A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Fit and Healthy

A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Fit and Healthy

While the decision to commit to a healthier lifestyle may seem daunting, putting your new habits into place does not need to be onerous. If you are unsure of where to start, the tips outlined here are a great way for you to meet your goals as you see your energy and overall well being increase exponentially.

As you wave goodbye to your old, indulgent way of life, you will find a great deal of satisfaction in honouring the new way of living that you are aiming for. Where do you begin? Well, creating a vision is never a bad idea!

Vanquish Your Doubt with Visualisation

Sit down in a quiet place and bring your fitness goals to mind. Close your eyes and see the results of your new choices: a fitter body, more energy, less unhealthy cravings. Imagine the way you will feel once you are on the road, and keep motivated to keep walking along it!

You can build in rewards as well, as you reach milestones, and make sure you celebrate each step you take! Perhaps you can take in an Aristocrat pokies game or two, or buy a book you have been eyeing -whatever will get you going is good enough!

Feed Your Fitness with Food that Strengthens You

Start drinking filtered water, as much as you can. Water will remove toxins from your body, clear your skin, control your appetite, and boost your energy overall. Start with a litre, build up to two, and aim for three as your end goal.

Cut out sugar completely. Stevia is an excellent substitute which keeps your blood sugar levels stable as you lose weight.

Eat smaller meals more frequently, grazing every two and a half to three hours. This speeds your metabolism up, allowing for faster fat loss, ensures you stay alert and will see your energy levels soar. Eat until you are full and then stop -enjoy the process, and don’t stuff your face absentmindedly.

Make sure your eight essential amino acids are available by including protein with each of your meals. You could even try a protein shake if you wished to, and take supplements to ensure you are getting what you need.

Focus on Feeling Good

You are an individual with specific likes and dislikes, but also particular nutritional requirements. A counsellor can help you implement better habits and ensure that your new choices do not disrupt your working or home life overmuch.

It is always a good idea to get a check up before you start exercising, especially in the case of cardiovascular activities like walking, swimming, hiking, or bicycling, all of which will tone you up, lift your mood, and assist you in getting fit and happy once more. Don’t overburden yourself with exercises that you hate and don’t have time for: have a good think about what you enjoy doing and then find a way to work that in a couple of times a week. Commitment is key, as there will always be a good reason for not doing something you don’t want to do, and this is why many people make use of a workout buddy. You are more likely to show up on time and do what you need to do if your not doing so will put someone else out.

Why Running is the Cornerstone Of A Healthy Lifestyle

Why Running is the Cornerstone Of A Healthy Lifestyle

When it comes to having the right workout routine for you, the exercises involved will likely vary from person to person. After all, there are infinite personalities out there, and a number of different exercise combinations that can achieve the same ultimate goal; being healthy.

There is one common exercise, however, that almost all will have in their routine, and that exercise is running. Sure, there are different ways to go about achieving the cardio goals of running, such as swimming, or cycling, but ultimately many simply prefer to run.

Why? Because for many running isn’t just about working the body, and getting fit, it’s also about getting out into the fresh air, allowing one’s mind to be clear, and simply enjoying the basic pleasures that come with focusing on an enjoyable task.

And this is why running is the cornerstone of many healthy lifestyles.

Time Alone

Running can be the most relaxing part of the week, if approached with the right frame of mind. Yes, there can be a great deal of sweating, perhaps even a bit of panting and gasping, but running certainly doesn’t have to be a chore. Many will indeed find it difficult to enjoy an activity when driving ones body into the ground is the result. But running doesn’t have to be like this at all.

Instead, consider running to be a little holiday away from daily life. Turn off your phone, put on a pair of headphones, set out a simple course, and just enjoy the time alone. Out in the fresh air, nothing can touch you, and nothing matters but the task of reaching the finish line. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be running at all.

Why not just a brisk walk, with a few jogs along the way? Approach running from this angle, and it might just become your favourite time of the day. The fact that it’s also healthy exercise is just an added bonus.

Achieving Running Goals

On the other hand, just because something is relaxing and enjoyable, it doesn’t mean it can’t also be approached with a competitive attitude. Just like using a mobile casino no deposit bonus, you can still claim rewards from something that’s technically free!

Use your phone, or a smartwatch, to record your regular running times, and aim to beat your best time. You don’t have to destroy that time, but improving it even by a few seconds is a sign that you are getting fitter. And what could be better than the feeling that your body is reaching new levels fitness?

