My 12 Week Fitness Goals || Creating a Fall Fitness Routine

I think many of us can agree that our fitness goals got a bit off track last March.  I mean- what DIDN’T get off track last March? Admittedly mine have not really gotten back on track all summer. Also, I don’t think I have mentioned it here on the blog, but I have been dealing with a herniated disc in my lower back the past few months. (Back pain is not cool!) However, with lots of physical therapy and doing the home exercises, I *think* I am finally over the worst of it and able to get back to exercising more consistently. 

So now that my back is better and the boys are back on a regular school schedule, I am working to create some new habits and schedules of my own. It hasn’t been easy to get back after such a long break but just after one week I already feel SO. MUCH. BETTER.  Since creating a new habit is hard and sticking with it is even harder, I wanted to pop in to share my fitness goals here with you today. Not only to help keep myself accountable but also to help motivate YOU! So let me quickly break down my “plan of attack” with the three steps I took to create my new fall fitness routine.   

STEP ONE: SET SMART GOALS 

My previous Director of HR would be so proud that I dusted off the old “SMART” goals method! A SMART goal is one that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. Here are mine:

Specific: 

• Strengthen My Core – I did some research and have decided that Pilates is going to be my best form of exercise to help get my core stronger so my back pain won’t happen again. 
• Tone My Arms  
• Improve My Annual Physical Lab Results – Last test was November 2019 and some of my scores were on the higher end of the accepted range- looking to lower these numbers. #THISIS40

Measurable:

• Strong Core = No More Back Pain
• Toned Arms  = Can Wear Sleeveless Tops With Confidence
• Improved Annual Physical Lab Results = Already scheduled my appointment for November 10th!

Attainable:

• Arm Workout 4 times a week (48 times in 12 weeks)
• Pilates Video 4 times (48 times a 12 weeks)
• 1o Miles Walking Per Week (120 miles!)
• Intermittent Fasting (daily)

Realistic:

Absolutely! 

Timely:

I am focusing on the next 12 weeks to achieve my goals. My plan is to weigh in every Friday and my end date for this particular personal “challenge” is November 13th.  While weight loss is not one of my goals, I weigh myself every day anyway so figured it would be a fun addition to the next 12 weeks to have a weekly “weigh in”. 

STEP TWO: PREPARE ALL SUPPLIES

• ARMS: I have a few arm videos (free on Youtube) that I will use.  This video is a great one to start with and I love her accent.  Buh-bye bat wings! 🙂
• PILATES: I also found some great free Pilates online videos and we have a yoga mat and a small home gym. I also hope to be able to get to some gym classes to mix things up.  I am loving all videos by Boho Beautiful– beautiful scenery and great workouts. 
• WALKING: We have a treadmill in the house and I also plan to walk outside in our neighborhood or schedule something with a friend. 
• INTERMITTENT FASTING: I have done this before so I have already read up on this.  I highly recommend learning more about this if you haven’t already as I found it highly effective.

STEP THREE: MAKE A FITNESS TRACKER

Fail to plan = plan to fail. So I made a fitness tracker to help me track everything. I pulled out some of the boys art supplies and had a little fun making a weekly activity tracker sheet and a place to track my weekly weigh-ins. I referenced a few Pinterest posts on bullet journaling for inspiration and while mine are far from perfect I like how they look and they do inspire me to want to fill them in daily! Side note: I was surprised at how terrible my penmanship is- have you really tried to write something lately? Yikes. But anyway, I think having something pretty to track my weeks on will help keep me motivated.  

Obviously, just a regular sheet of paper or preprinted calendar would work well too! But I do think tracking it is important! I will make a new weekly one every week but the weigh-in one will work for all 12 weeks. 

 

I love that quote- 3 MONTHS FROM NOW YOU WILL THANK YOURSELF! Yes! 

I hope you feel motivated to set some of your own goals and get some new habits going. If you are looking for more health inspiration – you can see all of my previous posts HERE.  I plan to share updates in my weekly Front Porch Coffee Talks so we can keep each other accountable.  

Here We Goooooooo!

xoxo-

Heather