Along the same lines of the cooking related “I don’t feeeeeel like it” there’s also the exercise demon named “I don’t wanna.” He’s a fiendish thing, sneaking up and stealing the best of your intentions and leaving you as a gelatinous heap on the couch.
The “I don’t wanna” excuse comes out after a long day at work and although you *meant* to go to the gym after work, somehow you ended up at home eating funyuns and watching re-runs of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Or Dr. Who, either or.
“I don’t wanna” also comes around early in the a.m. when the alarm is set nice and early to allow you time to work out–he sneaks up and slaps the snooze button for an hour until you cannot possibly squeeze in a work out before you have to squeeze into your shrinking work clothes and get your bum to the office.
The good news is that “I don’t feeel like it” and “I don’t wanna” are both trumped by “it’s too easy NOT to.”
In the last K.I.S.S. entry, I told you about Campbell’s Skillet Sauces. In this entry, I’m going to tell you about a number of tools and resources that you can use to make a quick work out too easy NOT to do.
1. The first, and my new favorite, are resistance bands. My mom got both Jeff and I resistance bands for Christmas and I have been using them quite a bit ever since.
You can still partially give in to your couch potato ways and sit in front of the TV while using an exercise band to do seated rows, arm curls, chest presses, etc. Get a door anchor for the resistance band and you can do even more workouts–single leg abductors, kick-backs, squatting rows, etc. The band should come with a booklet of ideas, but then that’s where a couple of other resources kick in:
2) Fit Deck. These handy-dandy cards let you shuffle up any and all exercises you might be interested in and then choose as many exercises at random as you’d like to do. Originally, we sorted them out into specific areas of the body to target because I really need to focus on my arms, upper back, chest, and torso so I can make sure to rock it in my wedding dress in May. I realized I was defeating the purpose of the cards by targeting them, though, so recently they’ve been mixed together again so that we can have a spontaneous work out any time. Right now, we can use the body weight and resistance band cards thoroughly. Stairs are optional depending on how embarrassed we’d feel if a neighbor were to catch us. We’re looking into getting a medicine ball at home, too. If you like to work out at home, but DVDs are too predictable for you, definitely look at picking up some Fit Decks.
3) Spark People’s Work Out Generator. Answer a few simple questions in this free tool and it will spit out a fitness plan that works with where you’re at in your fitness journey and the equipment that you have available to use. I am a member of spark and value their community so much. A few of my spark buddies have recently gotten engaged and so we will be able to get together (virtually) to do wedding dress work outs. I’ve taped a few to my front door so that as I leave for work, I know what’s coming up and I can stay motivated.
4) Pinterest for Fitness Motivation.* I love pinterest. Granted, not as much as I used to when it was new and shiny, but it’s still a great place to find new ideas and inspiration. My fitness board is my place to dump ideas that I come across for fitness info online, funny quotes about working out, self-image, self-acceptance, reasons to work out, etc. It’s a one-stop-shop for workout ideas and inspiration to do them. I love to laugh, so there’s a lot of humour thrown in. I have some body image issues, so there’s a lot of self-acceptance thrown in. All in all, my board is my place for fitness inspiration. Your board, might be different! Pinterest user Emily has more workout plans and how-tos than inspiration. The point is that you can use pinterest for whatever you want to use it for. *The caveat is that it can be addicting. Don’t get sucked in to pinterest for so long that you lose the time to actually go do something.
My S.M.A.R.T. goal for fitness is:
S – Specific – I want to lose 12 pounds by the end of March, 2013.
M – Measurable – I will weigh in every other Saturday and report it to The Last Stand girls (spark people)
A – Attainable – 12 pounds in three months is l pound per week gone, doctors recommend 1-2 pounds per week weight loss in order to keep it off in the long term.
R – Relevant – Losing weight is relevant because being at a healthier weight will reduce the cost of food, clothing, and medical bills in the future, plus it has the potential to increase my happiness and self esteem.
T – Time-bound – Weigh-ins are bi-weekly with a milestone check-in in March.
So there you have it. The cure to “I don’t wanna” is to make it too easy not to. How do you defeat the “I don’t wanna”‘s?
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