Over the months, as your times get better, and your body healthier, running should simply be part of your lifestyle. There should always be time to run two to three times a week, and that time should be something you look forward to, not something you dread.

Once running has become part of your regular weekly routine, it wont be long before you have more energy, feel lighter on your feet, and wake up feeling great. There is, after all, a reason that running is one of the most common exercises in the world.

7 Tips for Increased Endurance

Most people, when hoping to increase their endurance and stamina while working out, will often focus on cardio activities like running or cycling, but in truth this is only a small part of the endurance-building recipe. What most don’t realise is that it’s also necessary to increase strength, but these 7 training techniques will significantly boost your endurance and stamina.

1. Combine Strength Training with Cardio

In order to best challenge your heart and cardiovascular system, you should get as many muscles working as possible. Choosing cardio-only exercises will prevent you from building endurance, so it’s necessary to include strength days into your training. While most do cardio one day, and strength training on another, it’s a good idea to combine the two into one training day.

2. Reduce the Amount of Rest Time

While most men give themselves 30-90 seconds of recovery time between sets, if your goal is greater endurance and stamina, you will need to sacrifice some of this down time. Your muscles should be burning by the end of your sets and you should be breathing heavily and sweating – only take a break if you physically cannot continue.

Do a series of movements such as 10 each of pull-ups, squats, push-ups, and sit-ups and do 3 rounds back to back – breaking as minimally as possible.

3. Choose Fast-Paced, High Intensity Lifting

Using weights at an extremely rapid pace won’t necessarily increase your chances with sports betting NZ, but it will improve your strength and your endurance capabilities, as it’s one of the best ways to ignite your metabolism.

Doing an excessive amount of endurance-only training will actually slow down your metabolism as your body will start to eat away at muscle tissue.

4. Compound Movements Instead of Isolation

Examples of compound movements which require the use of more than one joint are squats, step-ups, push-ups, and pull-ups. These exercises will improve your endurance more than exercises which isolate specific muscle groups, such as bicep curls and leg lifts.

Isolated exercises aren’t going to stimulate your muscles enough to increase stamina.

5. Routine is Your Enemy

What many people don’t realise is that switching up your workout is the key to building endurance and stamina. The human body gets used to a workout routine after two weeks, so if you’re always running, try boxing instead. If you’re a cycling fanatic, switch it up by running stairs instead.

It’s important that you move your muscles in different ways to decrease the chances of developing overuse.

6. Say Yes to Hybrid Exercises

Hybrid exercises take two separate movements and combine them. Examples include: a ‘thruster’ is a squat with an added overhead press, jumping pull-ups, or lunges with bicep curls.

The more muscles you get working in one go, the more it will engage your heart muscles, which in turn improves your stamina.

7. Include Explosive Movements

If you’re looking to challenge your strength, endurance, and stamina simultaneously, it’s imperative that you include explosive movements which require a lot of energy. Once you become more explosive in your movements, you’ll notice that you actually start moving faster.

Try adding the following to your workout routine: burpees, box jumps, jumping knee tucks, and power push-ups.

Healthy Snacks for a Fitter You

While you may not believe it now, there are a large number of snacks that you can pick up from your local store and prepare without picking up a dramatic amount of weight. You deserve to feel you and look your very best, and a fridge full of healthy snack is the best way to go.

Join us as we explore a mouth-watering list of healthy eats that will give you the get up and go that you need to stay fit and maintain that summer body all year round.

Griddled Pineapple and Coconut

You may not be aware but pineapple actually contains a specific enzyme that is responsible for alleviating joint pain and reducing inflammation, called bromelain. (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

  • 1 peeled and sliced pineapple
  • 2 handfuls of coconut chips
  • 4 scoops of coconut flavoured frozen yogurt

Method:

  • Preheat the oven to 180
  • Place the coconut chips in a baking tray and toast them in the oven for a couple of minutes until they appear golden brown.
  • Warm up a griddle pan on a medium to high heat and add the pineapple. Grill for a minute or 2 on each side.
  • Serve pineapple with your scoop of frozen yogurt and sprinkle the toasted coconut on top.

