We are getting closer and closer to the start of the New Year, and everyone knows most New Year resolutions have something to do with exercise or nutrition. If you want to start in fresh with fitness and nutrition in the New Year then there are some things you should be doing now. Whether you’re looking at joining a gym for the first time, or maybe starting back to one, or if you’re looking at something that you can do from your own home you need to start researching it. I wanted to help you all out by giving you some questions to be asking.
First, let’s start with joining a gym. This may sound funny coming from the girl that lives far, far, far away from any gym but I have looked into them before purely because of my passion for fitness and nutrition. I have always thought it would be a blast to have a place to go where everyone is of like mind. Therefore, I do have a lot of things that I have looked at over the years. Price of course is a big one, but I’m here to tell you there’ll be some wonderful deals out there at the beginning of the New Year for local gyms. Be sure to take a look at how this price will change once the amazing deal is over. What I mean by that is if you get one of these great deals and start going to the certain gym and absolutely fall in love with it and then all of a sudden your membership doubles after a certain date and you can’t afford it anymore that would be a real bummer. Next, time is a huge factor when it comes to exercise! In fact that’s probably the number one reason that people don’t exercise is they just don’t have the time. Therefore, make sure it is in close proximity to your office or to your home. Also, you need to take a look at when the gym is open; what hours of operation do they have and last if you are interested in certain classes check and see when those classes are. If the classes you are interested in are at a time when you would be able to make them or if they’re all in the morning when you have the afternoon available. Since this is a mom’s website of course our number one priority is our kiddos! You need to make sure that they have a nursery or a child area where they can go and we really need to check those areas out to make sure that there are things in there that interest your children so that we’re not leaving our kids crying every time that we try to go and workout. What I have noticed is a lot of these gyms or clubs offer a week or two where you can come in and try them out and I highly recommend this. I recently decided to try a gym and found that my kids were right in between the age where they could go and participate in classes and use the equipment and bored to death in the childcare area since the majority of the kids were about six or seven years younger than they were. So the week or so that I tried out this gym my kids were already whining about having to go to the childcare area. This was a big strike against this facility. This mom does not look forward to working out when my kids are not on board with it.
When looking at home workout programs you need to ask a lot of the same questions. First, I always do much better when I am actually doing “a program” and not just a DVD. What I mean by that is that it actually has a beginning and end. I have to have something I am working towards or I just find that I stop working altogether. Again time is crucial, there are some amazing programs out there that you have to put an hour to an hour and a half in every day, if that fits you GO FOR IT GIRL but for me time is a huge factor. With my kids the ages they are and being as active as they are I do not have a lot of time. I have been able to find amazing programs that are 25 to 30 minute workouts in a day, now that I can manage and I have seen amazing results from them. Also, before purchasing a program check out what kind of extra equipment you need for the DVDs and the amount of space that is needed to workout. The home workout program I use only requires dumbbells and very little space so I can do it almost anywhere. Last, accountability is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! No matter if you are at a gym or doing a home workout program you need accountability. Make sure you have friend, trainer, or some home workout programs have challenge groups online that helps you get that workout done each day!!! I run a challenge group through Facebook and it pushes me when I know that I need to report my workout and that others are paying attention to keep me working.
Out of everything I have wrote about today, make sure the program you pick is FUN!!! You are not going to stick with a program if you don’t have fun doing it. My sister loves to dance so she has found some great hip hop dance programs that she truly looks forward to doing. No matter if you are working out at home or at the gym do your research ahead of time!!!
OH AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I love being able to workout in my living room after a Christmas program at 9:00 at night. Ok, maybe not my most favorite time to workout but my favorite place 🙂 |  |
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