Month: October 2017

5 Easy Ways to Gain The Self-Discipline to Reach Your Goals

There are many important qualities that contribute to a person’s achievements and happiness, but there is only one that brings sustainable, long-term success in all aspects of life: self-discipline. In health and fitness world, self-discipline can be somewhat challenging, but it's well worth the effort. It will lead you to a better and healthier lifestyle.

To improve your own self-discipline, test out these 5 easy ways for gaining better control. This regimen will help you to establish good habits, break bad ones, and improve your control by making simple changes to your everyday routine. Give it a shot. Your happiness will thank you.

1. Set Your Goal and Establish a Clear Plan

Figure out exactly what you hope to accomplish. Make sure that your goal is specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and time-bound to increase your chances of success. Once you have your goal, plan out the process of how to achieve it. Whether you want to increase good habits – like exercising more often, or you want to eliminate bad habits – like watching too much TV.

Gift: "Set your goal each day and go for it!"

2. Remove Temptation

Removing all temptations and distractions from your environment is a crucial first step when working to improve your self-discipline. If you are hungry during the day, try having healthier snacks; kale chips, juice, coconut drink, or nuts. If you are tempted to have a cocktail on a night out with friends, try having a glass of red wine instead or change your happy hour plan into coming to Absolute Cycle instead.

Fay: "Don't focus on what you can't have... Focus on adding healthier foods that you are choosing to have instead."

Mimi: "I tend to remove myself from temptation because fat lasts longer than the flavor!"

3. Practice Tolerating Emotional Discomfort 

One of the reasons we don’t have self-discipline is because we run from the hard, uncomfortable things. We would rather do the easy, comfortable, familiar things. So instead of facing challenges, we run to distractions: junk food, alcohol, sitting on a sofa, wasting time on a social media. This running from discomfort is ruining our lives.

What you can tell yourself is that you’re done running. You are going to push into discomfort, one step at a  time, and get better at being uncomfortable. One small task at a time, push yourself into discomfort. See how it feels. See that it’s not the end of the world and trust me, great things happen outside of your comfort zone.

Justin: "Every effort counts"

4. Stop procrastinating, Start today!

We hear it all the time from our friends or even from yourself, “I will start working out tomorrow!” or “I know how to lose weight, I just need some motivation.” Self-discipline is about taking action. Start forming good habits by getting started - as our instructor, Justin says "Every effort counts". Also, give yourself a realistic timeline for cutting back on the bad habit. Go two days without consuming bad carbs or excess sugar, give yourself a day off, and try three days next time. Don’t wait, Now is the time!

Pearl: "21 is the magic number. I set a goal and aim to do it every day for at least 21 days until it becomes a habit."

5. Visualize the Long-Term Rewards

You’ll be less likely to cave into temptation when you focus on the long-term gain. Giving in to today’s temptations may make you feel happy now, but long-term happiness and contentment require you to forgo immediate satisfaction. Visualize yourself meeting your goals and reaping the rewards that you’ll gain by practicing self-discipline on a daily basis.

Questions or comments? please email us HERE

by absolutecycle

Does More Sweat mean a Better Workout?

The sweatiest workouts can feel like the hardest workouts. When we push hard for our exercise, our muscles can feel like they're on fire and if we're not sweaty, we would feel like we’re not doing it right. But is that true?...well, not exactly. How much you sweat doesn’t necessarily correlate with how intense your workout is or how many calories you burn.

How do we sweat?

When your body temperature rises, your eccrine glands secrete sweat, and the evaporation of moisture from your skin helps you cool off. Of course, sweating can occur for other reasons, such as stress or fear. Final examination, public speaking or even an awkward first date.

What are the factors?

There are many factors, including gender (men tend to sweat more than women) and age (younger people sweat more than older people), as well as genetics, temperature, and humidity. Weight plays a role as well: Larger people tend to sweat more because their bodies generate more heat.

Another contributor is fitness level. Surprisingly, fit people tend to sweat more than those who are less fit. Research suggests that as your fitness level improves, your body’s heat-regulating system kicks in sooner, cooling you down faster and allowing you to work harder, which translates to a lot more sweat!

And don’t be misled by the loss of a few pounds after an intense workout. This is simply water weight you gain back when you rehydrate and doesn't necessarily mean you’ve burned lots of calories.

On the flip side, don’t assume a less sweaty workout means you aren’t working hard enough or burning enough calories. It could be that your sweat is evaporating quickly, because you’re exercising in air-conditioning, near a fan, or outdoors on a windy day.

The Bottom Line

Sweat is not a sign of intensity. Perspiration rate is personal and highly affected by other factors such as fitness level, heat, humidity, weight, and even age and gender. No matter how much you sweat, be sure to drink enough water to replace the water you lose.

Source: Greatist, CNN Health News

Have questions or comments? Email us HERE!

by absolutecycle