Grilled Halloumi & Mango Slaw with Tahini

If you’d prefer to spend your time exercising and staying fit and only treat yourself to games at a casino NZ on your sofa when you’ve completed you work out, you won’t want to miss out on this summer salad. It boasts a combination sweet mango and fennel flavours with salty halloumi and topped with a creamy tahini salad dressing. (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

  • Coconut butter or oil
  • Cashews (100g)
  • 1 fennel bulb, grated or julienne
  • 1 carrot, grated or julienne
  • 1 mango, grated or julienne
  • raisins (50g)
  • Halloumi (400g) cut into thin slices (Approx. 1cm wide)
  • Basil leaves (10g)
  • 1 red chilli

The Dressing:

  • Tahini (2 tbsp)
  • 1 Lime
  • Salt (½ a tsp)
  • Coconut milk (1 tbsp)

Method:

  • Heat a teaspoon of coconut butter or oil in a pan before throwing in the cashews and stirring well. Sprinkle salt and keep stirring until you see the nuts turn a golden colour. Set on a plate to cool down.
  • Mix your fennel, mango, carrot and raisons in a bowl and combine the dressing ingredients. Add a tablespoon or two of water to thin out.
  • Heat a tablespoon of coconut oil in a griddle or frying pan and make sure it is over a high heat. Fry the Halloumi for a minute on each side until it too turns a golden colour. Top your veggies with the halloumi and the cashews and pour over the dressing. Throw in the basil leaves and the chilli to serve.

Deep Green Smoothie

Spirulina is a great superfood that is ideal for increasing energy levels and cleansing you body to remove toxins and improve immune functions. (Serves 1)

Ingredients:

  • 4 sprigs of mint
  • Pineapple (200g)
  • 1 lemon
  • ½ a cucumber
  • 2 big handfuls of spinach or kale
  • A ¼ tsp of spirulina powder

Method:

Simply add all the ingredients into your blender, but be sure to only add the spirulina at the end.

Beetroot-Orange-Salad

Bay-Infused Beetroot and Orange Salad

One of the best things about healthy living is not having to miss out on meals packed with colour and flavour. Beetroot, citrus, and onion have all been scientifically proven to support healthy body functions, the immune system, exercise and athletic performance, and so much more.

Increase your intake of these fantastic foods with a bay-infused beetroot and orange salad that will brighten up and add a whole lot of zing to summer lunches.

The Body Loves Beetroot

One of the salad’s star ingredients, beetroot is high in naturally-occurring nitrates, and improves oxygenation of the muscles during exercise, which can enhance exercise tolerance. It also contains choline, which aids with muscle movement, memory, learning, sleep, cellular membrane structure, nerve impulse transmission, fat absorption, and chronic inflammation.

Beetroot is also a good source of dietary fibre that promotes a healthy digestive system and helps prevent constipation.

Oranges are Awesome

Whether you work up a sweat in the gym or by playing online keno games, the incredible benefits of oranges can work for you. The glucose contained in oranges is released slowly into the bloodstream, which means more steady energy levels over a longer period of time, and the best part is it’s not followed by a crash.

Oranges are also a good source of potassium, a mineral that assists with muscle contraction, fluid regulation, and more. The flavonoids in citrus fruit can help keep your heart healthy, while the fibre in citrus not only helps the digestive tract, it also helps regulate glucose levels and lower cholesterol.

All About Onions

As far as health benefits go, onions are awesome. They contain high amounts of flavonoids, phytochemicals, vitamin C, and sulphuric compounds, all of which are good for you in all sorts of ways.

Flavonoids such as quercetin is an antioxidant linked to cancer prevention, and can help reduce risks of cardiovascular disease, Parkinson’s disease, and stroke. It can also help lower blood pressure, promote prostate health, improve bone density in post-menopausal women, ease bladder infection symptoms, and has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Brilliant Balsamic Vinegar

They say dynamite comes in small packages. Balsamic vinegar bursts with goodness in every dose. The vinegar can help lower and stabilise blood pressure levels by reducing hardening of the arteries.

It can also help stabilise cholesterol and blood glucose levels.

Ingredients:

6 – 8 raw beetroot, peeled and cut into wedges

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large bay leaf

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

½ a red onion, sliced thinly

2 oranges, peeled and segmented

A handful of microgreens, mustard greens, or rocket leaves

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 220˚C. Place a large piece of foil on a baking tray, shiny side up, and place the raw beetroot wedges in the centre of it. Mix the honey, 1 teaspoon of the olive oil, and 1 tablespoon of the balsamic vinegar, and drizzle it over the beetroot wedges. Place the bay leaf on the beetroot, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Fold the foil over the beetroot, forming a sealed package, and cook in the oven for 45 minutes. Open up the package, and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, taking care the beetroot does not burn or scorch.

