What is your Fitness Plan?
What is your plan to get (or stay) in shape this year? In other words: What is your fitness plan?
Success starts with a plan. If you don’t have a plan, don’t plan on succeeding. Developing a long range fitness plan will help ensure your success. Here is an example plan for your consideration.
January – March (Cross training phase): Focus on preventing injuries, or if you had any injuries during this past year, figure out what caused those injuries and strengthen those areas. This essentially is what cross training is all about. Cross training means doing something other than your normal fitness activities in order to strengthen your body in different ways. During these months, you should focus on things that do not necessarily work to improve your main fitness event. Focus on developing habits like keeping your routine consistent and possibly not even using a watch/HRM to track all your data. During this time, worry more about form and consistency and improve your overall health. If you gained weight during the holiday season, this is the best time to get rid of it!
April – June (Get in race shape phase): Focus during this time on improving the skills needed to improve your ability to do your event better. It is now time to increase the number of your workouts to 4-6 days/week with one day being a longer session than the others. If you typically exercise for 60 minutes, increase one workout per week to 90 minutes or more.
July – September (Race phase): In this phase, you should be totally focused on improving your skills for race day. If you’ve signed up for a running race, then the bulk of your workouts should be running or training that will help with your running. If you are a triathlete, then balancing swimming, biking and running will be the bulk of your workouts. However, do not neglect the rest of your body but instead continue to do other things like weight training, yoga, or Boot Camp. These cross training programs will keep your body healthier and less prone to injury. Work hard on race day and give your body time to recover before getting back on track for the next event.
October – December (Recovery phase): Since many big events end in the September and October timeframe, it is likely that your ‘season’ is over come late October. Now is the time to rest, recover and enjoy what you’ve accomplished. Work out when you can, when you want to and (if you are eating too much) when you need to. Giving yourself a mental break from your training is as beneficial, if not more beneficial, than giving your body a break from training. Taking it easier during this time of year can significantly help get you ready for your next season! Try your best to maintain your weight but if you do not, don’t worry about it, because you already have a plan for next year…
Let CFC help you with your plan, contact us today for more information about our services!
