Tracy blogged recently about her strategy of using workouts as rewards.

I love that idea and often do the same with bike rides.

Recently I’ve started using a writing productivity app, writeometer, which tracks minutes and words written per day and organizes writing projects.

It got me through my December working blitz which involved completing two papers and one report. Two left to go!?

Because I was heavily motivated by actual deadlines and genuine pressure I didn’t even look at the rewards section of the app.

But the other day I guess I was so far behind it started offering me cookies. If you write for just fifteen minutes, you may have a cookie.

However, it’s the holidays and I’m surrounded by cookies and by chocolate. That didn’t feel particularly motivational

But the next reward that popped up was a dog walk. Yay! Dog walks! Cheddar and I jumped on it. Fifteen minutes of writing and then a walk.

Now clearly there was nothing stopping me walking the dog without writing but the game playing aspect appeals to me.

I love rewards for mini chunks of intense focused work. There’s browse Facebook, my usual five minute writing break rewards.

Eat a cookie. Sure. Once that feels like a perk again and not just life.

But also go out for a short walk.

Cheddar will be happy for the company.

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by Alison Reiheld

1) Can I combine exercise with seeing the local historic and cultural sights, or will exercise mean missing out?

2) I despise comparing my fitness to other people so it is important that I not work out in a group, which means I have to trade socializing for working out unless I can find time for both.

3) Suppose I use the conference hotel fitness center or walk into the hotel sweaty sweaty and in spandex. What do I do if/when I run into academics who I very much want to respect me for my mind, but who would be reminded that I have a body?

4) Is it only philosophers who worry about this last one, and might take a reminder of embodiment as an indicative of lack of intellectual rigor?

4a) Am I being uncharitable towards my peers?

5) Maybe I want them to notice my active lifestyle given that I am presenting on (in part my own) fatness.

6) This feels like a trap.

7) I hate traps.

8) Sweat in the air, don’t care. Putting on my best exercise gear. Let’s do this.

 

Alison is a fulltime feminist, full-on philosopher, part-time lifter of heavy things, sometime runner, and perpetual motion machine.

I’ve written before about the idea of starting as you mean to continue. Don’t make big plans for your future self. She’s busy and easily distracted. Instead, do it now, whatever it is. Make it routine, part of your everyday. Don’t wait for inspiration to strike.

Me, I’m starting work today at my new big job.

I’m now Dean of the College of Arts at the University of Guelph. I had planned to ride my bike in. You know, start as you mean to continue? Get people used to the Dean on bike!

But instead, because of my bum knee, I made an appointment at the university sports physio clinic. I’ll join the campus gym too and get lots of upper body work in. I’ve already put a call into a new personal trainer. At my Guelph home (a university owned townhouse) I’ve got my road bike on the trainer. That seems to be my drill these days while my knee is healing.

Wish me luck, both with the new job and with the still injured knee.

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https://www.instagram.com/p/BdOZeatFLxL/?tagged=newfitspo

I love Superfit Hero.

They’re the feminist company that set out to combine two things I really care about: body positivity and ethical clothes manufacturing. (I teach a course on feminism and fashion and the ethics of clothes production, sales, and purchasing is a big deal to me.)

Oh, and I love their clothes. I’m wearing their Feminist tank on our book cover photo.

I wear their hoodie pretty much every weekend and their workout tights are the best I’ve found.

We’ve blogged about them before. See Superfit Heroes! and Superfit Feminist Selfie!

They write, “Every year around this time, the Fitness Industrial Complex batters us with messages designed to make us feel inadequate. #Fitspo or Fitness Inspiration memes clutter the internet with reminders that we are not good enough, thin enough, or young enough. This year, we are fighting back with inspirational messages of our own.

We are reclaiming our self-worth from the industries that want us to remain small and silent. We are redefining what fitness inspiration looks like.

THIS IS THE #NEWFITSPO.“

See all the cool stuff on Instagram!

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Susan

It’s been a tough fall for me. After my accidental personal best 10k in the middle of September there has been a whole lot of dog walking, some horse riding and nothing else. There are good reasons including a new aspect of my job that puts me in the car more, my son moving to uni that also put me in the car more with his sister that he had been driving around, peri-menopausal brain and who knows what else. This is life. My New Year is going to include listening to more music. I spend too much time with talk radio and although I love it, I’m feeling disconnected from fun and art. It’s going to include continued dog walking (because the dog demands) and horse riding. I will have to look for a way to do a Pilates something or another to start back to whatever I will get back to. That activity has always been my in to fitness. By March my daughter will have her license and maybe I’ll start running outside. Maybe we will buy the horse she’s been rehabbing. I don’t know, something will come up. For now, music and dogs. I can do that.

Catherine

New beginnings are one of my favorite things– new school year, Easter, spring time, summer break– they all fill me with optimism. The very act of imagining new plans, programs, regimens, routines, and practices makes me a little giddy.

