Like most people I have struggled adhering to fitness programs for the long haul. For years I would go through spurts of consistent exercise or physical activity, but then I would take weeks or even months off at a time. It was not until I began using a daily planner to track my activity, set goals and monitor those results that I really stuck to a regular fitness regimen. There are endless amounts of ways to do this, and I think that too many people track too much. Which is likely why they do not follow this practice as regularly. By using simple measures, such as in mine case, duration (in minutes), and modality of exercise you can help set realistic fitness goals and meet them successfully. I have applied this same exact process that has helped me improve my fitness to my client’s fitness programs.
Personal trainers work with their clients to come up with goals. In adaptive autism exercise training, we too follow this same process. The goals should be written using very specific language, so that the goal is measurable, as well as time bound. Using a schedule or daily planner along with these goals allows us to break goals down into monthly, weekly or even daily milestones. One of the most common reasons families seek our autism exercise services, is to aid a loved one with special needs in losing weight. While exercise is only one variable in weight loss (or gain), other factors such as genetics, medication, and of course nutrition all play a role, this is just to serve as an example. An adaptive trainer could use a planner, along with setting specific, measurable and timebound goals. In general for weight loss we want to be burning more calories than we are consuming, so if the family is implementing a calorie restriction, our role as trainers is to help the client burn more calories than they are consuming. The goal may to lose 10 pounds over the course of 3 months. Creating a specific training goal to achieve this might read “Tom will complete 150 minutes of cardio exercise on average, weekly for one month.” This goal is specific, time bound, easily trackable with a planner and broken into a significant, but assessable time frame. If Tom, from the example, is able to reach this goal at the end of the month and has been adhering to his diet, the trainer could then weigh Tom to track his progress towards the ultimate goal of losing 10 pounds in 3 months. If he is on track with the weight loss, great. The goal can be continued with periodic progression to help Tom reach his weight loss goals. If he is not on track with his weight loss, first I would meet with the family to see if he has been adhering to his diet, but if he is adhering to the diet than exercise programming can be altered into a new, specific, measurable and timebound goal to help Tom in his weight loss. This process is not just for weight loss, but for a number of fitness markers.
Collecting and analyzing data are critical components of autism exercise personal training. At Adaptive Exercise we continuously collect various forms of data ranging from behavior to exercise performance and level of independence. But, when we are responsible for collecting data on ourselves, such as we do when using a planner or schedule, we need to be realistic about what is relevant. I am sure we have all seen bodybuilders or other fitness enthusiast recording how much weight they are using for each exercise, the amount of repetitions they are completing and the amount of sets. If you have ever tried to do this it can be time consuming, and quite frankly take time away from your workout. For some people this may work great, but in general I believe a lot of people would find this process tedious. When we simplify this process to tracking just a few variables, it becomes much more manageable. Duration is one of the simplest and overlooked measures with exercise. It is also incredibly to track over time, and conveniently it is one of the measures used by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in their MINIMAL physical activity guidelines. When applied to the schedule/planner you can make monthly or weekly duration goals to meet. You workout then write down how long you exercised that day. Once you get in the process of this, it can serve as a great visual to see if your on track to meeting your goals.
Duration certainly isn’t the only variable worth tracking, but it is one of the easiest to track and often a great indicator of physical activity. When using self monitoring through a planner in autism exercise training, tracking types of activity and intensity can be very valuable. However when a client is self recording their exercise intensity, these measures are subjective and should always been taken into consideration with each individual.
Using a planner or schedule to help in reaching your fitness goals can also be helpful in planning exercise for the future. Writing down a specific event can help you commit to participating in said event. Plan a group exercise class, hike in the woods, or maybe a family exercise session ahead of time and hold yourself accountable for completing those activities.
All of these strategies have been helpful in improving my fitness over the past five years. I still have all of my planners and while I rarely go back to look at them, I know they helped me reach my goals. These same practices have been beneficial in my autism exercise training at Adaptive Exercise. Together we can work to create goals that are specific, measurable and timebound, then we can work and record while we meet those goals. The autism exercise personal training we offer our clients is to help our clients reach their personal fitness goals.