New Year's Workout 5 Ways to Stay Motivated

New Year's Workout
by author PJ Wren

Change is one of those words that often evokes powerful emotions, both scary and exciting, all at once. Change can mean different things to different people, but come New Year’s, the number-one change that most people try to implement in their lives is better health and fitness.

Some of us will be more successful at maintaining a regular fitness program throughout January and into the months that follow. Many will struggle to keep the new program going, while others will simply quit after the fanfare and enthusiasm has died down. Knowing yourself and what motivates you can help ensure you are one of the successful ones.

Gender [in]equality

If you are female, chances are you will fall off the wagon faster than a man. Why? Physiologically speaking, women are built with a distinct disadvantage. Our lungs are smaller, making it feel like we are working harder even though we are working at the same intensity as a man, and making it harder to work out in the heat and in higher humidity weather.

Women’s bodies are also predisposed to hold onto and store fat, and a woman going through menopause will find it more uncomfortable getting sweaty. Add the fact that men have more muscle mass than women (making their bodies better calorie-burning machines), and you have a gender population that literally wants to give up before even beginning. I mean, who really wants to work their tail off and see little or no improvements right away?
But it isn’t all roses and good news for men. If you are male, odds are that you will injure yourself at the start of your program, sidelining your efforts and making it harder for you to turn fitness from a resolution into a habit.

As a trainer, I have seen this happen first-hand again and again. Some men charge out of the gates gung-ho, remembering their glory days and what they used to be able to do, and women occasionally get frustrated about the lack of results and wonder, “Why bother?” In the end, both groups lose faith and hit the couch.

Tips to Bolster Fitness Resolutions

Keeping a consistent fitness program and changing your habits and lifestyle are definitely a challenge, but that challenge can be overcome. Some keys to success include not falling into the trap of comparing yourself to others and allowing room to make mistakes, while learning from them instead of giving up.

As far as staying motivated and in motion goes, implement these tips and make your fitness resolutions a success this year.

1. Hire a professional

Hiring a personal trainer will hold you accountable for your weekly fitness program, but hiring the right personal trainer will keep you moving well after your session is finished. How do you find the personal trainer who is right for you? Ask for referrals from friends, family, doctors, or local physiotherapists. Once you have narrowed the choice, set up a meeting to review each trainer’s credentials and past work experience, and to discuss your goals and your health history.

If the trainer isn’t interested in your history of disease or injury, run away! You want to work with someone who knows about your past experiences, who demonstrates a sincere awareness of any underlying medical needs, and who is truly committed to seeing you achieve your goals. In other words, hire a professional and not some dude who is there just to kick your butt once or twice a week.

2. Join a gym

Workouts need to be convenient and fit easily into your schedule, so join a gym that is located either on the way home from work or less than 15 minutes from your front door. Both places enable you to schedule workouts either before or right after work–the best times of day to exercise.

At the gym, ask for an orientation to get you started. This will help you learn about all the different machines, so you don’t get bored and use the same treadmill on every visit. An orientation will also teach you how to use each piece of equipment effectively.

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PJ Wren is a personal trainer and writer who strives to keep her clients moving.

Source: alive #315, January 2009

Launch Into January
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Exercise
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Move it or Lose it
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Snowboarding
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The Joy of Snowshoeing
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Skate Your Way To Better Health
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Vertical Dance
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Kayaking 101
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Head for the Hills
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Weekend Fitness
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Hot Ways to Break a Sweat
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Not Getting the Results You Want?
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Exercise As Preventive Medicine
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Fitting in Holiday Fitness
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Focus Forward
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Fitness the Family Way
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Not in the Mood?
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Movement
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Get Straight A's in Exercise
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Creating Safe Places to Deal With Pain
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Are You Exercise Obsessed?
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September Brings Opportunity for Change
As balmy breezes become crisp winds and the green leaves change colour with autumn, September brings a positively charged current of change. The longer, lazier days of summer are ending as structure and routine take over. Students settle into a busy new year. It's harvest time.

Exercise to Energize!
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New Year's Determinations
The children's nursery rhyme goes, "Wish I may, wish I might, get the wish, I wish tonight. As adults we may smile at such a simplistic understanding of life. Yet every year, thousands of adults make wishes disguised as a New Year's resolutions..

No Pain-Great Gain
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A Healthy Dose of Vanity
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Fitness For Every Age
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A Beginner's Guide to Getting Fit and Healthy
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Spinning
If the sweat is literally pouring off you and, creating a small puddle on the floor, chances are you are probably Spinning, Power Pacing, or participating in some sort of group cycling class. .

