February is almost done, and so is our fitness challenge in support of Parkinson’s research.  Some folks have achieved their targets already, some are really close, and some may have fallen a wee bit short.  Oh, well!  We’re not training for the Olympics.  We’re recalibrating our lives in the direction of more physical activity and better overall fitness.

If you set a goal and didn’t reach it. . . you might be feeling awkward even reading this.  But this is my point (Which I have borrowed from Dr. Ed Neufeld, formerly of the Steinbach area):  Be careful what goals you set, because goals cause you to direct your effort towards them – even if you don’t reach the goal. Think about that.  Even if you fell short of your goal, you probably accomplished something, and the process probably moved you in the direction of more physical activity and better overall fitness.  So it ain’t a failure – it’s a step of progress.  You set a goal and you made progress. You are now primed to do it again, to learn from any mistakes you made (maybe there were none – life may just have thrown you a curve), recalibrate, and go for it again.  To be honest, you should expect at least a few failures and “overambitious, poorly thought-out goals” along the way.  Like, say, New Year’s resolutions. . . just sayin’.

Maybe you learned that you need to stay in closer touch with a friend or fitness mentor.  Okay – point taken.  Lesson learned.  Make adjustments and go for it again.  The goals are just the targets we aim for.  They are often kind of arbitrary (if 10,000 Kettlebells in one month is not arbitrary, I don’t know what is!).

Maybe you learned that you were able to do more than you thought – by week two, you could do more.  So you have learned about how your body adapts to exercise!  Capitalize on that.  Build improvement into your training plans and targets.  Have fun with it.  Every so often, shock your system by trying to do something much more intense – like a double workout!  Be creative, keep up the variety, and stay in contact with supportive friends so you keep your encouragement up.

There are only three more days to go!  It has been an amazing month.