Here is an unpalatable truth - the greatest exercise and fitness routine in the world is useless if you aren't motivated to actually do it.

Here are 5 simple commonsense tips that help you avoid the setbacks which lead to lack of motivation,
missed workouts and stalled progress.

Have a real Plan with Goals in mind

Every time you do any exercise, including strength training, you have to know know what exercises you are going to do
and what resistances you will use. This is why Fitness by Phone uses a weekly movement planning diary - to set goals for extra movement and exercise over and above your daily routine. This helps us to track your progress and offer feedback, or make changes when something isn't working.
Too, when doing resistance work (so vital for reversing and preventing osteoporosis) you need to ensure overload
increases from workout to workout. This is because progressive overload is the foundation of muscle strength building.

Don't Change Exercises at Frequent intervals

Many women make the mistake of using whatever exercise machine is free at the moment.
As an example they might have exercised their biceps doing
barbell curls on a preacher bench last time, now they'll do cable curls on the low pulley and next time they'll use a Nautilus biceps
machine.

Here is the problem. You can't compare your progress in an "apples to apples"
way if you do this. While 100 pounds on a barbell really is 100 pounds, the advertised weight on a machine (after it runs through a few
pulleys and levers) is not 100 pounds after all. (This has been tested on many machines to confirm this.) Doing the
same exercises on the same equipment is the only way to ensure accuracy in the
measurement of progress. However once you can prove progress, but need a change then by all means switch, and start to measure all over again on the new regime.

Don't Train So Often

Overtraining is the single biggest mistake made when you resistance train.
Aerobics and strength training are very different. It can be a great idea to do 30 to 60 minutes of low intensity aerobics every day, if you have plenty of time that is. You don't need to increase the intensity of that exercise beyond your age adjusted target
heart rate once you are able to safely do it (one of the reasons why Fitness by Phone uses the Polar 200 monitor). For 10 years you can do an unchanged aerobic workout daily.

Strength training is different. You get stronger by progressively increasing the
intensity of your workouts. Physiologically you can't
generate that increase every day. Initially you can progress using old school advice ("Train
Monday, Wednesday and Friday"). Except, after you've been training three or four weeks
you can't generate an increase working out three times per week. You'll need
more time off to recover properly - if you don't you might actually go backwards.

Using these first three tips, you'll be able to clearly see your progress when you fill out your diary each week.
At Fitness by Phone we review your individually tailored workouts using the same exercises each time so
you'll have meaningful comparisons.

Measure Your Body Fat Percentage

This one is almost never advised, yet it is a basic yardstick. I know many women who become frustrated because they don't
realize they are making good progress. The goal of all resistance training is
to increase the amount of lean muscle tissue in the body. Muscle which even at rest uses some 50-60 calories a day just to stay alive.

Many women make the bad mistake of using only the scale to gauge progress.
So the person who sees the scale read "125" for two months may think she's
on a plateau and not making progress. But if she'd known her body fat
percentage since the beginning she might discover that she's gained 10 pounds of
muscle and lost 10 pounds of fat! That is fantastic and highly motivating. She is burning an extra pound of fat a week just because all that new extra muscle is there!
Unfortunately she robs herself out of knowing this because she doesn't check her body fat
percentage.

Measuring your body fat is not just about how much fat you lose, it's also about how
much muscle you build.

Progress itself is the Supreme Motivator

Can you see how your constant progress is the ultimate motivator? That feeling of confidence and positive
achievement carries over into every other aspect of your life. This way you really can turn "fat into shape".

At Fitness by Phone we plan your workouts together, we make "apples to apples" comparisons. As you get stronger, we adjust your
training frequency and closely monitor your strength improvements, fat loss and
muscle gain so you'll never want to stop exercising. You see now why having a fitness mentor is so important...

While others aimlessly struggle, your knowledge and focus allow you to enjoy the fitness process and live a better life!