Simple Tricks to Up Your Fitness Game NOW

There are two types of people in this world: those who replace the roll of toilet paper and those who do not.

I can’t be sure if this is true. And, if it is true, I’m not sure what kind of generalizations can be made regarding either group.

All I know is that, on three out of three most recent visits to the Buttery, I have replaced the roll of toilet paper. As I was replacing it again this morning, I realized there has got to be some sort of metaphor for life in this situation. Anyone have some insight here?

Do you put on a fresh roll or do you leave it for someone else? Or, do you just make sure that you don’t actually use the very last piece so that your conscience can remain unburdened (like I did when I was ten years old)?

That leads me so very smoothly to today’s post in which I will reveal…

5 Quick Tricks to Up Your Fitness Game NOW

If you are experiencing any type of plateau–be it in fat-loss, strength gains, or motivation–I have some ideas that you can put into play immediately. I’ll go into detail on the first two today, and give you a snippet of the third. You’ll have to check back next week for the rest!

1. Abandon ship! Ditch today’s scheduled workout in lieu of movement you love.
2. Food log (via written log or photo log) and share it in “real time” with an accountability partner.
3. Commit to 5 minutes daily.
4. Choose a skill to dominate.
5. Determine a specific strength goal and chase it.

First, abandoning ship: If you are not feeling motivated for your workouts, completely switch gears today. Normally lift heavy? Go light and increase reps! Normally do HIIT? Slow it down with heavy weights. Normally do steady-state cardio? Do a Sweaty (like the one provided below)! Normally give it 110% without consideration for rest and recovery? Take a brisk walk. Whatever your normal mode of workout, I challenge you to mix it up.

Maybe you need to make a longer-term change to feel a jolt of enthusiasm again, but maybe all you need is to throw in a day of fun and exciting movement to make you appreciate the wonderful gift of movement.

Second, food-logging: Find a friend to keep you accountable and bug the heck out of them by sharing your consumption in real-time. (Note your accountability partner should generally be someone you want to imitate. It should feel a little intimidating. You should want to impress them. In this situation, your accountability person is preferably someone who eats more like how you want to eat rather than someone who is in the same rut as you.) Text this person literally every single time you consume anything that has calories–you can do it with a photo or write it out, but you have to do it LIVE. This will build awareness of your consumption habits and will inconvenience you just enough to increase your mindfulness.

As you reach for three M&Ms from your co-workers desk, you’ll think, “Am I really going to text this to Tom?” Maybe it’s totally worth it! Maybe you’re proud that it’s only three! Or maybe it’ll cause you to pause long enough to realize that you don’t really want them anyway.

Third, commit to 5 minutes daily: If you don’t have five minutes, you are fooling yourself. Fat-loss, in particular, is the result of consistency. It might be overwhelming to think about driving to the gym, pushing yourself for an hour, showering, trying to look put together, and then driving to your next engagement. Instead, if you’re having “one of those days” (or even “one of those weeks”!), hold yourself accountable for 5 minutes. Every. single. day.

…More on this next week.

For now, here’s a workout you can do right this very second, and it will satisfy your 5-minute commitment for today:

5-Minute Sweaty

Set the timer for 5 minutes, and go to town!

1.5 Squats (lower into a full-depth squat, rise halfway to standing, lower back to depth, rise to standing): 8 reps

Forward lunge: 4 reps each side

Reverse lunge: 4 reps each side

Push-ups: 2 reps of the toughest variation you can muster (or standard, which may be one-in-the-same!)

 

But, before you run off–

Two things:

1. Did any of these suggestions resonate with you? If you give one a try, will you let me know in the comments? Do you have any tricks to add?
2. [Because I can’t resist] Do you replace the TP? What incredibly deep truth is revealed about yourself through this illustrative analogy? I think we could really be on to something here.

 

Wishing you a week of plateau-breaking goodness,

Alyssa