I’m going to make 12 fresh starts in 12 life areas over the next 12 days.

I don’t expect to succeed at everything, but I want to give a bunch of things a try. Join me!

Day 1: Personal Development

My Day 1 Fresh Start was to raise my weights in Body Pump class for biceps and shoulders.

Report:

✔ Shoulders

✔ It was only a 45-minute class and we didn’t do biceps – but I compensated by using weights for the lunge track. I figure I deserve a tick for that!

Day 2: Health & Fitness

Today my fresh start is from category 2: To give up something. I’m giving up Smith’s Cheese & Onion Chips – at least for September.

I don’t usually believe in giving up things you love, and I find that with most things a morsel a day keeps the bingeing away.

But this addiction has become a little extreme, so I’m happy to try the turkey from the fridge.

I’ll let you know how I go tomorrow – when I’ll make my third fresh start – in Career & Business.

What About You?

Think of your own Health & Fitness goals and plans. In what area could you:

• Start something new – or try something you haven’t done, eaten, read, or experienced before
• Give up something – maybe a habit that undermines you or an obligation that weighs you down
• Do more of something – be specific about ‘more’, but don’t be overly-ambitious
• Do less of something – be specific about ‘less’, but don’t be overly-ambitious

I hope you’ll choose something and join me!

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_mason/ / CC BY 2.0

Do you keep a constant pace when you exercise? Or do you prefer to intersperse power bursts with recovery phases?

Whether you like to walk, run, jog, or row, you can introduce a simple version of interval training to your exercise routine.

You don’t need to bother with complicated timings and stopwatches for this basic version. Simply follow the steps to create a playlist that does the work for you, so you can do as Jim Steinman says and

let the drummer tell your heart [rate] what to do.

Organize Your Fitness: How To Create A Super-Simple Interval Training Playlist

Step 1: Decide how long your workout session will be

If you’re a newbie, you might like to begin with 20 minutes. For veterans, 60 minutes might suit.

Choose a duration that feels challenging but doable.

Step 2: Start a new playlist

Open iTunes or your music library and create a new playlist. Name it Interval 1 if you have no better naming protocol.

Step 3: Choose your tunes

• First, choose an easy-paced tune to warm you up.
• Next, decide on a slow, relaxing track for your cool-down phase.
• Last, divide the remaining session time between fast-paced, high-energy tracks, and medium-paced tunes that let you take it down a notch. Alternate these tracks on your playlist. Ideally, start and end this working time with high-energy tracks.

To keep track of your playlist length, click the playlist name and the total time – along with number of songs and file size – will display in the grey bar at the bottom. You may need to play around with different tracks to get the session duration you want.

Simple! And you’re wired for interval training sound.

Got some suggestions for motivating workout tracks? Please share them!

To leave a comment: Scroll to the bottom of this post – a comment box is waiting for you.

Want some cool tools for organizing your
health, fitness and personal life?

Check out The Ultimate To-Do List Pack | Personal Edition 
or Life & Goal Organizer.

Did you like this post? Please social bookmark it using the buttons below.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/renneville/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

The 12 Days of New Year’s Resolutions

This is Day 2 of The 12 Days of New Year’s Resolutions for Better Personal Organization

I’m spending 12 days posting ideas for new year’s resolutions you might like to choose for yourself. Each day focuses on a different life area.

Remember: go for progress, not perfection.

Following is an edited extract from the introduction to Module 2: Health & Fitness in Get Organized Wizard for Smart Women. 

Day 2: Organize your Health & Fitness

It’s a rare person who has the health and fitness aspects of life all sorted out. For most of us, there’s always something we’d like to improve – poor eating habits, lack of exercise, niggling health concerns, aches and pains, low energy, high stress, no time for self-care – the list goes on!

We know how neglecting health and fitness undermines us elsewhere. Without energy we can’t achieve the things we want. Too much stress distracts us from our work and relationships. Persistent aliments hold us back. And looking or feeling less than our best casts a cloud over life.

This one body has to last us right through life. So let’s organize ourselves to make living in our bodies as comfortable and pleasurable as we can. With a little planning and a little self-love we can make big, positive changes to nutrition, movement, health, body awareness and self-care.

