rain |

There are so many fitness tips out there: drink your body weight in water, avoid carbs, circuit train, protein protein protein, do thirty second intervals at your highest power, mix up your work outs, never workout one side of the body without the other, PROTEIN.

I’m pretty sure if you’re reading this blog then you’re at least an eeeensy bit interested in getting fit and healthy (or you enjoy chuckling while two loony girls almost die trying). You’ve probably picked up at least one fitness magazine in your life, likely spent at least an hour examining your body as though it had recently landed from an undiscovered planet or at the very least, thought briefly that it’s probably maybe a good idea to start being active. Someday.

Yep, we’ve all been there.

It’s bloody hard to get fit, it’s just so much easier to watch Come Dine with Me and drink wine and fantasize about one day winning the lottery so that you can remain stationary for ever and ever (except maybe by a pool with a cocktail instead of in this waterfall masquerading as a country). And this is exactly why the fitty boom booms out there are so bastard smug about it. Because they worked really hard so they could run 10km and not feel completely depleted (rumour has it some actually enjoy every second of it!) Good for them.

However, if you’re more like me and live with half a brain on uber fit and the other half down the pub eating pies, then here are three tips you already know but probably ignore. Believe me, they make ALL the difference. ***

1. Do it even when you don’t want to: This is a tip that sticks with me, it came from a friend who lost 6 stone and has recently run his third marathon. I asked him how he did it and he told me ‘always do what you say you’re going to do. If you say you’re going to run to point A then go there, even if you have to walk some of the way.’ Never let yourself off the hook because it can quickly become a habit. I am constantly learning this lesson but on my better days I try to have this thought process: If I run for half an hour in the morning it will make my day so much happier; I will be proud of myself, I will get to be exceptionally obnoxious for a day, telling everyone I see that I got up at 6.30am to run and I will be closer to my goals (and therefore in control). If I stay in bed another half an hour I will probably not even be any less tired, I’ll just be warm and cozy for a tad longer of a day (yep, the whole point is this is meant to be hard).

2. ‘Can’t’ often means ‘don’t want to’: Here’s a quick one for you. Instead of saying ‘I can’t do that’ try saying ‘I don’t want to do that’. It feels uncomfortable, ey? Saying ‘I don’t want to exercise with you’ is somehow so much more defeatist than saying ‘I can’t’. ‘Can’t’ implies something out of your control; ‘don’t want to’ is more an indication of laziness. Unless you have a physical issue, chances are you CAN at do something active, whether it be power walk/skip/jog/have a self dance party/tango around the kitchen/ride a bike/hike to Tesco/do synchronized swimming. If you don’t want to then fair enough, but own that decision and stop making excuses.

3. Keep on keeping on: Sadly you can’t become a slug for a couple of weeks and think you can just go right back to where you left off. The body doesn’t work like that. It punishes you for your wrong doings. Two weeks ago I could ~~almost~~ run ~~almost~~ 10km no problem. I’d been working at it for several months and while I was no lean goddess of the jog, I could at least keep going without near lung explosion. Today running just 5km was so much more difficult. But run I did. In the rain. And 5km took me much longer than it usually would, so a thoroughly soaked me was extra punished for my lazy ways.

The best thing about exercise is it’s addictive. It releases all kinds of happy chemicals in your brainual region and it makes you feel BETTER.

So there you have it…just do it, because you can, and once you do, keep on doing it too!