Take the Longer Road
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Ski Whiz
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A Cleansing Sweat
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Living True to Your Values
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Digging for Gold at the Beach
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Look for Balance and Feel Balanced!
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Create the Holiday You'd Love to Have
Take two weeks in December to break yourroutine-travel, overeat, overdrink, under-exercise, and undersleep (with relatives inclose quarters)-and you have the potential for disaster. Oh yeah, add a NewYear's celebration in there, too.

Are You a Skinny, Fat Person?
Everyone admires the supermodel who "never works out" and "eats everything" yet still manages to look fabulous. Some of us even strive for her looks by following a diet of lattes and lettuce. What's surprising is that this beautiful, slim woman may actually have high body fat and the foundation for chronic disease.

The Path to Health
With the support of the president of Alive Publishing Group Inc., and the editor-in-chief of alive Magazine, Jacqueline (not her real name) agreed to be a case study subject for the pages of this magazine in a series of three monthly articles, 'so that others may be helped and inspired'.

Brie and Wild Mushroom Phyllo
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Take It Outside
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When Resolutions Lack Resolve
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Taming the Food Tiger
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Four Ways to Commit to a New Habit
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Rock Climbing
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Row Yourself Fit
Whether rowing a boat merrily down the stream or pulling the oars at the local fitness centre, rowers engage in one of the best exercises around for aerobic conditioning and for increasing strength and flexibility.

Listen to Your Inner Voice for Outer Health
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Built Like a Greek God
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Out of the Boathouse
Derek Porter, Olympic medalist and world champion singles rowing star is drawn to the holistic nature of chiropractic. From his early rowing days at UVic, he realized the performance-enhancing benefits of regular treatments with the team chiropractor. A regular reader of alive magazine, Porter fully subscribes to a natural, organic lifestyle.

Give Your Walk Some WOW!
Bored with your walking regimen? Invigorate your step with Nordic walking poles, and you'll burn an average of 20 percent more calories than during a regular walk and get all the benefits of an upper body workout, with less stress on your knees. Walking with your poles as little as thirty minutes a day, three times a week, can help lower your blood pressure and reduce your cholesterol.

Three Phases of Fitness
If your goal is to build lean muscle mass, improve your strength, and define your body, then you have to train smarter, not harder. You can build a muscular physique naturally by following a phase-based approach: Foundation phase, Hypertrophy phase, and Firming phase.

Celebrating Women
While sharing a ritual lunchtime with girlfriends, one friend commented about how inspired she was by her new 45-year-old female trainer at the gym. I mentioned my vivacious 51-year-old yoga instructor, and another friend chimed in with her 48-year-old female neighbour who still runs marathons.

Life Makeover
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Let's Talk Success
In order to achieve success, men can become outwardly aggressive in their drive for their goals and often this aggression leads to ill health-physical and mental. It is well documented that extreme emotional states such as aggression, anxiety, or depression negatively affect a man's health and can create myriad problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke.

Happiness Equals Success
Does success bring us happiness or is it the other way around? In this chicken or egg debate, we often hear that success hatches happiness. The research revealed that happy people are more successful in marriage and work and enjoy better mental and physical health.

Exercise for a Positive Mind Set
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Sugar, Obesity, and Depression
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Beauty-Inside and Out
BeautyThere are healthy strategies that keep you feeling good, and the natural outcome of feeling good is looking good-no matter what your age. Eating well, exercising, and taking the right supplements help promote a healthy body-and a healthy look. Why not be beautiful inside and out?

Hard Bodies and Beautiful Bodies
Teens are bombarded daily with the message that image is all important. They are looking for the magic pill, a quick fix. TV, film, and popular magazines tell them it's available. Fortunately for them, there is no miracle overnight solution, but there are healthy ways that teens (and adults) can lose weight and build muscle.

Resolve to Evolve Within
What if this New Year, the resolutions you make are focused less on the external you and more on the essence of you? Self-empowerment and emotional health can become your new goal. A new year brings a chance for each of us to realize the power within us that is the truth of who we are.

Maintaining Fine Fettle...for Fun and Festivities
December's frenzied rush toward holiday preparations finds many of us overburdened with activities that waylay our well-established fitness regimens. We'd like to take a moment to remind you that some of those fitness routines can go a long way toward managing seasonal stresses.

Skiing on the Slopes of Health
Both cross-country and alpine skiing exude a physiological and psychological rush that allows you to temporarily escape from the stresses of the world. While skiing is a technical and physical recreational sport requiring concentration and skill, the beauty of the sport can be experienced by people of all ages.

Meaningful Makeovers
Our alive makeover series introduces you to two people, Rob and Toni, who are hoping to improve their lives from the inside out. No plastic surgery or new shoes; they're aiming for healthier diets and lifestyles. It'll involve hard work-no magic wands.