During the last 15 minutes of cooking, mix the remaining olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a jug. Remove the beetroot from the foil, and arrange the wedges, along with the orange segments and the onion slices on plates or a serving platter. Sprinkle the greens over, drizzle on the dressing, and enjoy.

How Fitness Affects Performance

How Fitness Affects Performance

There are many things that come to mind when we think about the value of exercise, but we mostly think about how it can benefit us on a physical level. This isn’t necessarily a good thing, as it implies that we are less worried about our health and more worried about whether we look good come summer time.

Thus, we thought it would be an important exercise to take not of what exercise can do for your body and lifestyle, which is why we’re going to take a look at all of the benefits that come with great levels of fitness, from an attractive physical appearance to improved mental performance.

Practice Makes Perfect

Let’s start with the more obvious benefit of employing a decent fitness routine and something most people are after – a great physique. This is something that comes with exercising regularly.

An added benefit, and possibly even more of an obvious factor, is that the more you exercise the better your physical performance will get. When you start to feel yourself getting fitter, you will notice just how much easier it is to go for that run, swim or cycle. After all, practice does make perfect at slotscanada.net.

A Fit You Is a Healthy You

Your health will also improve when you employ a fitness routine that you stick to, including important factors like lowered blood pressure and a healthier, better working heart.

You’d be surprised just how much going for a run regularly or even playing a game of football with friends could improve your overall health. Exercise has been known for helping with those that battle with sleep deprivation or even a bad back.

One thing you must take into consideration, however, is that it cannot simply end at improving your fitness, you will need to make sure that you take on a healthy balanced diet that further improves your performance in fitness and health.

Mentally Sound

Another way in which fitness can affect performance is on a mental scale, with many studies proving that it does a great job helping with concentration, whether you’re doing some work  or you’re playing Canada slots online.

What’s more, improved fitness can also help with sometimes crippling ailments, such as anxiety. In fact, a few studies have found that aerobic forms of exercise can actually reduce the anxiety that we experience on a daily basis as well as anxiety sensitivity, which means that exercise could essentially could help us be a little less reactive to physiological changes that come with high pressure situations.

Exercising boosts your mood, increases energy levels and could be the answer to your mental health problems, but it could also improve your performance in the workplace quite drastically. There are a few things that you can expect when you implement a fitness routine:

  • Your concentration will improve
  • You will notice your memory is a lot sharper
  • You will be able to learn a lot faster
  • You will noticed a prolonged mental stamina
  • Your creativity levels will improve
  • Your stress levels will decrease

To sum it all up, if you thought you couldn’t benefit a great deal from exercising more, you thought wrong.

Warm Ups Are Important – Fitness & Sports

Warm Ups Are Important – Fitness & Sports

Why Warm Ups Are Important

Completing a few warm up exercises is important for a number of reasons, from warming up your muscles to gradually increasing your heart rate. In fact, it can do a whole lot more for your body as well as your mind.

Whether you are going for a light jog around the block for the first time since high school, or you’re training for a marathon you’ve been planning to run for some time, a good warm up routine is imperative to ensure that you do your ultimate best, and avoid any injuries while doing so.

Always Be Prepared

Some solid advice in exercise and life in general, making sure you are always prepared is very important. It can be equated to driving your car in the dead of winter, where you have to warm up or you won’t get very far when you try to rev it up some considerably high speeds, and the same goes for exercising.

If you want to avoid pulling any muscles, you need to warm them up first. You have to prepare yourself physically if you want to ensure the best performance. This means gradually increasing your body temperature with a simple but effective warm up exercise.

Increase Your Blood Circulation

You’d be surprised at how important blood circulation is when engaging in a bit of exercise, regardless of how strenuous it may be. Just 5 or 10 minutes can help gradually increase the blood circulation in your muscles, ligaments and tendons.

Consider it like oiling a wheel that keeps squeaking, where you provide the many aspects of your physiology with a chance to start working together. With muscles warming up and helping you prevent injury and your ligaments and tendons increasingly becoming flexible, not warming up before working out would be a silly move.

Mental Warm Ups

Your mind is one of the most important aspects to any part of life, including something that appears as thoughtless as working out. This is especially true when getting involved in strenuous exercise that goes on for some time, such as a long hike or a marathon.

During these times your body will take on a lot of stress and adequate warm up activities actually help you deal with that stress a lot better. So, whether you’re referring to a 10km run, or in my case an afternoon spent playing online slots NZ from the comfort of my couch, being mentally prepared is imperative.