So it is with New Years resolutions. Yeah yeah– most of them don’t stick (for good reasons). And it can be a big bummer to abandon some plan made with sincere (if not entirely realistic) intentions.

I’m reframing the whole resolution enterprise. Of course I’m listing priorities, coming up with plans/wish list. (For a comprehensive list, see my December 31 blog post.)

But I’m going to check in with myself every month to see how things are going, and write about it. That last part– the checking in honestly and curiously and kindly with myself in writing– is my real resolution. So here it is, folks: I hereby resolve to write a checkin blog post once a month to see how I’m doing with respect to priorities, plans, projects, and wish lists. Maybe we can even get a discussion going in the comments. I would love the company…

Christine

If my instructors determine that I am ready, 2018 will be the year that I test for my 3rd degree black belt. I want to be calm and assured when I go into that test so that will involve a lot of preparation – both for the specific test requirements and for my overall fitness level. Also, I have been having a lot of trouble with my back and hips lately. I’ve had a few people tell me that ‘it comes with age’ but I know that while age is factor, my issues are more likely related to how I move, sit and stand.

So, while I don’t set ‘resolutions’ per se, I do want to spend the next year feeling strong and physically capable so I am making more space in my days for movement. Specifically, I am adding daily strengthening exercises and I am setting up regular practice times to prepare for my belt test. Also, I love the idea of doing 218 workouts in 2018 and since that doesn’t clash with the other habits I am trying to establish, I am jumping on that bandwagon, too. KIYA!

Tracy I

As Cate said yesterday, I thought we usually just come out against resolutions. But maybe that’s just me because I think of resolutions as a set-up. I mean, I know about the allure of a fresh blank page that a new year represents. Hope. Possibility. Potential. I also know that in my life anything good that has ever happened has been through tiny steps, consistent effort, shifting habits, not from big plans and resolutions.

That said, I do find goals motivating sometimes, but my main goal these days is to be more relaxed about life. Hardly the stuff of which resolutions are made. I like what I’m doing already with my personal training, running, and hot yoga. I’m getting enough sleep, enjoying my friends, and loving my work. Since I expect all of that to continue apace in 2018, I’m not even feeling the temptation to make sweeping changes this year. I guess that means I’m in a good place!

Happy new year and all the best to you and yours for a fit feminist 2018!

For more resolutions by the bloggers at Fit is a Feminist Issue, look here.

Nat

I’m not making any resolutions. I am going to hot yoga on Sundays with my friend & neighbour Kim. I’m heading back to cxworx on Tuesdays and I got new running shoes for Christmas. I do tend to get back into running around Christmas each year. It’s the extra time holidays afford and it’s a quick, flexible workout when things get hectic.

I do tend to reflect on my fitness goals around my birthday in October. The fall always feels like my time to commit to new routines and indoor activity.

MarthaFitat55

I don’t make resolutions. I do set goals. As an independent consultant who helps organizations create strategic plans, I decided several years ago to create a strategic plan for myself. The four key planks rarely change: live joyously, eat deliciously, move lots, and do good work. Threaded through the four are spending time with family and friends engaged in some or all of the preceding.

For move lots, I set separate goals. For 2018, I want to make some gains in my deadlift, squat, and bench, currently at 101 kgs, 215 lbs, and 49 kgs respectively. I plan to swim at least twice a week. Although my fitbit is dying, I want to track more regularly in 2018 and get a few more urban hiker awards.

But achieving those goals won’t happen unless I create the steps to get me there. Before the new year begins, I will have refined the processes for each one, some on my own, and some with others to help keep me on the right path. Over the coming year, readers of Fit is a Feminist Issue will learn about some of the things I will do to achieve my goals.

Sam

Like Martha I prefer the language of “goals” to that of “resolutions.”

And I’ve made three so far. First, I intend to workout 218 times in 2018. Second, I aim to ride 4000 km in 2018. Third, unlike in years past I am not going to drop strength training in the summer riding season.

I’m amused that all the weight loss resolutions in my newsfeed don’t come from my women friends. Instead, it’s the competitive cyclists who are organizing diet pools, talking about race weights, and asking each other how much they have to lose before their first race.

Oh, and I’ve told you my goals but maybe I shouldn’t have. Research shows that people who share their goals are less likely to attain them. Why? “Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that you’re less motivated to do the hard work needed.”

Kim

I’m not a new year’s resolution person, at all, but this year I’m making an exception. My brilliant new neighbour and I were having a drink and a chat the other evening, and discovered something we have in common: we tend, almost as a reflex, to make ourselves small and shy when confronted with men (in a non-threatening way, let me emphasize) on the street or otherwise out in the world. That is: while we are both interested in men and interested in meeting new men, we struggle to overcome our inherent sense that no man, ever, would want us – so loathsome are we! – and so not making eye contact with men becomes a protective mechanism.

