Five Tips for Staying Motivated

We are halfway through the month of January and halfway through my Nike Training Club January Challenge. I hope you are all staying strong with your goals and pushing through the tough times. (It's not too late to join my challenge either, for more information, see my previous blog post here). Often I lose focus halfway through a training cycle or plan and have to work hard to motivate myself to continue. When I need to find my motivation I have a few tips and tricks that work for me. 

Top Five Motivational Tips:

• Make a schedule. Write down your workout plan for the week. Schedule it into your day. I set reminders in my phone if I am having a hard time making it to the gym. Treat it like a business meeting and don't allow yourself to skip out. 

• Recruit a workout buddy. I am always recruiting friends to come to the gym with me or come on a run. Often it's the start of a fitness program for them too. It's a win-win for both of us. You'll be more likely to show up for a workout if you know someone is waiting for you.

• Don't be afraid to fail. I often don't want to try a new class or workout because I don't want to look bad. Let's face it - everyone starts somewhere and no one is perfect when they start out. So  don't be afraid to take a chance. 

• Set a goal and make a plan to achieve it. Set check points and reward yourself when you reach each mini-goal. Get a massage when you lose five pounds, treat yourself to new workout clothes after you complete your goal race. Make sure your rewards are positive and keep you on track. A three scoop ice-cream cone is probably not a good reward. 

• Create a social support group. Declare your goal on Twitter or Instagram and follow people with like-minded goals that motivate and inspire you. Post progress photos and do weekly check-ins. 

My progress photo I posted to Instagram to keep me accountable for January.

Bottom line - find what works for you. You might need to test out different tricks to keep you motivated but find what works and stick with it! This month I have been focusing on stretching and yoga sessions. Instagram and Twitter have really helped me stay motivated and the support group I have built is phenomenal. Stay motivated, stick with your goals and if you need an extra push, I'm here to help. 

The #NTC November 30 Challenge Winners!

I'm happy to say that we had eighteen challengers in my #NTCNOVEMBER30 challenge on Twitter and Instagram. These ladies all committed to doing 30 minutes of Nike Training Club live or with the app during the month of November and submitted their workouts with the hashtag. Congrats to all who participated and committed to making themselves stronger. The following girls all deserve a huge shoutout:

@Lil_roni

@Ajayiabby

@Maclucille

@Tay_toned_fit

@Missfitriss

@Beccafit4life

@Pattitutu

@Danibeanz

@Turtlegirl00

@Cityfitgirls

@Runningdivasf

@Iamarlynn

@Tikibar87

@Thisfitlife365

@Kierasmalls

@ShayMLawson

@Itsallaboutme00

@TheJanelleKay

As promised - it's prize time! Since everyone did so well on their challenge I decided to do a random draw for prizes. The following two participants both won a prize package! The winners are:

Kiera Smalls - @KieraSmalls, who won an autographed copy of Apolo Ohno's book Zero Regrets, Pocketfuel and Natures Bakery Fig Bars! Kiera did great in the challenge and recruited many of her friends to join. Great job!

The second prize winner is Patti Tu - @Pattitutu, she won The Little Book of Yoga, a pair of funky knee socks, a Natures Bakery Fig Bar and Gatorade Prime Energy Chews to power her through her training!

Congratulations ladies. Your prizes will be coming your way to help you keep up the great work. Be sure to stay posted on my blog for an upcoming challenge to ring in the new year. You don't want to miss it! 

April Goal Results

Today is the last day of April. I apologize for being away from my blog for so long, but I had a busy week and have a computer that it running on it's 9th life, so it is getting much harder to post as frequently as I would like. My week consisted of working two jobs, my regular eight-to-five and my new part time job doing marketing for the Sacramento Capitals World Team Tennis League in California. I also had a birthday and am now halfway to 50!

Along with my busy work schedule I had to fit in all my running and NTC April 1000 Challenge workouts. I am happy to say that I achieved my goal and even exceeded it by 140 minutes. 1140 minutes of hard core Nike Training Club drills is tough! I'm sure all of you who took on the challenge with me know what I am talking about. How did you all do? Are you feeling stronger, fitter, up for another challenge?

