Written by Natasha Hanks

‘Ugh, yet another post on how to keep fit during lockdown. Another person showing you how easy these home workouts are. A really fit trainer telling you to stay motivated… same old, right?

Well, hopefully I can change your mind through this short post, and hone down on some truths of home workouts, and fitness during lockdown.

So, let’s start with motivation. That dreaded thing you feel like you should have, but cannot seem to summon it? As a personal trainer myself, even I can resonate with this (If other personal trainers say they don’t, they’re lying). We are totally all human, and it is actually perfectly normal to have ‘off days’, where you feel like you can’t get going.

There is the problem. But, it totally can be resolved. Motivation is at it highest when you can see progress or improvement, which takes time. First things first, you need to start making positive habits. This may be hitting a step count a day, or forcing yourself to complete and online HIIT class. Once you have conquered that 1 habit, make another. This is building you up over time to consistently hit a goal.

The key here is to not be hard on yourself. Set SMART goals. I hear you, saying Tash, wtf do you mean a SMART goal?!

S – Smart

M – Measurable

A – Achievable

R – Realistic

T – Timely

Following these 5 steps to make a goal, is totally foolproof. If your goal ticks off all of those, you are ready to go. A great example of this would be 10k steps per day. Smart (obviously). Measurable, well we are surrounded with devices (phones, watches) that count daily steps. Achievable, totally (as this is around 4-5miles total). You would be surprised how many steps you actually do during a normal day, without even going on a walk! Realistic, of course. Allocate time during your day, even if it just half an hour, to walk to your local coffee shop, and grab a coffee. Supporting local, and steps done! Timely, set yourself a run of completing this x amount of days in a row. Achieve that? Time to start a new SMART goal, alongside keeping this one going.

My point being, if you plunge in the deep end with these ‘fad’ and stupidly strict diets, a 7 day a week workout plan, 15,000 steps per day, you are actually setting yourself up for failure. This is soooo much change for one person to stick too, and bought on so fast. If you slowly build this up, it seems so much easier, and you build positive habits.

Once you have built several positive habits, I can promise you will see results. Results = more motivation to push yourself! I am going to name this my golden continuum (waiting to claim my millions here)!

I hope you have enjoyed reading this, and if you have any questions or would like future support, please do hit me up!’