My Fitness

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5 Jayhawk Secrets of Highly Successful Exercisers

By Jill Urkoski- Associate Director Fitness/Staff Development, KU Recreation Services

Jayhawk Secret #1
Don't compare yourself or your body to others.
Your Strategy: Be who you are, not who someone else is. Goals are critical to initiate change. Goals motivate and provide a plan of action. Goal setting requires you to clarify a change, specify the what, where, when and how to change, and commit to the goal. It is going to take COMMITMENT, SACRIFICE and PERSERVERANCE to attain your goal.

Jayhawk Secret #2
Focus on enjoyment, feeling better, and pleasure of exercise.
Your Strategy: Don't focus on external items such as dropping pounds. Pay attention to your body and how wonderful you feel after taking a walk on a glorious evening or going for a bike ride and feeling the wind against your face. If you are just starting out, do as much exercise as you can, even if it's 10 minutes, three days a week, and build up your endurance from there. Anything is better than nothing.

Jayhawk Secret #3
Plan out most of the details of your workout beforehand.
Your Strategy: Having the specifics wrote down keeps you focused and makes your workouts more efficient. Many people use time as an excuse, but if you have a plan, you'll get the most out of the time you have available. Plan your workouts on Sunday evenings and write them in your calendar. Don't change or ignore your workout appointment.

Jayhawk Secret #4
Add resistance training to your workout.
Your Strategy: Resistance training is an important aspect of your fitness program. It will strengthen muscles, increase range of motion, increase metabolism and increase bone density. Resistance training is vital for individuals of all ages, sizes and skill levels. If you're unsure of what to do hire a personal trainer to create an individualized resistance training program for you.

Jayhawk Secret #5
Ban the word 'routine' from your workout vocabulary.
Your Strategy: Cross-training is essential to accomplishing your goals. Our body needs to be constantly challenged just like other aspects of our life. Once you've mastered a faster speed, add more minutes, add an additional day of working out, or increase speed again. Don't just stop there. Keep improving even if it's 3 more minutes it will help. Monotony of exercise can lead to injury, boredom and decreases in ability for change. You have to challenge your body.