Warm Ups Vs. Stretching

Warm up exercising and stretching have often been grouped together, however, they are actually 2 very different principles in terms of proper exercising. While they are both very important in ensuring an optimal workout, warm up exercises increase your body temperature gradually and stretches are solely beneficial for your muscles.

Make sure you know the difference between the two, because stretching is not going to be enough for endurance sports and you very well may still end up with tears. The safest bet? Do both.

Top 3 Fitness Tests for Athletes – Know the Facts

Top 3 Fitness Tests for Athletes – Know the Facts

So, you’ve joined the impressive world of athlete training, or maybe you’d simply like to know more about the strong group of people that left you in the dust in high school track.

Either way, you’ve arrived at the right place because I’ve put together something of a guide to understanding athletes and the fitness testing that they have to go through in order to qualify for their chosen sport.

A Quick Introduction to Fitness Tests

Before we get started, I should just point out that I wasn’t one of the ones left in the dust as I mentioned before – I was the one trying to fake a sick note so that I didn’t have to run at all.

The point is, whether you consider yourself an athlete or not, you can benefit a great deal by coming to understand athleticism and the testing procedures they go through – especially considering the fact that it could give you some extra insight, after all stamina is applied in every game.

Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3

Fitness tests come in a number of shapes and sizes, some of which are specifically designed for certain athletes and others that are appropriate for any and all athletes, such as the more commonly known anthropometric tests that include height, skinfolds and body mass.

It all depends on athletic discipline, but these tests are essentially designed to be able to determine the athlete’s cardiovascular fitness. If you’re looking for the most accurate tests, then you should be looking for the more structured ones, which are ultimately fitness tests that involve CD recordings with timed intervals and specific directions. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples.

1. 20m Multistage Fitness Test

Commonly known as the beep test, or in my case the bain of my high school existence, the 20m multistage fitness test is (to my disbelief) the easiest one that involves the use of a CD with recorded intervals.

20m Multistage Fitness Test -Fitness Tests for Athletes

You start at one end of the 20m stretch and have to cross it with every beep you hear. Athletes must cross before they hear the next beep and it gets tougher as you go, with the intervals between each beep getting shorter and shorter. They are then scored on the level they reach before the end of the test.

2. The Yo-Yo Intermittent Fitness Test

The yo-yo intermittent fitness test is a bit tougher, takes place over a 25m stretch that is divided into a 5m section and then a 20m section.

The Yo-Yo Intermittent Fitness Test - Fitness Tests for Athletes

This time, the athlete is expected to run the 20m stretch according to the beats, but when they get back to the starting line they must then walk or jog the 5m in 10s and return to the starting line before the next beep.

Again, the time between beeps will shorten, however, this time they are given a warning and removed after the second time they fail. They are scored on the number of metres they run.

3. The JAM Intermittent Fitness Test

The hardest of the 3, this test involves a triangular circuit with each side labelled either walk, run or jog. Athletes follow accordingly, but every 2 minutes or so they have to replace the run side with a 12m sprint.

JAM Intermittent Fitness Test - Fitness Tests for Athletes

The whole circuit must be completed before each beep and they are removed as soon as they fail. The participant will then be scored on the time it took to complete the circuit.

4 Quick, Easy, and Delicious Muscle-Making Recipes

4 Quick, Easy, and Delicious Muscle-Making Recipes

Some are savoury, others are sweet, but all these recipes are packed with protein for your healthy, muscle-making diet and lifestyle. You can never have too many healthy recipes and having plenty of options will keep your diet from becoming unappealing and unsatisfying.

Not only are these recipes delicious, but they’re all quick, easy, and delicious as well, so you don’t have to be a master chef to whip them up! Bon appétit!

Beef and Spinach Meatball Pasta

For the meatballs:

  • 170 grams of lean beef mince
  • ½ cup shredded raw spinach
  • ¼ cup diced red onion
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • ½ tablespoon cumin
  • Salt and pepper to taste

For the pasta:

  • 60 grams whole wheat spinach pasta
  • 1/8 cup marinara sauce
  • 1 ½ cups raw spinach
  • 5 cherry tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon low fat parmesan cheese

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 205°C
  • Sauté the red onion in a bit of olive or coconut oil
  • Mix ground beef, raw spinach, red onion, garlic, and spices together thoroughly until the spinach is evenly distributed throughout the meat
  • Form 2-3 meatballs of roughly the same size with your hands
  • Place on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes
  • Cook pasta and stir in warm marinara sauce, raw spinach, cherry tomatoes and parmesan
  • Add meatballs, stir, and enjoy!

