At the start of the pandemic, my husband, son and I, set goals to stay in shape and do core workouts daily, so I made a chart so that we could track what we did. It worked. At least for me (the boys didn’t keep up with the chart even when they were working out). When my chart ran out, however, so did my consistent workout schedule.
I’m pretty good at letting life inspire me to get some workouts in and stay in shape, but part of staying healthy for me these days includes working on my flexibility and mind, so I’m trying to include yoga and meditation. I even added those categories to my chart, which is where the chart was really helping me.
When I was young I was always busy, playing basketball and running around. I’m still busy, just not as busy, and for some reason for me it’s easy to put other tasks ahead of yoga and meditation. So I’m doing whatever it takes to create a new habit. I’ve tried simply jotting a note on the calendar or in my daytimer, but I don’t use those on a daily basis these days, so I went for a chart again. My daughter has a bullet journal where she tracks all sorts of things including workouts. And you can download all kinds of apps that can help you track or log your workouts like Fitocracy and the Simple Workout Log. My husband loves to track his bike rides on Strava.
The important thing to remember is your tracking system doesn’t have to be fancy; it just has to work for you. For me, the more basic, the better. Try charting your workouts in a way that you enjoy and feel your body and mind grow stronger.
I live near a beach and when the kids were young almost every weekend we would walk to the beach. It was a good haul. A couple miles, but a couple miles of fun. Walking, talking and through most of the kids lifetimes, catching. We usually brought a football and once we hit the beach my husband would toss the ball to the kids and they would run and dive and catch the ball and then run it back to him like a golden retriever and then it would all start again. We loved walking to the beach.
Every time I get bumped around on the basketball court I say, “I’ve gotta lift weights!” I actually do lift weights, but not enough. I can feel my 52 years on the court, and by that I mean I’m not as strong and tough as I used to be, and as I’d like to be to be able to play at the level I want to play at. And stay safe.