With most teachers preparing for 6 weeks away from the strangest school term we have known, how can we take the healthy habits created and make them permanent changes to our lives?
Actively choosing to go for a walk or bike ride during the day, a family stroll after dinner, these are healthy habits that we now have the opportunity to cement into our daily routine.
Below are a few thoughts on how to make this happen for you!
Set a personal goal for yourself over the 6 weeks, they can be as simple or hard as you like, there are countless virtual event sites and Strava challenges that we can use to track our progress and celebrate our successes.
- Walk 100km during the Summer Holidays
- Cycle the distance from your house to your favourite UK holiday destination over 3 weeks
- Set a target of 10 consecutive days of yoga, then try and beat that score.
Give your new habits the best chance of succeeding, don’t set unrealistic goals but ensure they are challenging enough to push you out of your comfort zone.
Set your goal and get out and explore!
Write your walks, rides or workouts into your school diary, the same you would for any other work engagement; you wouldn’t cancel a meeting with your team leader so why should you cancel on yourself!
Build your workout into your day!
See if you can keep your workout times in line with your working hours, that way when you’re back at school your workouts won’t be disrupted.
Build the activities into something you already do each day such as:
- Do 25 push ups/sit ups before you brush your teeth each morning & evening (that’s 18,250 push ups a year!)
- 15 minutes of yoga before you shower for the day
- Walk, scoot, cycle or run to work
Get your friends, family and colleagues involved, you are less likely to skip a session if you know you would be letting someone else down!
- Arrange a walk with friends (bring your children if you need to)
- Walk or cycle with colleagues who live close to you, then keep this habit up when the daily commute starts again in September.
Remember that x4 15 minute activities spread out throughout the day is just as good as a 1 hour session, and can be more manageable around our work and personal lives. Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a session, use this time to find routines that work and you feel could continue once school starts again in September.
Schools' Active Community Coach 