Heart Start Challenge Update – Jessie Collins
12 Weeks To Fitness
The New Year is well underway and so is the Heart Start Challenge 2009. The people undertaking this Challenge are doing so to get 2009 off on the right foot, and have made a great start. How are your resolutions going?
The participants have now finished being put through a series of tests to give them a starting point and are settling into a mixture of group classes and sessions they do on their own. The group sessions are every Monday and Thursday evening, and are in the form of circuit training. Circuit training involves a series of stations working different parts of the body, with participants progressing through the stations with no rest in between. We have generally included 4 types of stations: leg strength, core strength, arm strength and cardio, usually with 2-3 exercises of each type making up one circuit. This set-up, combined with the limited break, allows participants to train their whole body in both strength and endurance, allowing clients to use the same session to work towards what are often vastly different goals. The exercises are also easily adaptable, allowing many different skill and fitness levels to be accommodated for at the same time. It’s not hard to do the same for yourself, and can help to create interest and provide a great workout.
However, the group sessions themselves are only part of the overall plan helping each client to achieve the improvement they are aiming for. In conjunction with the testing, participants were asked to think about what they were hoping to achieve, both in the 12-week challenge and the long term. These goals were made according to the SMART principle: Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, Time-framed goals are far more likely to be achieved than general “I’d like to get fit” goals. If your New Year’s resolutions were more along the lines of the latter category, it’s not too late to change them and give yourself a better chance of achieving them in 2009. There were two other steps that our Heart Start Challenge participants have taken that will help them on their way to meeting those goals. One is that they wrote those goals down, and placed them in a location that they won’t get lost, but will also be seen at regular intervals – try doing the same; it makes it much harder to ignore or forget them!
The other, vital step that the Challenge participants have undertaken is setting up an action plan for achieving their goals. In their case, this involved getting our assistance to write a program for them that would set them on the right path. Regardless of your goal, outlining a clear plan, and getting the appropriate assistance if need be, is crucial to your eventual success. So once you’ve written down those SMART goals, work out what you plan to do to achieve them, and talk to someone who can help you out if you need to.
The last thing that the Heart Start contestants have going for them is that they have a mixture of individual and group sessions to help them on their way. While many of your goals may be simply for yourself and require a concerted, individual effort, it can also be beneficial to get someone else to help you achieve these goals. They may have similar aims, or may just be able to offer some accountability, but either way, having someone else aware of what you are trying to achieve will help you on your way.
So well done to the Challenge participants – you’re off to a great start. And to everyone else, don’t be too quick to discard those New Year’s resolutions – take the above steps and you too can experience a healthier, more energised start to 2009!