T-Tapp’s 60 Day Challenge starts on February 20 this year. Such a fun and exciting time! There are winners for each category and those winners get to attend the 2016 T-Tapp Retreat for free!
We all want to do our very best during the Challenge, but we need to make a plan and be realistic as most of us do not have the luxury of taking 60 days to only focus on our health and inch loss. Here are tips to make the most of your time for max results!
1. Track It
As you get ready to create your plan for the 60 Day Challenge, you need a way to track your workouts, eating, water, supplements and whatever else you want to do to improve your health and consistency. Whether it’s a paper calendar, an app on your phone or a spreadsheet on your computer, find the tracking modality that best suits you–one you will actually use!
2. Watch Out for These!
Time wasters are everywhere. We can spend so much time selecting our workout clothes (or finding them), shoes laced just so, look at our dvd stash and spend all of our allotted workout time deciding what to do! Having a plan laid out is helpful, and so is having a go-to workout for those days you might fritter away your time trying to talk yourself into (our out of!) a workout.
Hint: Don’t choose your workout(s) by what you think you need to do to lose inches and see results. If it’s not a workout you like doing, let’s face it–you will find reasons to not do it!
3. Create a Realistic Schedule
Often we create the “ideal” schedule but it’s not really feasible. Let’s say you work full time. Planning a 14 day bootcamp with Total Workout, then doing Total every other day with 6 target moves on off days while working is not.a.good.idea.at.all. Think through what you know is going on with your schedule, consider your stamina levels (and health issues if you have any), and be realistic about the time and energy you can devote to your workouts. Better a short bootcamp of 4 days with short daily workouts 4-5 days per week when you can handle that than planning an elaborate schedule that will leave you tired, frustrated and wanting to give up!
When I speak about scheduling, I will often tell those attending to create their ideal schedule–then cut it in half. That often raises some eyebrows! Why do I say that? Because if you can consistently do half of your “ideal” schedule, that successful accomplishment will build and you will feel great vs feeling “behind” because you couldn’t get your “ideal” in. If you can do your ideal schedule from time to time–great! But your expectation is half so that anything more is an added bonus!
4. Make (and Keep) an Important Appointment!
It’s easy to put ourselves on the back burner while we do this, take care of that, meet that need, fulfill those responsibilities, etc., etc., etc…..and somehow we never quite get around to taking care of ourselves! That needs to STOP! Make an appointment and KEEP it with yourself. You can put “appointment with trainer” on your calendar during the time you’ve blocked off to work out or even put “Appointment with Teresa Tapp” on your calendar. And you don’t want to disappoint Teresa, right?! 🙂
5. Plan for Interruptions
Does that seem like an oxymoron?! Plan for interruptions?! But we know it’s going to happen! This is another reason to cut your “ideal” schedule in half. But beyond that, having a contingency plan for when you’re extra busy at work or with your children, or when sickness hits–obviously you won’t be working out but as you’re feeling a bit better but not up to par–what’s your plan? Sometimes doing Senior Fit Floor Warm-Up, while not a workout, is still getting some movement in and stretching the fascia to help pump the lymph and get you feeling better sooner! This is also why I believe every T-Tapper should have at least one seated workout in his/her stash–MORE, MORE 2 and TappCore 2 all have or are seated workouts. And TappCore 2 is just $10–a very affordable option to have on hand for those “blah” days. I often could talk myself into a 10-12 minute seated workout on those days when doing a standing workout was too overwhelming!
6. Plan Your Week
At the beginning of your workout week, take a few moments to plan your “realistic-based-on-this-week’s-events” schedule. Obviously some things stay the same every week, but there are also other things that might necessitate adjusting your schedule for max possibility of follow-through.
7. Estimate Clearly
While you might think this is a no-brainer, do estimate the time it will take to do your workout. Yes, I know the dvd says it is a 15 minute workout. But do you need extra kicking out? Water breaks? Allowing 5-10 extra minutes to your workout “time” will also make it more likely you will get it done vs think “I don’t have time” if your schedule gets too tight.
8. Minimize Distractions
This can fall under the category of interruptions, but it is actually a bit different. If you know there are interruptions you can actually anticipate, try to head them off at the pass. For example, if you have young children, making sure they have their snack, or are in a safe place and maybe playing happily before you start is a great idea. (Of course, as we all know, they can quickly be playing not so happily and the snack can start the chain of events as if you are a living version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie!) Other distractions you can head off–getting your water bottle/glass/jug filled up ahead of time; adjusting the temperature in the room you are exercising in; shutting off devices that will tempt you to go check your notifications; putting up a gate to keep pets from coming in (they do like to help us work out, don’t they?!); moving toys (especially Legos!) out of the way so you don’t step on one and lose your groove.
9. Evaluate and Adjust
Take time when you get ready to plan the week’s workouts to evaluate the previous week–what worked well? What didn’t? Is there anything you can take away from evaluating your past workout week to help you make the coming week more successful? Tweaking as you go is a very important part of consistency success!
10. Celebrate Now!
Now this is the fun part! You don’t have to wait until you lose X amount inches or until the end of the 60 Day Challenge to celebrate your accomplishments. Each week that you meet your goals–even if you had a few off days but overall met them–give yourself a pat on the back! Some T-Tappers talk about putting money in a “workout jar” and then buying themselves a treat. Of course don’t undo your hard-won accomplishments by sabotaging yourself with food that will work against you! Your reward can be as simple as colorful stickers on a chart (hey, we’re all kids at heart!), or maybe buying yourself a FitBit to make record-keeping more appealing, purchasing your favorite fragrance in bath salts and having a pamper-me evening–the sky’s the limit! It doesn’t have to cost a thing or you could reward yourself with a cute workout outfit after so many weeks of consistency–or even just call a friend who will share your excitement with you! Whatever motivates you–make sure you make time to celebrate your accomplishments of staying consistent!
I hope these tips encourage you to make time for yourself during the 60 Day Challenge and beyond. Also, please share what tips you find helpful in minimizing distractions and staying the course for consistency!
You can check out the Challenge rules and categories here: 2016 60 Day Challenge Info
Post inspired by iBloom’s 10 Time Management Tips for Busy Entrepreneurs
