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How to Kill Boredom and Make Continual Gains

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"The Fitness Tip" is a monthly fitness and health newsletter that's absolutely jam-packed with all the latest tips & strategies on improving your fitness and health.

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We are coming to the end of the year and so how have you flared for the past year? Are you working as hard or has your gym frequency dropped to mere 3 times a month? If the latter sounds more like you now, these tips might come in handy as you prepare for the new year.

1. Set Goals. Goal-setting is a great way of staying motivated. Make both short term (e.g. 3 weeks) and long term goals (e.g. 1 year). Short term goals are the 'bricks and cement of a 'building', which is the ultimate long term goal. The secret to making the goal setting process is to make sure they are measurable and realistic. A goal like 'I want to lose weight' or 'I want to increase my bench press strength by 40kg in 2 weeks' is unacceptable. A correct goal could be 'I want to lose 3 kg in 2 months time' or 'I want to increase my bench press strength by 40kg in half a year'. Then develop a plan of action or a road map to achieve these targets. Other goals are 'preparing and competing in a marathon race 9 months later' and 'I want to achieve a 30 inch waist by next June'.
2. Expect stumbling blocks in the process. Life is never a smooth sailing process, neither will be your fitness endevour. There will be ups and downs. Chances are you will face episodes like unplanned breaks, jobless, illness, oversea trips, injuries etc. Get over it and start again. It is not the end of the world. Once you anticipate such unforeseen episodes, you will be able to cope with them much better and as a result be successful untimately. Otherwise you might drop out from the program permanently, and making a come-back later becomes a uphill battle.
3. Find a workout partner. Working out with a close friend, spouse or a personal trainer would make your training more fun, safe, and productive. Your adherence to the program would also be increased.
4. Change your program once a while. When you are experiencing boredom or hit a plateau, it's time to do things differently. Some variables you can modify are: exercise intensity (harder/heavier or easier/lighter), frequency (more frequent or less often), duration (shorter or longer workout), rep cadence (faster or slower reps), exercise selection (choose a different exercise), workout timing (morning, afternoon or evening), exercise order (cardio first, then weights or vice versa) and environment (different gyms or locations). By modifying your program a little, you could spice up your workout and results are sure to follow.
5. Stay Positive. Turning negative feelings about exercise and proper nutrition into positive ones will keep you focused and make the difference to you achieving your goals. Remind yourself how great you feel when you have just worked out and how satisfying it is when you just ate a nutritious meal. Ponder upon the little but successful gains you've made so far and put away the negative ones.
6. Find a role model. Such model may or may not be a fitness celebrity. It could also be a successful businessman or even your family member whom you respect a lot. Carefully study the positive traits that they make them successful. Chances are you will some one or more useful things you can use in your everyday life and workout routine.

Lastly, I would like to take this good opportunity to wish all of you, the wonderful and loyal subscribers, ahead 

'A MERRY X'MAS & A VERY SUCCESSFUL NEW YEAR!'.