expert Holly Perkins told me to aim for 5 days of working out per week, with 3 of those being cardio training, 1 being strength training, and 1 being something calming like yoga. For me, this is working perfectly so far! But even between me and the 5 other Campus Fitness Bloggers, there is a big difference in the types of workouts we each should do (which is exactly why Holly Perkins gave us each different fitness tips!). So figure out what suits you best, and do exactly that! (And as a college girl, there’s likely a lot of resources at your disposal when it comes to figuring out how to get fit and eat healthy. Head to your college gym and have one of the trainers show you some moves, or go to the college nutritionist and ask them what to eat!)
For b.) Before I started this fitness plan, I thought of all workouts being in one of 3 basic categories: running, lifting weights, and yoga. But really, workouts can come in all shapes and sizes! For example, today the senior members – ahh! that means me! – of my sorority got to go on a scavenger hunt around downtown Boston. The scavenger hunt was originally planned for us to walk the whole thing, but we turned it into a fitness activity! Instead of walking to each clue, we ran (I had my New Balance sneaks on!), and we kept moving instead of waiting around once we got to each clue. But, as typical touristy-me, I made sure we had some photo-ops along the way!
This is us at the beginning of our scavenger hunt… before I made everyone start running!
Posing by the pretty fountain with some of our clues!
We stopped and played some football on the baseball diamond on the Common!
Overall, it was an excellent scavenger hunt – and while I didn’t make it to the gym yesterday, the hunt was a great way to add some fitness to my day without forcing it. I was having fun, chatting with my friends, but also running and walking (I essentially was doing the same kind of interval workout I’ve been doing on my real runs)!
2. Spread the word! I think a big reason I’ve been able to keep up my fitness plan so far is because so many people are watching and reading my videos and blogs, so I feel that if I don’t workout, not only am I letting myself down, I’m letting all of you down as well! It’s a good kind of pressure, because my friends know that I’m doing this blog, and they therefore keep asking me about what kind of workout I’m doing each day – so I have to have an answer for them! You can use this kind of pressure too – no, you don’t have to start your own fitness blog (but if you do, I’ll read it! :) )… just tell your friends about your fitness plan, and it will probably lead to them helping motivate you, and probably wanting to join you (and as I and many of my fellow Fitness Bloggers have mentioned, working out with a friend is always great motivation)! It’s really helpful when you get to the point where you’re about to start slacking off, because other people can be that last little push you need to get to the gym!
3. I know I’ve said this before, but make a schedule! Draw it with markers, crayons, glitter glue – whatever it takes for it to be fun and productive for you! My weeks are all really busy, so if I don’t set aside specific times to workout, it just won’t happen at all! And that is not ok…! So I very clearly mark off times when I am going to workout, so that I make sure it happens on the days I want it to! I’ve been using red to mark my workouts, because it’s a very noticeable color, so I definitely can’t miss my workouts! Here’s my schedule for this week (I haven’t filled in the weekend yet… but I know it’ll be busy!):
If you use these tips, hopefully you won’t fall into a workout slump – I know you can do it! Just keep checking in to my blog to see how I’m doing – then, whether you do the same workouts as me or not, we’re all in this together (remember those Disney Channel lyrics I mentioned in my first post?)!
So get out there and do a fun workout today! And know I’ll being doing it too – check my schedule!