Preparation for the next TT Challenge

The countdown is on! Only 15 days to go until the Turbulence Training Transformation Challenge starts.

As I have mentioned previously, preparation and planning is a big piece of the puzzle in achieving your goals, especially weight and fitness goals. If you don't have everything planned prior to starting your fitness program it is easy to find excuses not to take the steps you need to to reach your goals. You may not have had a chance to buy your Swiss ball on the day you start and find you can't do those Swiss ball crunches so use that as an excuse 'to start next week when you get the Swiss ball' or not do your cardio workout because it is raining and you have not planned ahead for what cardio you are going to if you don't want to go outside in bad weather. In the past I have tended to use the smallest excuse not to do things - all because I have not planned well in advance.

The past couple of weeks I have been thinking about my plan of attack for the next challenge and for the next two weeks I will start to take action towards preparing for the challenge.

Some of the things I will be doing in preparation for the next Turbulence Training Challenge include;

• Plan what I need to plan! I keep a list and add to it when I think of things


• Choose which Turbulence Training exercise programs I am going to do for the entire 12 weeks


• Update and print the workout sheets for each program and put them in my workout folder. I recreated and customised the workout sheets in the TT manual so I now have an electronic version of them which I update each time I change my program


• Set up my excel spreadsheet with all the correct dates etc. I have an excel spread sheet which I use to record my progress on a weekly basis (fat loss, measurements, weight etc) and daily basis (calories, breakdown of carbs/protein/fat, how I am feeling physically and mentally, a bit about my day, what goals I have achieved, how long it took to do my workout etc


• Read through each workout and study the videos of them from the TT member area to make sure I know how to do each exercise properly. I will practice any exercise I need to to ensure I know how to do them properly so I avoid injuring myself and so I get the most out of the exercise... yep, I will watch myself in a mirror!


• Decide on my nutrition plan, read any material I need to to familarise myself with the plan and make a list of any additional food I need to get prior to starting the program


• Start thinking about and writing down my goals for the challenge


• Decide what days, what time etc I am going to do my workouts. I am usually a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday in the morning girl. I am flexible with this though - just as long as I get the three workouts done each week


• Make sure I have all the fitness clothes and shoes that I need.


• Read through my motivational literature each day to start getting my mind focused. I have a folder in my computer where I put motivational quotes, articles and stories that I come across each day.


• Try to get as many 'jobs' out of the way so I can put my focus and energy into the challenge as much as possible


• Decide how I am going to approach the journal side of the TT challenge. One of the requirements of entering the challenge is that you must make journal entries in the TT Transformation Challenge forum. In the last challenge I made the commitment to write something everyday which really helped me keep on track. This time I may reduce that to a minimum of once a week as I now also have my blog to update. Still deciding.


• Start building up my fitness and strength so I can hit the challenge running! During the last challenge I had just had a long holiday and was pretty unfit. It took me five to six weeks to start building up my strength and fitness. In hindsight, I wish I had started doing some walking and gentle exercise for few weeks before had... well, actually I wish I had done this for the past 20 years then I wouldn't be Mrs Blobby now!

These are just some of the things I will be doing in the next few weeks. Because this is my second challenge I have a lot of things already in place but there is still a lot to do if I want to make sure I am as successful as I can be in achieving my goals. This may seem like an overkill to some of you 'spur of the moment' people who think planning and preparation is a big fat waste of time. If you are considering doing this challenge then you are obviously not in the shape you want to be in and you might want to have a think about why this is!? Could it be because you have not prepared and planned enough in the future?