I should say here that we are both feminists, and both very bold and strong in other aspects of our lives, including professionally. Also, I’m pretty sure I’m pretty attractive, and my neighbour is *totally* hot! But old habits, ingrained by childhood experiences and ossified by a life lived under a relentless patriarchy, die hard. (In fact, when we both admitted we shared this problem, we looked at each other and laughed, out loud – so ridiculous does it seem, when it’s named and called into the light.)

So, this year, we’ve both decided to resolve: let us be more open to the world. That’s it. To look up, not down. To meet eyes, not shy away. To take a few more chances, safe in the knowledge that we can handle what may come.

Cate

When we were talking about writing this post, Tracy said “don’t we just always come out against resolutions? LOL.” My kneejerk response was to agree with her, and then I realized that I have actually demonstrated many times this year that goal-setting really works for me. I didn’t make a “resolution” to do 217 workouts in 2017, but I did set a goal. I also set a semi-successful goal to stop eating mindlessly after 8 pm (it worked until I got super-busy, travelly and tired). So I think, for 2018, I need to set some intentions.

First, I’m going to continue with the workout goal, with 218 in 2018. It works for me to be part of this kind of challenge, and as the counting adds up, I feel more motivated. I turn 53 in a few weeks, and I want to keep building the habit of moving my body most days a week. For fitness now, yes, but more importantly, preserving mobility as I get older.

Second, in the first quarter of 2018, I want to make sure I do at least one high intensity workout a week, deliberately. I am doing a bike trip at high altitude in May, and I want to really revel in where I am, not be fighting the thin air. This kind of goal works for me.

Third, back to the eating habits. For January, no snacking after dinner, except one weekend day. I need to get a grip on this random before-bed eating I’ve been doing.

And finally, most importantly, I want to feel less busy this year. I write about that a lot. That means building in more time off where I’m doing nothing, and making a lot more space to be friends with people “in real life,” as Susan put it recently — especially the people who live near me. I’ve got in the habit of letting time zip by in a blur. It means saying no to some work things, and that’s hard for me. I need to build better practice around that, and that will be my focus. Let’s play outside, my friends ;-).

More reading on resolutions….

50 Body Positive Resolutions that Don’t Involve Dieting

How to make and keep new year’s resolutions

Last weekend I was happy to attend  PINK XMAS: a PINK MARKET Queer Craft, Fashion, Art and Lit Fair at The 519, Toronto’s LGBTQ community centre.

I bought lots of gifts but I was also struck by this poster.

Ever since a gender non-conforming friend told me her story of never changing at the gym and only working out at places where she can arrive in her fitness attire, I’ve been thinking about posting about gender and inclusion in change rooms. In my friend’s case it means she doesn’t swim, despite loving swimming. (And nevermind trying to track down bathing suits for gender non-binary people.)

You can read more about the project associated with this poster:

Change Room Project promotes tolerance in the locker room

Change Room Project highlights the LGBT experience in locker rooms

There’s a brochure here.

Each year Strava makes users a movie and I’ve been watching on Facebook as friends share them. As a group my friends sharing their Strava videos ride a lot. The slackers are riding about 5000 km in a year and the keeners upwards of 15,000.

Here’s my Year in Sport. It also tells you handy things like how many QOMs I got, 2! Also, I got 84 new PRs. It tells you that David was my most frequent riding partner, followed by Sarah. The longest ride I did was on the bike rally, 130 km. And the ride I did with the most other people on it was New York’s 5 Boro Bike Tour. Of course.

But the stat that’s depressing me is how many kms I rode. This year I didn’t crack 3000. Wow. That’s not very much riding. In past years I’ve had a goal of 5000 km. While I haven’t always made it, I’ve come close

But this year there was no going south for bike camp in March and no cycling holidays either. I missed lots of the weekday rides in London due to my sabbatical in Toronto.

I did make most of the bike rally training rides and the rally itself of course. I even wrote about what it was like to do the bike rally without enough training.

I wasn’t as prepared as I had been in past years. In other years I’d ridden in Arizona, in Manitoulin, or gone to bike camp in South Carolina. In other years, I’d trained with a cycling coach doing weekly interval drills, speed work, and fast rides. This year I’d done none of those things.

Yes, I’d gone lots of training rides but in past years I’d found the bike rally pretty easy. I overshot the mark in terms of training. I arrived at camp in pretty good shape, not too tired, and easily ready to ride the next day. That’s the difference between being able to do it and having it be super enjoyable. Not this year. I knew I could do the distance but that’s about it. It was hot and hard and the days were long. This year I had to work at taking care of myself, eating well and sleeping as much as I could. I was often in bed at 9 pm missing out on social stuff because I knew I needed my rest.

I survived the bike rally. After many years of riding, I had lots of bike fitness in the bank. After the rally there was no Three Port Tour and no Halton Gran Fondo. Instead, there were canoe trips and some biking and boating weekends.

The year, well, it was what it was. But I have goals for 2018 and they involve riding a lot more. My goal for 2018 is to ride 4000 km. You heard it here first.

How about you? Do you set yearly mileage goals? If you’re a cyclist, what are they? How do you feel when you don’t make them?