Quick Tips to Get Fit by Spring

If you're like most people, you probably enjoyed some downtime over the holidays, and now it probably feels like spring is creeping up quickly. And it is! But it's never too late to start working whipping yourself back into shape, so here are our quick tips to help you get fit by spring.

1. Drink water as soon as you wake up in the morning

Starting your day with a full 12-oz glass of water will jolt your body out of its naturally dehydrated resting state and will crank up your metabolism while sparking your digestive tract to get moving,”so to speak.

2. Eat well, don't "diet"

A regular eating plan that avoids hype diets and delivers consistent, well-balanced nutrition is one of the biggest keys to long-term fitness. Successful fit people utilize cheat days, but usually with healthy food that just happens to increase their calorie count to boost their metabolism—they never binge or starve themselves. Extreme diet plans can throw your metabolism off and have negative effects on your health. A good fat-burning supplement can rev up your fat-burning furnace, and a quality protein can make life a lot easier while helping you reach your goals.

3 Sleep... more than you already do Good rest is one of the most overlooked elements of maintaining consistently intense training sessions. You recover when you sleep, as that's when your body takes care of all that *good* damage you've done and allows your cells to replenish. Get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep every night to meet your fitness goals.
4. Enjoy your workouts

There are literally endless fitness programs and training techniques available to you, so there's absolutely something for everyone, and there's no reason not to be using a training routine you actually enjoy. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, it's going to be extremely difficult and potentially impossible to stick to it. If you enjoy your training, you'll look forward to it and keep going back for more. Consistency is the key to success.

5. Avoid Injury

If you're not consistent during the week and try to make up for lost time by killing it on the weekends, you'll not only have slow progress, you'll dramatically increase your chances of getting injured. It takes time to get conditioned and to learn how to push yourself without pushing to the point where you compromise your form and risk injury. While intensity, strength, and conditioning should be priorities, be patient and know that they'll increase over time.

6. Put your health and fitness first

It's hard to get around the fact that work, social media, and other priorities can get in the way of your health and exercise goals. While we're not saying to put work or family aside at all, successful fit people tend to prioritize their health and fitness goals. Yes, that means you'll need to start making tough choices, like getting up early to train, keeping up with your goals while on vacation, planning your meals ahead of time, etc., but prioritizing your health will lead to your success.

7. Surround yourself with other like-minded people

If it's true that we're a product of our environment, then it's true that you should surround yourself with like-minded and goal-oriented people to help reach your goals. If your friends eat fast food and spend a lot of time at bars, then that's a likely path for you to follow. Spend more time with fit people, as motivation and momentum are contagious.