Your fitness room is crowded.
Your childhood friend - the ultimate non-athlete - requested you as a friend on Runtastic or Strava! No doubt: it’s January! And “I’m getting back in shape” resolutions are back…
For how long ? According to the Statistical Brain Institute, 64% of New Year's resolutions pass the first month mark. And only 8% last until December 31. Deciding to return to an activity is easy, but following through on this resolution by reconciling professional and family life rhythms is not so simple!
Concerning sport, Strava (which is based on the analysis of more than 80 million recorded sporting activities) has even established “Quitter's Day”, i.e. the day when the motivation of the less diligent begins to weaken when the resumption of their, physical activity: January 12, and yes, it’s happening very quickly!
To help you stay on track and achieve your Fitness Goal of the Year, we have listed 10 useful tips for you.
Getting back into sport: our advice
1. Set your goals
Define the goals you want to achieve.
And, among these, choose a priority objective: losing weight to reach a healthy weight, distance, performance, competition, etc.
According to Strava, 92% of people who set a specific goal when they returned to sport were still active 10 months later.
Don't just set your goals: write them down and post them somewhere you pass frequently. Just to keep this element of motivation in sight and to give you the necessary boost when the desire to take it easy awaits you.
Important: be realistic! Don't hesitate to consult people who know you well when setting your goals. Not only will they be able to help you keep your motivation, but they will also be there to bring you back to earth if you plan to become that superstar that you are not (anymore) 😉. When running, don't go for a marathon at the beginning of February if your resolutions date from December 31, the timing will be too short!
Incidentally, if you write down your objectives, also add your associated diet, the Stimium products you are going to take, your weight objectives (and if a few kilos are to be lost, it will always be possible to use Stimium Thermoshape the best burner of fat and/or Stimium HydroOff to combat excess pounds and have an interesting draining effect, knowing that these products are only really useful as part of a varied and controlled diet!
2. Be early
Still according to Strava, people who practice a morning sporting activity are on average 43% more diligent. Fans of exercising after getting out of bed also emphasize the mental benefits of this habit. We tell you about this in more detail in our article “
Is it better to run in the morning or in the evening ?” So yes, it's true, it's not always easy to get up while it's still dark and cool, but finding the motivation in the morning to practice your sport will make your day even more enjoyable! To return to sport, you should ideally not rely too much on sleeping in.
3. Maintain the right balance
Don't overdo it!
Stay realistic, both in defining your goals and in progressing your efforts. Be extra vigilant if you have made a break during the holidays or if you have made some deviations from your usual regime, in particular to avoid injuries.
A medical check-up can be useful to check that you are not suffering from any undetected muscle or joint trauma. If the pain should exist but not be too severe, consider
Stimium® Joint Flex as a treatment to avoid joint problems, when you return to training, to prevent any joint or cartilage problems.
4. Play sports with others
You will probably be more inclined to stick to your training program if you know that a friend is waiting for you to start your sports session. If he/she shares the same result or competition objective as you, healthy emulation can take place and one will always be there for the other in the event of a drop in morale or loss of motivation. And if you end up being alone, don't hesitate to follow the advice of a sports coach who will force you to continue your training program, even when motivation is less certain weeks.
And to many, this will be the time or never to promote Stimium Gaba or Bacopa for example, to facilitate the work of concentration, to your friends who you have motivated to go running on this cold and rainy morning! will be valuable allies, because without concentration and mental preparation, the best physical preparation will have been of no use.
5. Play sports for others
In, it is a really common practice – charity. In all the races I have been able to participate in in the UK (notably the Great Run races), we run for a cause – cancer, Alzheimer's, financing the purchase of toys for a hospital, computer races for the homeless …there are dozens of charities you can get involved with while practicing your sport. Set up a participatory prize pool to encourage you during your preparation for a competition or register for a race organized in support of a cause that is close to your heart.
If you are going to run a race in January for charity, remember to also take care of yourself, with the right equipment and a minimum of preparation!
In preparation for your possible race, take Stimium® PreWorkOut Max to improve your resistance to exercise, which will be all the more important in January during races where temperatures will be low and your energy expenditure will be higher.
On the day of your charity run, Stimium® Pro-Nrj Caps , 30 min before departure to obtain extra energy which will not compensate for your lack of training in winter, but which will help you in the first hour.
Stimium® Boost and Stimium® Pro-Nrj Erasers for immediate energy and concentration during running or sports sessions.
And obviously Stimium® Mc3 or Stimium® Mc3 powder , the best answer to reduce the risk of cramps after your training or your race.
Finally, Stimium® Rgn3 Reload or Stimium® Rgn3 Clean-Up to restock your vitamins and minerals after your intense efforts, even if in complete transparency, nutrient losses are less significant in winter than in summer (concretely, we sweat less...although if you cover up too much at the start, you can quickly go to a sauna in your windbreaker!)
6. Socialize on the move
If you are offered lunch or a cinema outing, offer a dynamic alternative: yoga class in the great outdoors, brisk walking session in a park. Make sure, if your “casual partner” is not very sporty, to choose an activity that will not make him/her uncomfortable. You can also choose a place where sports and catering are combined, such as certain boulder climbing halls. Place where it is also very easy to socialize: it is common to see strangers stop in front of a path to help you cross a hold on which you are stuck, or vice versa.
Sculpt your body / Regenerate your muscles / Lose fat mass.
7. Take advantage of every opportunity
In the office, adopt micro-sessions. Take a brisk walk around the neighborhood while drinking your coffee. Take advantage of your colleagues' cigarette break to do some stretching or do a few exercises.
You can also suggest holding your meetings in small groups while walking around the building. Or challenge your colleagues by asking them to summarize their weekly report by practicing a sheathing: your sales meetings will never have been so short and effective 😉!
At home, stay active as much as possible. Do a series of squats while preparing the children's snack or note your progress on the plank exercise during the evening weather report. Try Whey
Stimium® [C] Whey , Stimium® Iso Hwy or
Stimium® VegPro to build your muscle fibers in winter to be ready even faster in spring.
8. Track your progress
There are few things more motivating than visualizing progress each week. Make sure to note each change: kilo lost, increase in distance covered, improvement in your time, evaluate your physical condition (weight loss, muscle strengthening, etc.)
Take a photo of yourself on D-0 then another, in the same conditions (same time, same outfit, same angle, same light) every 30 or 45 days to see how your figure becomes more muscular and refined.
Use activity trackers or apps that record your progress day after day.
9. Think positive
Practice replacing negative thoughts with mantras or motivational phrases. When you think you have “too much work to go to the gym,” repeat out loud to yourself, “I choose to make myself a priority” or “I always have time.” think about my health.” Henri Salvador sang “work is health”…no Henri, health, physical and mental, is acquired, developed and maintained thanks to a general balance, and to achieve this balance, physical exercise is absolutely necessary. Like falling asleep properly if you arrived at the office at 8 a.m. and left at 9 p.m., with your head full of professional problems. Doing sport means concentrating on something different, it means escaping, even in your gym.
10.Reward yourself
Celebrate every goal you achieve! Treat yourself to a massage session, a trip to the hammam or a new pair of sneakers.
Change your tracker strap to mark this new route and start preparing for the next goal.
And then, don't deprive yourself of a piece of chocolate or an outing to your favorite restaurant: you deserve it!
Sport is freedom! Practicing physical activity also means taking care of your health. There is no shame in treating yourself and having a good meal, there is no problem in skipping a sports session if you feels less well. It is important to listen to your body, and if you have started training your body in certain exercises, this same body will continue to ask you to move, even if some excesses will continue to exist, fortunately!