Make 2009 the year you get your health and fitness ‘into shape’! It’s time to look, feel and be your best.

Ideas for Health & Fitness New Year’s Resolutions

• Food habits
  Take stock of your food habits and note changes you want to make. Get organized to cut down on fatty food, sugary food, alcohol, sugary drinks, portion sizes or night-time snacking.
• Emotional eating
  Think about emotional triggers, such as an unhelpful environment or stress. Consider strategies like keeping a food diary to learn what triggers you, or alternative ways to meet emotional needs.
• Exercise program
  Many people fail at their exercise plans because they fail to plan them properly. Write out your plan and follow the steps to maximize your chance of creating a program you’ll stick to.
• Excuses & obstacles
  Another key to making exercise part of your life is being prepared for the inevitable resistance (it happens to everyone). Plan your strategies and head off excuses before they take hold.
• Motivation
  People don’t get what they want by waiting for motivation to appear. Build your own desire with milestones and rewards that matter to you. For instance, ‘When I [do 3 workouts a week] I’ll reward myself with [a manicure]’.
• Looking good
  Stop! What expression is your face making right now? How’s your posture? Are you poised? Focus on having a pleasant face and body as you move through your day. You’ll feel better too!
• Energizers
  You probably have activities or situations in your life that give you energy. These are treasures! Identify these times and plan how you can get more of them into your life.
• Stress management
  We can’t avoid all stress, but most of us have certain triggers that raise our blood pressure fast, and these are worth managing. Make it a priority to find and try techniques for doing just that.

Question: What area of Health & Fitness will you work on in 2009?

Note for users of Health & Fitness Wizard and Get Organized Wizard for Smart Women

Your Wizard contains guided worksheets for each one of these items, plus others, as well as additional prompts, ideas and suggestions to help you organize each one.

Monday – Day 3: Career & Work

Picture adapted from image by Aldon.

Did you like this post? Please social bookmark it!

At this time of year people are thinking about food – planning Christmas meals, facing too much festive fare, or resolving to have better eating habits in the new year.

I can’t help you with the first, since I shop in the domestically-disabled section (near the Who Are You Kidding faux frypans).
But if you’re looking for eating behaviors to tame over the silly season or to drop in 2009, here are 10 definite duds.

The Top 10 Diet Mistakes

Andrew Cate, personal trainer and author of several books including The H Factor Diet, says these are 10 of the most common diet mistakes.

1. Skipping breakfast
2. Large portion sizes (even of healthy foods)
3. Liquid kilojoules (including fruit juice)
4. Failing to plan your meals in advance
5. A food-only approach to health and weight loss
6. Not eating enough fat (or more specifically, the right types of fat)
7. Cutting out carbohydrates (especially low GI carbohydrates)
8. Not drinking enough water
9. Overindulging on weekends
10. Thinking short-term

NEW: Get Organized Wizard | Health & Fitness

Get Organized Wizard | Health & Fitness is a motivating system that helps you get your diet, exercise, motivation and health on track, as well as deal with those inevitable obstacles and excuses. 
Make 2009 your best year ever – check it out now!

Image by Dano

Did you like this post? Please social bookmark it!

If you’re a regular gym-goer, you know what a hotbed of germs a gym can be.

Here’s a simple tip for getting a little insulation from the icky stuff left behind on yoga mats, cardio equipment and weight machines.

How to Dodge Gym Germs

Use the ’sides’ of your towel. Let the label/tag side always be the side that touches or wipes down gym stuff and let the other side always be what touches you.

• Place your towel label-down on yoga/stretch mats
• Use your towel, label-down, as a buffer between you and exercise machines
• Use your towel, label-down, as an extra buffer between you and bike seats
• When you wipe sweat on yourself, use the non-label side on your skin

Of course you can’t avoid touching everything, but this little towel tip will help save you from protracted contact with whatever’s on those sweat-laden gym surfaces, and stop you transferring it directly to your skin.

And be sure to wash your hands well when you’re done.

Image by Kenny Miller