How To Stay Fit & Active During COVID-19
Life during COVID-19 is certainly very different. Most of us are staying home much more than we ever have. It can be far more challenging to get the motivation to exercise – especially if you have kids and they are around all the time.
I wanted to share a few tips that may help you get back on the fitness wagon, or simply improve your results.
1. Use An Empowering Mantra
One thing I tell myself is simply “Just get the blood flowing”. Going for a walk, a jog, a bike ride, doing some push-ups can all be great ways to shift your body and health – and your emotional state – in a positive way. I repeat this mantra regularly, and over time, it makes a big difference. Even a 10-minute brisk walk each day is an hour of activity a week or around 10,000 steps.
2. Use Words That Help You Get Active
I do some training at least 5 days a week. Notice I didn’t say “workout” 5 days a week. Psychologically, that can be a barrier for me. I like the word “training”. I’m continuously making small improvements and I’m training my body for improvement. Some days I push harder than others. That’s cool. Some days I just relax and stretch. Maybe your word is train, training, movement, activity, exercise, physical training, or possibly workout. The words we use have a significant impact on our behavior. If you say a word with dread or despair, you will not keep whatever it is consistent.
3. Craft Your Active Identity
Are you an active person? What does being an active person mean to you? If you consider yourself an active person and say “I am an active person”, then you will naturally tend to create habits that are aligned with this identity.
Achieving the results you want is 100% mindset – not 80% nutrition, 20% exercise. It took me many years of helping people get lean & strong bodies to fully understand this.
4. Schedule Your Workouts
“If you talk about it, it’s a dream, if you envision it, it’s possible, but if you schedule it, it’s real.” This is a powerful quote by transformation coach Tony Robbins. If you use a calendar to manage your schedule (and your life), block out the time you will do your exercise each week. Given exercise is foundational to how you look and feel, it has to be a “must” in your schedule. An unbreakable commitment. Not a should. I wrote an article with more detail you can see here (How To Never Miss (or Skip) A Workout Again).👈🏼
5. Know What, When, & Where
Scheduling your workouts is very powerful, but we can take this a step further. Establish what you will do and where you will do it. You have a specific workout you will do for the time you have blocked out in your calendar. And you know where you will do it. If you know what you are doing specifically, where you are doing it, and when, the probability of consistency increases dramatically.
I hope you apply some of these tips not just during COVID-19, but also after as well!