PDBA January Blog Hop: Setting Your Fitness Intentions for the New Year

Here here- it's a new year! Happy 2014! Every January is a fresh start.  Time to make changes for the better.  Many people will begin a new fitness routine with vigor while those who are already on the workout bandwagon will renew their intentions with new goals.  Whatever your situation, we can all agree that our outlook has promise towards a positive new year.  This month the Pole Dancing Bloggers Association topic revolves around the simple act of motivation when it comes to setting your fitness intentions.  So how do you stay motivated post new year hype?

A great way to get started regardless of your current fitness situation is to set achievable goals.  Instead of looking at dropping fifty pounds, think of learning a beginner level pole spin like the basic knee spin.  Check that move off your list and create a new goal.  Pole dancing is an amazing workout because it offers constant renewed goals that can be easily attained and visualized.  You mentally see yourself doing the spin.  You learn the steps of the spin.  Now you're watching yourself do the spin.  Goal achieved.  It really is that easy.  But the trick to doing the "trick" is to actually choose goals that are attainable for where you are in your progress.  It's great to have that ultimate goal of doing the twisted grip dead lift, but realistically not many people get this move within the first month- let alone the first six months of poling.  If you set your goals too high, you're only going to set yourself up for disappointments and loss of motivation.

Tracking your progress is key.  It's January! Perfect time to start that pole journal you've been
thinking about.  Not sure what a pole journal is?  It can be whatever you want it to be.  Get yourself a little notebook you can use specifically for your classes or practice sessions.  Dedicate this little notebook to recording your pole journey only.  Start with writing the date of your pole session and list all the moves you learned that session and whether or not you achieved them.  Side notes to each move include what you personally need to improve on that move.  Pole journals can be great motivational tools.  They shed light into your progression by reminding you of how far you've come and how far you'd like to go.

Seeing your goals written leads to achieving them. When you write something down, the likelihood of you meeting the goal increases.  You can pick goals on a daily basis even when you have a greater goal in mind.  Choose a daily, weekly, or monthly goal.  Your choices really depend on what you want to achieve.  This is another reason why pole dancing is such a great workout.  The experience is unique for everyone.  What you are working on will differ from what another student is working on.  Seeing someone else perform your goal can be inspiring.  It gives you insight into how you will go about achieving your goal to get the same move.

Setting your fitness intentions and keeping them really isn't as complicated as many portray it to be.  Keeping motivated through out the year can be fun and every time you see results, you'll have a renewed sense of motivation.  The great thing about pole dancing is the results can be documented so well- via pole journal, video, and pictures.  Visual documentation is key to keeping yourself motivated towards achieving your fitness goals in 2014.

So for 2014, in keeping with the theme of this blog post, I've decided to create a pole and aerial journal of my own to help me work through my progress and meet all my fitness intentions in the new year.  I hope you'll join me in creating new fitness goals and keeping them for a happy and health 2014!  
Blog Hop is a monthly blog topic involving pole dancing blog contributors from around the world actively involved in the online Pole Dancing Bloggers Association. Each month we write our perspective about a given topic pertaining to the pole dancing community. To read fellow Pole Dancing Bloggers Association January Blog Hop entries: Click Here.