Effective Goal Setting
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Ski Superstar Jennifer Heil
Jenn's natural approach to health has brought her body and her career to full bloom. Olympic gold medalist, Jennifer Heil discusses the secrets to her success.

Elevating Natural Health
Pierre Ménard is the founder and owner of La Boite Ã Grains, an award-winning natural health food store. "Ever since I was a child, Pierre explains, "I've had a mystical yearning to visit Africa. When I read in the newspaper that a charitable climbing expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro was looking for volunteers, I began to dream all over again.

Just for the Sport of It!
What better way to enhance beauty than through exercise? We polled some of our staff members about their favourite fitness activities and why they like them. Hopefully we've given you some ideas on ways to get out and get fit! "Tennis is my favourite activity mainly because it's fun.

A little means a lot

Mirror, mirror on the wall

Team work for your muscles

A little regret goes a long way

Moderate exercise pays off

Hydration for digestion

Breathe your way to better abs

Don't Blame the Season

Walking in a Winter Water-Land

How Do You Get to Work?

Change is Good

Know Your Snow

Breaking the Ice

Do It Yourself

Man's-and Woman's-Best Friend

Move Your Mood

Active Healing

An Apper for All

Imagine You're a Pretzel

Training Intensity for Older Males

Maximizing Growth Hormone Release

Active Living

Exercise Smarter-Not Harder-for Weight Loss

Why Do You Exercise?

The Biology of Winning
New findings in the field of neurobiology-the scientific study of the brain and nervous system-are shedding light on why some people are highly successful and talented and how the rest of us might learn to be that way, too.

Healthy Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day is approaching and many of us are reviewing our options. How can we show that special someone how much we care? Why not make an active decision that takes fitness to heart.

The Anatomy of Spirit
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A Hard Road Well-Travelled
Simon Whitfield has come a long way since winning the gold medal for men's triathlon at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Now older and wiser but still a big kid at heart, Whitfield's passions extend into organic foods and sustainable living.

Learning, Growing, and Parallel Parking
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Canada's Bold and Beautiful Singer-Songwriter
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Rick Hansen 20 Years Later
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From Confusion to Clarity
Stephen was considering what looked like a fairly straightforward decision-a move from the hustle and bustle of Vancouver to the quiet peace of a spectacular oceanside home on a nearby island. He felt quite clear about it until his adult daughter implied he was abandoning her. Instantly his peace of mind evaporated.

Become a Spiritual Warrior
Sometimes it takes a Hollywood stamp of approval before we decide to give a new workout a try. After endorsements from Madonna, Gwyneth, and Jennifer, Budokon, which draws upon the ancient art of yoga, made the cover of TIME magazine and is now a fast-growing fitness trend in the Western world.

Sharing the Secret
My son and I watched a DVD called The Secret. It has popularized the law of attraction: by focusing on what you want, you can attract it into your life. From the look on my seven-year-old's face, I could tell he was making a list.

alive's Meaningful Makeovers
Who hasn't dreamed of being made over-poof!-into someone thinner, stronger, more energetic, attractive, and self-confident?

From Pole Dancing to Gliding
When I first started personal training, the step workout was at its popularity peak, and the stability ball was a foreign object in the gym. Today, step is on the downward side of the fitness craze and you can find stability balls everywhere, from senior centres to corporate offices.

303, January 2008

Workout Clothes For Everywoman
There are two types of women who frequent gyms: those who wear oversized T-shirts and sweatpants that bag at the knee, and those who wear flattering, form-hugging workout gear.

BC's Plan for the Olympics
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Start Fresh
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Jully Black's Revival
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Climbing the Walls
Have you been looking for a new and interesting way to test your fitness mettle? Perhaps you want to shake up your workout routine. Or maybe you're ready to overcome a fear of heights.

Taiko Fit
Depending on your culture, the beating of a drum can evoke powerful memories: a new harvest season, the joys of music class, or the days of playing in a live band. For some, beating a drum is a convenient, fun, and exhilarating way to get fit.

Embracing Change
Change. Most of us dislike contemplating the concept because it means giving up our comfort zone. Here is the good news: small changes over time lead to large results. Think of small steps working together in the same way as compound interest.

Work Those Hips
The human body is an intricate system of processes that work synergistically. Much like a work of art whose composition must be balanced to be pleasing to the eye, our muscles need to be in equilibrium to reach maximum potential.

Silken Laumann's Active Kids Movement
Where have all the children gone? That's what former Olympic rower and motivational speaker, Silken Laumann wondered when she took her children to the park. Kids weren't playing road hockey or riding bikes or playing all the fun games she recalled from her own childhood in Mississauga, Ontario.

