My Tips for New Years Exercise Goals

With the New Year here, everyone is setting themselves up with new goals. A lot of people, including myself are adding health and fitness goals to their list of things they hope to accomplish. While I am obviously continuing with my running goals that I set from last year, I am also incorporating some at home cross training with the popular BBG program. My mentality for this is that if I want to get faster as a runner, my body needs to be stronger all over. I'll be doing running three days a week, and BBG three days a week.

In addition to a new workout routine, our family will also be incorporating a clean eating meal plan into our everyday routine starting next Monday. So we're really making big efforts to cut some of the junk out of our lives. despite the fact that we're not overweight by any means in our home, we could definitely eat better, so we're excited to start that next week.

I've been an avid goal setter for most of my life, and I'd like to share some little tips with you to help you get on track with your goals for the New Year:

Start Small: Everyone wants to eat better, workout a ton, and look like a Hollywood fitness trainer, but if you stack on too many goals all at once, you're setting yourself up to crash and burn. When I started working out again last year, I simply just started with working out, then I added in healthier eating, and then added in workout supplements,  and on and on and on. Pick one thing you can change now, and then when that's mastered, add a new goal.

Get Your Workout in Early: In the mornings we wake up, get the kids to school, and then while they're at school, I get my workout in. Some mornings I'm really slow to get moving, and since I don't drink coffee, sometimes I have to get creative with my energy sources on the days I'm really dragging.

One product I've recently started using is Alert Caffeine Gum. It has 40mg of caffeine, which is equivalent to one 12oz soda or 1/2 a cup of coffee, and is just the right boost I need some mornings to get going on my run. It's super inexpensive at just $2.99, and you can buy it at Walmart, or my personal favorite, Amazon!

Use workout Supplements: If you're just starting to workout and are discouraged to keep going because of how sore you are, take BCAA's. I talk about them more in this post here, but drinking them with your water when you're just starting out helps reduce soreness by leaps and bounds. Also drinking protein powder post workout helps with muscle recovery as well.

These are all my major tips for helping with your exercise goals! If you have any tips that have been game changing for you, leave them down in the comments below!