I used my hair as an excuse as to why I couldn’t go swimming! What’s your excuse?
Yes I really did!! So I decided to cut my hair short! I didn’t cut it off for a fashion statement, far from it, I loved my long hair. I decided that my fitness and rehab goals were more important to me than my hair. You may or may not know this about me but I had hip surgery 7 months ago and since then the only cardio exercise I have been able to do is swimming! I find swimming SOOOOOOOooooooo boring, which is why I easily found excuses as to why I couldn’t swim and the main one was my hair:
“i just washed it this morning so I can’t go swimming tonight”
“I haven’t got the time to wash it and dry it, so I can’t go swimming”
“I can’t be bothered to wash and dry it as it takes so long, so I won’t go swimming today, I will go tomorrow”
How pathetic was I! However they were real valid excuses for me. It does take me ages to wash and dry my hair, so I decided to get rid of the excuse, cut my hair and get my butt into the water more regularly. And it has worked! It now takes minutes to wash and dry my hair as opposed to an hour!
New short hair, no more excuses
And this is when I started to think about all the excuses I hear from people about why they didn’t train last week, or can’t train this weekend etc.
If this sounds like you, then you clearly haven’t defined your goals enough. Your fitness and your health is not a top priority to you. You may say that it is, that you really want to lose weight and will do whatever it takes, however if you subconsciously believe that other things are more important than your fitness/health goals then you will prioritise those things. Maybe you don’t have the time? Your kids take priority? Work is too busy? You’re too tired etc. However we all have 24 hours in a day and some of the busiest people I know still exercise as they make this their priority and they feel more revitalised from doing this.
How to make your goals work
Get disturbed! Yes I mean it, get really disturbed. If you need to get fit/lose weight etc then I want you to write a list of all the things that you hate about your current state. Have you got low energy, too much fat, can’t wear your clothes, feel self conscious, feel guilty, struggle to keep up with your kids, have you had a health scare, or could a health scare be just around the corner! Write all the horrible things that you feel about your current state. You need to feel terrible about where you are right now because if you feel reasonably comfortable you are not going to prioritise this as your goal.
I did my body fat measurements to motivate me to get into action. A loss of 2kg of muscle and an increase in body fat in seven months! eekk, that disturbed me enough and motivated me to want to get my toned thighs back. The more swimming I do the faster my recovery and the more positive I will feel.
Now, one by one get rid of your excuses, or change them. If your kids take priority, then surely a healthy/happy Mum/Dad would benefit them! If you don’t have the time then wake up 30 mins earlier and do some exercises at home or include exercise in your day: take the stairs not the lift, do squats and lunges whilst brushing your teeth etc. Schedule your exercise into your diary and become aware of your excuses. If it is a common one then combat it – get rid of your barriers.
And make it fun – do something that you like, you will never succeed if you have to force yourself into doing something you hate. If you find the gym boring then start off with a yoga class or pilates and soon you might find you like the gym and if you don’t thats ok, you might prefer to do a team sport – whatever rocks your boat as long as you are taking positive action.
Or get some music or podcasts to motivate you whilst you workout! This is what I had to do with swimming! I still find it incredibly boring, so I found a waterproof iPod, I can now swim for hours whilst listening to my favourite music or podcasts. Boredom gone.
underwater ipod, to keep away boredom
Good luck with motivating yourself and getting rid of your excuses. Let me know what your common excuse is? I would be keen to see what people do to change their excuses, keep me posted or help each other out with ideas below.
#fitnessfaster @fitness_faster #excuses #gettingridofexcuses #waterproofipod #swimming #rehab #fitness