Thrills on Horseback
Exactly how fit do you need to be to ride a horse? For anyone who has ever watched English riders in stretchy breeches and fitted jackets ride in unison with their horses or who has gaped at a horse and rider fly over a set of jumps the answer is-very.

Four Regular Guys (in Tuxedos)
A taxi pulls into the gravel parking lot of Calgary's Edworthy Park on a hot June afternoon. As children spin on the roundabout, four handsome young men in tuxedos wait to get into the cab. Although they're overdressed for this casual setting, Giorgio Armani would agree that his formal wear looks good anywhere.

Building a Health Reserve
Hoping to be a healthy elder? Then stock your health bank as faithfully as your financial one. Healthy aging requires preparation. This month's Research Watch discusses what you need to know to build up your health reserves for a long and healthy life.

Living the Good Life
Golfing, sailing, travelling-what a life those 65-going-on-25-year-old retirees live in those television ads! For many of us, that day seems too distant to even contemplate. The earlier our planning begins, however, the better our chances of having financial security and freedom at retirement.

Let the Happy Times Roll
Josh Jackson grew up with unusual nurseryrhymes: "Nuts and bolts, we've been screwed! Call the cops, we've been robbed! Jackson learned this song from his mother when he started bowling at age three. The song acknowledges a player who just knocked down all the pins except the corner one.

Falls and Fun
Kerplunk. It's a sound you will surely hear within moments of your first attempt at windsurfing.

Goodbye Treadmill, Hello Waves
Every morning millions of wave worshippers around the world wake at sunrise to scout the ocean-searching for that perfect break, for that ultimate rush, for the chance to become one with the awesome power of the sea.

The Spectrum
Dean Ornish is a high-profile name where alternative medicine is concerned. A 30-year veteran of North America's controversial diet wars, Ornish is consistently lauded by the scientific community for his work in reversing heart disease and other illnesses through dietary and lifestyle changes.

Cheap Winter Thrills
With the bracing chill of winter in the air and several inches of inviting fresh powder on your local ski hill, global warming may seem like a distant memory. Unfortunately, cashing in your paycheque for shiny new winter sports equipment won't stop those polar ice caps from melting.

Take a Load Off: 5 Steps to Reducing Stress by Decluttering Debt
Clutter got you down? Well perk up! The New Year is the ideal time to clean out the previous year's accumulation of junk, dust, and debt. Holiday credit card bills, home renovation payments, start-of-the-year bills-these are the stuff that can make you toss and turn at night.

Choose a Smoke-free Lifestyle
Smoking kills. If you smoke, you need to stop. It's that simple. According to the Canadian Lung Association smoking directly kills about 45,000 Canadians each year-more than the total combined number of annual deaths from AIDS, car accidents, suicides, murders, fires, and accidental poisonings.

Trends 2009
The New Year traditionally affords a chance to look back at what's just past while creating excitement about what's to come. It's a time of change that generates hope for the year ahead.

Losing Weight
The New Year kicks off with parties presenting irresistible desserts, delicious eggnog, and those tasty little appetizers that are so hard to refuse! With the alcohol flowing and office or family gatherings happening all around you, temptation is at an all-time high.

Addiction Prescription
You're determined (this time) to lose that weight, quit smoking or ... You have the plan, the courage, the discipline, and the commitment. You have the gidgets and the gadgets. Why is it still an overwhelming challenge?

Resolve to Be Green
Like most Canadians, you've probably started a list-maybe just a mental list-of changes you'd like to make in 2009. Instead of, or in addition to, resolving to lose weight or stop smoking, why not resolve to be green?

This Might Save Your Life
"I'm going to call an ambulance, I told my patient, a woman in her early 50s. She knew that something was wrong, but I knew she wasn't convinced that her symptoms were serious. Most women, and many men, aren't aware of the more subtle signs of a heart attack.

Varicose Veins
I was sitting and chatting with my friend Tania, when she suddenly interrupted me. "You shouldn't sit like that you know, she said, pointing at my crossed legs. "You're going to give yourself varicose veins.

Let’s Talk About SEX...
We can talk about sex, but with increased rates of low libido, are people actually “doing it”?

Get Active!
Here is a simple guide to help you get and stay on the exercise track so that you can reap the many benefits of physical activity.

Vacation Without the Spread
Vacations are often a time to kick back, soak up the rays, and unfortunately, sometimes gain weight. When you’re on a tropical cruise or frolicking between cafés in Provence, it’s much too easy to forget about your commitment to a healthy lifestyle and just give in to your new surroundings.

Overcoming common barriers to getting active
Sometimes the reasons people cite for being inactive are just excuses, but research also tells us that there are barriers to physical activity that many of us face across the country.