Workout plans for women often talk about us in terms of physical fitness, but not always in terms to keep us motivated. All women know exercise is important. But there’s the issue of finding time, energy and a lack of incentive to conquer.
Luckily at Body Beyond Birth, we believe in making exercise as low barrier and easy to access as possible. We understand the issues a busy mother faces.
That’s why we’ve put together 4 ways to start exercising today. All using some pretty simple workout plans for women built with your lifestyle in mind.
Starting with exercise
Do you ever feel tired? So tired you feel like you can’t even stand up or construct a sentence kind of tired? You get up, look in the mirror and think “ugh… I really need to work out” and then forget about it?
You turn around and ponder what the day has in store for you and shrug your shoulders thinking “oh well, I guess it won’t matter if I start tomorrow”.
But it does matter. Even 5 minutes today counts towards making a stronger, healthier you.
Research shows that exercising can give you more energy. Exercise helps lift your mood and can help you sleep better. The physical, psychological and sleep related gifts from workout plans for women (or indeed any exercise) are vital ingredients to making a new mother feel more comfortable and in charge.
But when you’re tired and feeling drained physically and emotionally, it can be hard to get the motivation you need. So when you’re feeling like this, how do you pick yourself up? How do you reset your head to do that 5, 10, or 20 minutes of exercise that you know deep down would help you?
Here are some tried and tested tips that I know work as part of workout plans for women (trust me, I’ve tried and tested them!)
Set yourself a goal
I know this may sound boring (I can hear you starting to yawn- stop that!), but setting goals works. Figuring out what you want to achieve is what will really help set you up for success.
Be smart when defining what you want from exercise. Think about the following:
Be Specific – don’t just think to yourself “I want to get fitter” or “I want to be more toned”. Define what this means to you. Some great examples are:
- I want to be able to run 5km
- I want to do 20 minutes of exercise each day
- I want to be able to do 100 push-ups
- I want to lose X cm or inches from all over my body, stomach etc.
Define your exercise goal. Write it down and put it somewhere you can see it!
Your goal doesn’t have to be complex to be effective. And you can shift the goal parts of your specific challenge once you’re confident you’ve tackled your goal.
Measure it – make sure that you can track your progress. And set yourself some mini-targets along the way so you can see the progress you’re making before you hit the finish line.
Try these kinds of measurement examples:
If your goal is to be able to run 5km (3.1 miles), think about where your milestones may be. You might like to be able to run 1km after the first week, 1.5km after the second week, 2km after the third week and so on until you reach your target goal of 5kms.
Once you can run the 5km, you might set yourself a time target which you continually try to beat. Or you may want to add something else like a 5km run followed by a swim or cycle leg.
Make it achievable – don’t set yourself up for failure. You deserve to feel inspired, safe and like you can do this. By committing to running every day if you know that you really don’t have time to do it, you add stress to your situation and don’t give yourself the best opportunity for success.
This is why many of the workout plans for women that are out there on TV, the internet or at the gym classes have such high attrition rates. They don’t allow you to set the goals that suit your lifestyle. But your journey to fitness is as individual as you are. So respecting that fact when setting your exercise goals is super important.
Think about what’s going to suit you and go for it.
Once you have got yourself into a routine, push yourself a little more. But always set yourself up to grow your ability and your confidence. And continue to ensure that it’s achievable!
Relevance – make sure your goals are relevant to you and your life. If it’s something you’re passionate about, you’ll be able to figure out all sorts of ways to make sure you achieve it.
Time-bound – like setting your goal, setting a timeline for when you’ll hit it can really spur on activity.
Ask yourself when do you expect to achieve your goal. Circle that calendar and make a commitment! Make it realistic of course.
If you’re setting a long-term goal you might want to think about setting yourself mini-goals to help you get there and keep you motivated.
Like stepping stones on the road to happiness, the checking of your time goals and achievement milestones can help you see the progress you’re making as it happens.
Dress for success
Women working out don’t need to look like they’ve just stepped off the active-wear catalogues of Paris, but dressing for success comes in many forms.
It helps to dress yourself in the right gear. It doesn’t need to be the flashiest outfit around, it just needs to be functional and comfortable. And something you feel like you can really break out into a sweat in!
Don’t forget your “supportive friend”… a good sports bra!
If I’ve got nothing planned for the day, I will always get up and get dressed in my workout gear. It might sound silly, but I find that if I’m always prepared, my head is already in the right frame of mind. Being in your workout gear means you’re ready to jump at any opportunity that arises. And it means your brain has once less excuse it can through at you.
Some days, I don’t get the full 20 minutes of exercise time at once. Being dressed in my workout clothes allows me to squeeze in my workout where I can here and there throughout the day.
Exercise might be some plié squats while I’m preparing for dinner, some lunges on the way back from the clothesline or some clams while I’m working late at night.
Being in the right gear all the time means it’s always the right time for me to exercise.
Be your own best friend
When you hear your best friend putting herself down or beating herself up for what she has or hasn’t done, what do you do?
I would imagine that you generally say something along the lines of “don’t be too hard on yourself”, “you’re a beautiful person”, “you deserve the best life has to offer”, “don’t look back, just look forward and move on”.
Well, sometimes we need to be our own best friend.
If you’ve had a tough day or week and you haven’t been able to squeeze in that workout, don’t beat yourself up.
If you’ve decided to eat that chocolate biscuit that’s been on your mind all day, don’t look back. Just look forward and move on.
If you’ve looked in the mirror today and disliked what you saw, remind yourself just how beautiful you really are.
Regardless of the day you’ve had, or how you feel, be happy with who you are and what you see.
Show yourself the love that you deserve and show to others.
Remember the time
Who doesn’t love a good times and great memories? How often do you wish you could re-create those times that make you feel so good?
Well, it turns out you can!
Next time you workout, remember how good you feel afterwards. Take note of how you feel physically, emotionally and mentally. Write it down.
It might be as simple as drawing a happy face on your calendar. Or one line in your diary.
The point is to remember how amazing you feel after working out and how long that feeling lasts. Remembering this will help motivate you to do whatever it takes to fit that 5, 10 or 15 minutes of exercise into your day.
If you can try to make this part of your general routine, you’ll find that you’ll quickly form a healthy habit for life!
Lastly, remember you are beautiful and you are amazing. Check out our the video post on our Facebook Page, “This girl can”. Be ready with your workout gear on…It’s going to make you want to move!
Tried lots of workout plans for women but not found one you love? Girlfriend, you need to try Body Beyond Birth! We’re perfect for women as wonderful as you!
