This is the word of the year for the kids and myself. It came about earlier this year when Seth told me he wanted to win the 800m race at the school athletics carnival. I told him that if he really wanted to win, he would need to push himself and if he felt tired training or competing, then he could say this to himself to get the extra motivation to keep going. We’ve extended it to apply to everything including school, footy, dancing, homework, chores. It works too, he recently ran in the cross country with the kids a year older and beat 2/3rds of them home. He told me that when he was tired or was trying to catch the boy ahead of him, he said it in his mind and went that little bit harder.
There was one problem with it, I had given them this motivational tool but wasn’t setting an example by using it myself. I would go for the occasional walk around the neighbourhood, but on other days I could easily find an excuse to not go (too hot, too close to dinner, I’ll go tomorrow etc). Not a particularly good display of pushing myself. Until recently…
I was given a free pass to a cardio boxing class run by a local personal trainer which ran at the same time as Seth’s footy training. The next few days were spent tossing up whether to actually go before I decided that as I was going to be there anyway, I should have a go & if it was too hard, I
could wuss out didn’t have to go again. Wednesday afternoon rolled around, I got changed & left early from work to head to the park. I don’t remember a whole lot of that first class, I boxed, I ran, I planked and crunched, I sweated, I think I nearly spewed, but most importantly I PUSHED!
The next couple of days were interesting; my hands, arms & legs all hurt & I whinged a fair bit too, but it was a ‘good’ pain so I decided to sign up for a month and try some more classes and challenge myself. That was 6 weeks ago, I am now going to 3 boxing classes a week and really enjoying each one. I’m doing a boxing cardio class which involves boxing along with other fitness and strength exercises which differ from week to week and 2 boxing circuit classes which also involves boxing followed by a circuit using equipment like medicine balls, weights, and kettle bells. Each class I can feel myself getting fitter and stronger and I push myself to punch harder, run faster, use a heavier piece of equipment and attempt more repetitions.
As well as making me feel better, I’m finding that doing the training is motivating me to eat better and track my food and stay within my daily allowance of points, with the added bonus of giving me extra activity points. If I was to have something fatty or not that good for me I feel like would be wasting the effort I have put in. In a way, it’s a reversal of the cycle from before we started
Weight Watchers, where being lazy would lead to buying takeaway food, leading to weight gain and more laziness.
If I could pass my tips for exercise, they would be:
- Find an exercise or activity that you enjoy
- Challenge yourself – set a goal, measure your performance and try to improve the next time you get out there
- Find out your motivation – losing weight, getting fit, being more active to play with your kids
- Try something new - shake up your exercise routine occasionally
- Have fun!
This week, Lisa and I have pushed ourselves even further to stay on track. Four week's down, and here's our results...
Thanks for taking the time to read and remember, where you can PUSH!!!
Day 8, Wednesday: A piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all.
