Getting Started on Your Wellness Journey

You’ve made the financial investment in your wellness with your new piece of WaveFit equipment. Now what? How do you get started? It’s time to set yourself up for long term success by establishing goals to work toward and by building a strong foundation. We will walk you through the key steps for getting started on your wellness journey and how to ensure wellness remains part of your life forever. 

Define your wellness goals

When you decided on the purchase of your new fitness equipment, what was your vision of yourself in the future? Do you envision yourself physically stronger? Do you want to eventually run a 10k race? Do you have a healthy weight in mind that will allow you to live with optimal daily energy? Do you want to learn to cook and integrate healthy eating into your routine?

It’s great to have one overarching goal to work towards, but coming up with smaller, more easily attainable goals to tick off along the way will increase your likelihood to stay on course. Defining multiple goals that all build on one another will keep you motivated as you progress through them. Think broadly with these step-stone goals. For example, if you have a goal of running a 10k race, your supporting goals could consist of nutrition, sleep, and establishing dedicated exercise time in your weekly routine. Checking off the supporting goals will ultimately make your big goal much more attainable than simply building up the run miles. 

Working toward any big goal is going to have many factors that play into your ultimate success. Defining and recognizing those up front will help you reach your big goal, but will also ensure you’re creating healthy habits and implementing impactful changes that will outlast reaching one single goal. It’s great to achieve (and celebrate!) a big goal but creating a healthy lifestyle that outlasts a single achievement will be even more rewarding in the long run. You will reap the benefits for the rest of your life!

Establish a routine that works for you

Now that you’ve bought your equipment, when will you find the time to regularly use it? For most of us, the days never feel long enough as it is, and not having enough time is a common excuse to not exercise. The best way to combat running out of time for exercise is to intentionally build it into your weekly schedule, just like you do for work, meals, and social time.

Working new elements of a wellness routine into your existing schedule must feel natural in order to stick. Your new habits should not add stress to your daily life but rather help you manage it. Start by examining your current daily routine. Where do you have 30-60 minutes to dedicate to wellness? What parts of the day do you feel most energized, and where do you slump? These are important questions to examine in determining when to schedule your mental and physical exercise. If your days frequently run long with tasks piling up for the end of the day, consider scheduling exercise early in the morning before you get started with work. If part of your morning routine is reading or watching the news, consider doing that while spinning on the bike or moving on the elliptical. Do you normally purchase lunch out? Consider packing leftovers for lunch and using that time for a 30 minute workout that will leave you feeling energized to tackle the afternoon. 

A key part of establishing a lasting wellness routine is your nourishment. Cooking your own food rather than eating out is a great way to eat healthy and ensure you get the nutrients you need in a timely manner. Pre- and post-workout fuel are essential elements in your new wellness routine and will require planning ahead to ensure you have healthy, nutritious food when you need it most.

Get started with your new fitness equipment

We don’t walk before we run, and the same goes for getting comfortable with your new equipment. Don’t expect to start doing challenging interval workouts within your first week. Instead, set yourself up for long term success with these tips.

1. Optimize your physical setup.
   

   Find workout gear you feel comfortable in and forget the images you see online or on TV. Finding clothing and shoes that allow you to move and sweat in comfortably will make you excited to transition to workout time. Sometimes the biggest barrier to working out is getting changed! You can lessen that barrier by finding gear that is perfect for you.
   
   Next, you’ll want to make sure your equipment is fit to your body. Most workout equipment has the ability to fine tune size adjustments to fit multiple sized users. Often injury stems from an improper fit, especially with cycling, so be sure to follow the fit guide before you start working hard.
   
   

2. Get a feel for the equipment.
   

   Start in an easy mode and play around with the equipment settings. Figure out how to increase resistance and notice how that affects you physically. Learn how to see and record your metrics if tracking fitness progress through data plays into a goal of yours.
   
   

3. Start by finding 3 workout zones.
   

   Now that you feel comfortable on your equipment, it is useful to establish workout zones based on effort to make completing workouts fun and challenging. Figure out how to manipulate the equipment resistance or your own cadence so that you can establish the following zones of effort: easy, medium, and hard.
   
   In easy mode you should be able to maintain the effort for a long period of time and not go breathless. In easy mode, you could hold a conversation. In medium mode, you are still comfortable but could only work out at this level for no longer than an hour. You should be breathing harder but not feel completely out of breath. In the hardest zone, you should feel like you can maintain the effort only for short periods of time and become out of breath after mere minutes. Push yourself and get sweaty in your hardest effort, but be sure to follow them up with time in the easy zone right after.
   Establishing these three base-level workout zones will allow you to complete workouts that are more engaging. You will also notice fitness gains over time, where your hard effort becomes easier over time and your ability to push yourself excels.
   
   

4. Now you’re ready for intervals!
   

   Interval workouts contain a set of defined time periods, each with a prescribed effort. Often this workout style will alternate easier efforts with harder efforts, where you push yourself for a period of time but have ample recovery time after so that you can repeat the hard effort again. Never forget warm up time and a cool down, as these are crucial elements for the success of any workout.
   
   Try this basic interval workout to start and build onto it once you are ready. After a short warm-up, try doing a set of two minutes medium, 2 minutes easy, 2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy, followed by a cool down.
   
   

5. Wipe your equipment down when you’re all done.
   

   Before you stretch and refuel, do a quick wipe down of your new equipment so you don’t get any salty sweat build up over time. This will ensure the longevity of your new piece of equipment.

Reflect on your wellness journey

It’s important to check in with yourself periodically and assess how your journey is progressing. First, celebrate your successes! You have begun a life-long journey in prioritizing your wellness and will see the benefits seep into all areas of your life from relationships, to work, to overall well-being. Congratulations! Looking back at the goals you set, what goals have been more difficult to hit? Try to pinpoint what is holding you back and find the support you need, whether that’s a YouTube tutorial, a blog post, or a supportive community.

Reflect on any changes you made to your routine. Are you able to commit to your exercise goals? Are they causing stress for you or your family? Have you noticed a shift in your energy based on diet or routine changes? 

Reflect on how your body feels. If you have any aches and pains, consider adding a regular stretching or yoga routine to make sure you remain physically balanced and strong in your supporting muscles. Think of your body as a full team of players, where there may be one stand-out individual but in order to succeed, the team must work together in unison, supporting one another.

Reflect on if your fitness level has changed. Do you feel ready to push yourself further in your workouts and crave a new challenge? There is truly no better feeling than feeling empowered by a new found strength. You may find your ideal balance for a sustained new habit, or you may find that you want to keep creating new goals for yourself to continue along the journey.

If you’re ready to take another leap, consider a coach or subscribing to virtual content to keep pushing you. There are countless virtual workout providers today and WaveFit equipment is compatible with many. 

Most importantly, reflect on the effort you’ve put into creating positive change in your life. That is something to celebrate and also motivation to keep you going!

Article by Whitney Dawson