I also logged 89 miles running with Nike+. I have been tired sometimes this month, but overall I feel incredibly strong. I will be starting a running challenge for May so be sure to let me know what you think and how far you want to challenge yourself to run! I learned a lot about myself and my strengths during this challenge and writing out my goals and a schedule really helped me to stay on track. 

I also planned to run a 5k race on April 28 with Girls on the Run and was training for this goal as well. I raced on Saturday with two middle school age girls and finished up my final minutes of NTC today. Needless to say it feels great to have achieved my goals for this month and I can't wait to make new ones for may. I feel empowered and ready to take on the world!

I treated myself to a delicious Whole Foods sandwich following my final workouts and it tasted fantastic. Focusing on my diet as well as my fitness goals will be number one priority in May. Fruits, veggies and proteins to build strong muscles and fight fatigue will be my top priority. What are your summer healthy living goals? 

April NTC Challenge!

Today was a great day, made even better by the excitement of meeting other NTC enthusiasts through Twitter and Nike Women. For those of you who don't know, NTC stands for Nike Training Club, which is a seriously tough and fun workout app created by Nike Master Trainer Marie Purvis. It can be done anywhere from your iphone or ipad device and is sweeping the country at select 24 hour fitness locations. Nike, here is a hint, bring NTC to Roseville, CA (I'd gladly be your instructor)!

This month is my April NTC Challenge. The goal is to complete 1000 minutes of training with the NTC app. I have already had a few people join me, such as the awesome Jenae Frick of YogaEatRun, Larinna Richards of iheartspandex.com, and my new Twitter challengers, @TiaraBeth, @nerissa_ann and anyone else who is joining in on the challenge!

I completed the 45 minute Get Toned, Intermediate, Competitor drills today. I am about to start my stretching with the Shawn Johnson 15 minute stretch workout. It was a good day and I am feeling stronger already. Every time I push myself with NTC I see a difference in my body and feel stronger.

If you want to join the challenge post a comment below or follow on Twitter with the hash tag #NTCApril1000, coined by YogaEatRun, thanks girl! I'd love to hear about your progress and motivate you when you don't feel like working out and getting motivation from you all when I am feeling like skipping a day. Let's stay strong together girls!

I will post my daily NTC schedule in my next post and you can do the same drills as me or make up your own. Good luck ladies! 

Shawn Johnson NTC Challenge

It's April 1st today and that means many different things for many different people. For some, it is a day where they prank their friends mercilessly. For others, the mark of the beginning of the second quarter of the year. For me, the beginning of April means the end of my March Shawn Johnson stretch challenge. As promised I will share my results from stretching faithfully for an entire month. 

Surprisingly enough, I was able to complete my challenge right where I wanted to. I only missed 3 days of stretching the entire month of march, leaving for 28 days of intense, 15 minute Nike Training Club stretching. I missed two days while away on vacation and at a tennis tournament in which my schedule was switched around and I was unable to fit the stretching in and the third day was due to taking an extreme rest day and not doing any exercise, even stretching. 

I am sure you are wondering how it went, did I gain any physical benefits or am I still where I left off? The truth is that about the second week in I began to feel like I could more easily reach my toes and extend my body farther than before. Week 3 I hit a bit of a stagnant spot of just going though the motions. The final week I really noticed my work paying off. I felt like my muscles were longer and more flexible and noticed a difference in my runs. 

I don't get as tight as I used to, and when I do get tight I immediately do some stretches to loosen my muscles. I have learned some great ones and now have a stockpile in my memory bank to pull out when I am feeling stiff. I have begun to make stretching a significant part of my daily workout routine and know that I will be feeling the benefits far into the future. 

I also treated myself to a professional massage during my final week as a reward for my hard work. I usually foam roll my muscles twice a week, but having a professional massage was a real treat. It's always good to have a reward planned for putting in the hard work and a massage was just the thing that I needed. 

This is my 100th blog post, as well as the completion of my first challenge, so today is a huge day for me. I am excited to be sharing my fitness journey with you and hope you are learning some valuable information. I have a new challenge for April and hope you will join me in pushing yourself and seeing how far you can go and how many goals you can reach.

April Challenge

Run 80 Miles 

Complete 1000 minutes of  NTC drills 

Share your fitness goals with me or join me in my monthly challenges. Remember that you are the only one with the power to change. Make something happen today and remember to Make Every Move Count!