How To Maintain Your Fitness

Maintaining your fitness is a challenge that requires both dedication and consistency.
And before we begin I want to make a quick shout out to The Pacific Clinic, who is a huge proponent of good fitness and good health!
Here are four tips to help you stay on track with your fitness goals.
1. Know your purpose
Why are you exercising? If there is no clear answer to that question, then the motivation will come and go without fail, making it difficult to maintain a regular routine. When things get tough, this lack of motivation can see you abandoning your fitness goals altogether.
Here are some examples of good reasons to exercise:
To lose weight (get healthier) To build muscle (to look better) To increase stamina (for sports or work) To reduce stress (relaxation) To improve flexibility (mobility) For fun/to meet people/with friends Only if needed Not at all
It’s important that your reason for exercising is something that really drives you. It should be personal and meaningful—something that you believe in. The further away your reason is from what you have just thought of, the more difficult it will be to stay motivated throughout your fitness journey.
If you want to look better , but all you care about is money, then that isn’t a good enough reason; no matter how much you try and convince yourself otherwise. Sooner or later, when things become tough (and they always do), you won’t be able to motivate yourself to keep exercising for that reason alone.
Be honest with yourself! Only once you know why exactly it is that you are making the effort, can you make sure that this reason remains powerful enough to drive your motivation forward by itself . Try writing down your reasons—it helps make them seem more real and relevant.
2. Don’t get caught up in the “exercise trap”
When we go to the gym, we often focus on staying for a specific amount of time: 30 minutes of cardio, 50 minutes of weightlifting or 60 minutes on the treadmill. You may even think that this is what you need to do in order to see any results from your effort! However, if you just decide one day that you’re going to spend an hour at the gym and then suddenly feel sick half way through it—would all of your effort really have been wasted?
Think about it: while we acknowledge that we should eat many times throughout the day (six or more mini-meals), most people only make time for one or two trips to the gym each week. If you’re exercising specifically in order to lose weight, but all you do is go for one hour at the treadmill once a week—are you really going to see any results?
You should aim for consistency above anything else . Don’t get caught up in how long it takes or what activity you are doing. Consistency means simply making sure that you break a sweat regularly enough to change your body composition! A weekly commitment of 2 hours may seem more manageable than an hour every day, but how many people can honestly maintain that level of commitment consistently?