Mustard Baked Salmon with Grilled Asparagus

If you enjoy body building as well as online sports betting, this recipe will give you the energy to get into Crown Oaks Day betting with real gusto!

Ingredients:

  • 140 grams wild salmon (raw weight)
  • 1 ½ cups fresh asparagus
  • ½ tablespoon minced garlic

Marinade:

  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • ½ tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • Juice from half a lemon

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 205°C
  • Mix together the marinade ingredients in a bowl
  • Completely cover salmon in marinade and refrigerate for at least an hour
  • Place salmon on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes
  • Cut off the bottoms of the asparagus spears
  • Set a non-stick pan on medium heat and spray with olive or coconut oil
  • Toss asparagus and garlic in the pan and sear for 5 minutes, rolling the asparagus so that all sides are seared
  • Plate salmon with asparagus and enjoy!

Protein Powder, Banana, Blueberry, and Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:

  • 1 scoop protein powder
  • 3 egg whites
  • ½ cup of uncooked oatmeal
  • ½ medium banana
  • ½ cup blueberries
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder

Method:

  • Place raw oatmeal into a food processor or blend and blend until it’s a fine flour
  • Add egg whites, protein powder, banana, and baking powder and pulse until smooth
  • Add blueberries to the batter and mix in gently with a spoon or spatula
  • Place a non-stick pan on medium heat and measure out 3 tablespoons of batter per pancake
  • Cover the pancakes while the cook to help the insides cook faster
  • Cook for 45 seconds to 1 minute on the first side, and then 30-45 seconds on the other side
  • Plate and enjoy!

Green Meal Replacement Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • 1 scoop protein powder
  • 1 cup chopped kale
  • ½ small avocado
  • ½ medium banana
  • ¼ cup pineapple
  • 3 strawberries
  • 10 grams wheatgrass
  • ¼ cup water
  • ice for cooling

Method:

  • Add ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth
  • Add ice to chill the smoothie and blend again or use frozen fruit to chill the smoothie down
  • If you’re looking to add more complex carbs, add ¼ cup uncooked oatmeal and blend
  • Pour into a glass and enjoy!
Bad Workout - How to deal with a bad workout

Dealing with a Bad Workout

You just don’t want to be at the gym today doing exercises. Everything feels impossibly heavy, and you are simply going through the motions, gritting your teeth and counting the sets until you have done what you need to do and can leave.

It happens! I’ve had terrible workouts –sometimes once a week, sometimes more than that. Every so often I have to plod my way through a whole run of terrible workouts, feeling like I’m suffering some lower-grade poisoning with every session just dragging through without any real aim or purpose, and the only relief is when it’s over and my conscience lets me hightail it out of there.

Remember that Bad Workouts are to Be Expected

Bad workouts, like awful days at work, terrible ones at home, or a visit to the dentist, are normal occurrences. They are just one part of the game, and will always appear every now and then.

In fact, if you think about it, working out is meant to be hard work –that’s the point! Things that are easy are never with great rewards, and although these are fine and sometimes necessary to do, chances are they are not likely to amount to much.

Just like the big win at the sports betting sites available online –getting good is hard work, but the rewards are worth every moment of it.

Sacrificing Who You are for Who You Want to Be

The act of changing how your body is made up is a lot more intense when you think about it as a lot more than just losing fat or building muscle.

You are sacrificing who you are right now for whom you want to be in the future, and then making use of everything at your disposal in order to do so.

Forging a new self is a process of heat and fire, hammer and anvil, lighting crashing and thunder smashing, not simply changing your clothes, or getting a haircut.

Embrace the Difficult Days as Best You Can

Truth is, sometimes work outs are hellishly hard. Sometimes you have to just do them as best you can, and that is as it should be.

Woe to the man or woman that believes that things that don’t come naturally, or easily, are simply not meant to be done.

We see evidence of this mindset all the time –someone tries something new, flounders, brands themselves abysmal failures and quits.

Understanding that nothing meaningful happens easily or automatically is the first step towards getting through those bad days, and the simple truth is that everything takes a lot more time, effort, and gumption than we believe at the outset.

Lewis Carroll summed it up in Alice in Wonderland: we have to run as fast as we can in order to stay in place, and at least twice as fast if we want to get anywhere.

This is just a matter of fact: if it’s hard, chances are it is worth it. Struggling is the point, and how difficult the struggle is reveals how much your struggle is worth.