Five Fitness Goals - Your Library Can Help!

I recently read a blog by Amy Roberts.  She is a personal trainer and writes for "Women’s Health".  It reminded me of our discussion in January about making SMART fitness goals.  If you missed it, you can link to that blog here.

The premise of Amy’s blog is the importance of goal-setting.  The author suggests that we set five particular goals.  Once you’ve set your goals, your library has resources to help you achieve them.

Goal #1: Lower Your Body Fat Percentage

Often, when we say we want to lose weight, what we really want to do is lose body fat.  This will make our body look more compact, and rev up our metabolism.  Unfortunately, wishing doesn’t make it so.  We need to perform exercises that will help us to change our body composition. 

Many times, that is the frustration of walkers.  They will put in a lot of time “hoofing it”, but won’t see a change in their figure.  Adding weight training to your cardio routine will help you lower your body fat. 

If you are new to strength training, try Petra Kolber’s “Step-by-step Strength Training”. 

Petra is an experienced instructor who will lead you into a safe and effective workout.  You have the choice of four short sessions that will hold your interest.

Goal #2: Get Stronger

We have the freedom to set any goal we want.  Most women hate to do pushups because we are generally weak in our upper body.  If you had a plan to get better at pushups, you would be more likely improve, and maybe like them…or hate them less.  Remember: any goal that gets us stronger will also give us more lean muscle, and as we discussed in Goal #1, that’s a good thing!

One great workout to help us toward this goal is “Strong Body, Fit Body” by Erin O’Brien. 

You will perform exercises that work multiple body parts at once.  This will shorten your exercise time, the full-body workout is only 45 minutes.

Goal #3: Master a Skill

Choose a sport, skill or exercise that you’re interested in, and give it a try.  This is not only good for your body, learning a new skill is good for your brain.  There are many leagues and groups that do a wide variety of activities in our area.

One group fitness activity is Zumba.  This Latin-inspired dance craze can be found in many gyms, churches and rec centers.  If you don’t want to try it for the first time in front of a lot of hip-shaking enthusiasts, you can try it on DVD in the privacy of your own home. 

We have the entire 7-DVD set of Zumba Exhilarate.  Disc 1 is a guide through the steps.  Each additional DVD will lead you through the unique aspects of this fitness system.  By the time you’ve tried all seven, you’ll be ready to join a live class. 

Goal #4: Make Fitness a Part of Your Routine

What is the typical answer that we give people when they ask us how we are?  “Busy!”  Everyone seems to have the same problem.  If we don’t schedule fitness into our routine, it will easily go by the wayside. 

With over 300 fitness DVDs at your library, you can check out several (remember the limit on DVDs is ten at a time), and find the ones that you will enjoy.  We have several DVDs from the series “10 Minute Solution”. 

Each DVD has five 10 minute workouts, why not start with one and see what you think?  It may be just what you need if you’re in an exercise slump.

Goal #5: Train For an Event

This time of year there are charity 5k’s all over the place.  If you train ahead for an event, then you will be able to get to the end with a smile on your face, instead of hobbling in pain. 

The library has many cardiovascular workouts that will help you boost your speed and endurance.  We also have great books that will give you a plan for success.  “3 Months to Your First 5K” is just one.  

 

 Whatever your goals are, remember your library when you are looking for inspiration and motivation.