By Mandy Thomas – The Authority in Fitness for Enduro

You’ve all seen the stories of major fitness and body transformations, and although they are inspiring, they get frustrating when you realize your own fitness is flat-lining. Unfortunately, there is no magic trick, pill or well-kept secret, the truth is they achieved their results through determination, dedication, and drive. These fitness success stories all share the following traits, so if you’re looking to follow in their footsteps apply the list below and get back in shape and back on trach with your fitness for riding.

1: Overhaul Your Lifestyle.

It’s not about a small tweak here and there to your schedule, but the way you go about your everyday life that has to change. Correct unhealthy eating habits, limit smoking and drinking, incorporate effective fitness training techniques, change your sleeping habits and renew your mind set.

2: Be Single-Minded & Determined

The decision to make the above changes is easy. It’s the follow through that takes a ton of determination. You need to bring a strong, determined attitude to every workout and apply it at every meal. See it through from getting to bed earlier, ensure your sleep is quality and all the time not allowing yourself to become discouraged.

3: Maintain a Positive Attitude

The better you feel about your body and fitness, the more positive you’ll feel and the more you’ll want to continue your fitness path. To start the ball rolling you need to cultivate that positive attitude from the beginning. Have a ritual in place every morning where you read through your fitness goals, perhaps look at an old photo of yourself of how you want to look again. When you write your goals down include how you feel when you were at your target fitness. Whenever you feel your motivation waning, repeat the ritual.

4: Ensure your Support System is Strong

Everyone needs support. Fitness success stories are inspired by friends, family, and dedicated coaches pushing the person along every step of the way, particularly in the early stages. When you hit a discouraging plateau, lean on the people around you to motivate you to get back on track.

5: Take it Slow

Hitting the gym really hard from the beginning can cause burn out and injuries. You need to take it slow and be in it for the long haul. This means cycling your fitness programs. And the, even when you have achieved your goal, remember there is there’s still maintenance to be done.

6: Expect Challenges

Fitness is not a straight line moving steadily upward all the time. Every success story has some sort of setback. Gaining a bit of weight or an injury along the way does not dictate the full story or the end results. Embraced the process and understand that you are not necessarily going to see progress every single day. The key is to just keep moving forward one day at a time.

7: Become Aware of What Your Body Needs

The more you workout, the more energy you will need. The better you sleep the less hungry you are. As you get fitter, the less you want to be carrying around excess fat and eating empty calories. Figure out how many calories and nutrients you need to get the most out of your workouts and thereby improve your results.

8: Get Self-Motivated

Your support system will help get you started, but as you see results self-motivation kicks in. Eventually, you will be easily doing it for your own well-being rather than being pushed by friends and family. Once this happens, it’s a huge sign that you have embraced a total lifestyle change. Well done!

Over the last 9 years Base Fit has been inspired to help clients country wide instil the above-mentioned positive changes in their lives, with huge success, especially for riding.

Please feel free to contact me to discuss your fitness goals and you plan a way forward for your riding fitness.

Mandy Sealy // Base Fit // mandy@basefit.co.za // 082-461-1443

Photography by Wasabi Foto