Spring is FINALLY here! It is my favourite season, despite suffering hay fever and having a bird phobia that peaks during magpie season! However as much as I LOVE spring, I struggle with what the season usually means, or implies, in the health and fitness industry.
Spring is usually when many players in the fitness industry bombard us with ‘12 weeks til summer’ – ‘get a bikini / beach body in time for summer’ – ’12 week transformation – fat blaster – killer abs’ style promotions so that you can ‘get ready for summer’.
I have a different point of view…..
- If you want a bikini body – put a bikini on your body
- If you want a beach body – take your body down to a beach, and most importantly;
- I believe bodies should be ‘ready’ year round, not just for a bikini or a 12-week ‘transformation’ leading up to the silly season, only to return to old unhealthy habits for the remaining 9 months of the year (minus the two weeks we go to the gym as part of our new year resolution!).
I strongly believe that good healthy habits should last year round. That’s not to say you can’t indulge once in a while or sit around on the couch occasionally, however if you are consistent over a longer period of time it stops the ‘all or nothing’ approach to healthy living, the need to diet, or ‘need’ to be on some kind of ‘wagon’ only to keep ‘falling off’ it.
Now, if you have spent this past winter hibernating under a doona, and are beginning to wonder where the doona ends and you begin, spring can be a good time to assess your exercise and nutrition habits and make some positive changes. With warmer weather, longer days, and fantastic seasonal fruit and veges readily available, it’s much easier to be inspired to look after ourselves a little better, however spring (and the motivation it brings) is short lived.
To avoid the need for ‘drastic’ action once a year, a moderated and sustainable approach to nutrition and fitness will ensure that:
- your body will be ‘ready’ for anything you throw at it (e.g. beach /snow /kids /grand kids /sport /life ),
- you will feel good for 12 months of the year (rather than smashing yourself with an unsustainable diet and exercise regime for 3 months of the year and feeling guilty for the other 9)
- you will enjoy spring in your already healthy active body rather than punishing it for 12 weeks (you may even be fit enough to out sprint the inevitable magpie attacks).
You may not get the ‘instant’ results that are promised via other methods, however you will get results and they will be much longer lasting and easier to sustain.
If you would like some help to develop your own healthy habits AND sustain them for the long term, email (joanne@lifesparkwellness.com.au), inbox or give me a call on 0457 505 531 and we can arrange a FREE 15 minute (obligation free) session to discuss how coaching can help you make lasting sustainable change, and avoid the need for a ’12-week-fat-blasting-ab-shredding-summer-transformation’.
