It’s week ten of Beat the Couch and we’re rapidly approaching race day on Sunday. It’s an exciting few days, with shirts arriving, medals landing and the couch-on-wheels making its way out of storage. We’ve dusted off the cobwebs and loosened up the wheels — a little like we’ve done with our runners. After months, years, or a lifetime of inactivity, our team is fitter and stronger and raring to go.

While I’m confident we’re organised, there’s always a little chaos in the background and too much rushing around. A few days ago, I leaped out of the car dressed for a meeting, with my gym clothes in my arms. No bag because I couldn’t find it and only ten minutes to get myself changed and to Bull’s Head.

I was halfway up the office stairs when a nice man hollered at me, as I’d dropped something on the road. He handed over my underwear with a grin and I assume I mumbled some kind of mortified “thank you”. Can’t be sure though, as I’m trying to blank out the entire episode. At least they were clean!

That little gem has been the only negative though. After nine weeks of carefully structured but challenging training we still have 90 per cent of our runners in the game. Five kilometres may feel like an easy distance to some, but for those who haven’t run or worked out in a long time, it can be uncomfortable to shake up a sedentary body. Establishing this baseline of fitness is hard, but it’s such an amazing doorway into other possibilities. We’ve had participants go on and do 10k, a half or even full marathons. Others have maintained their fitness in other ways. The impact that comes from following through on a commitment is huge. We always say: “Just look at what you’ve achieved in ten weeks. Now what are you going to do with the next ten?”

Not everyone makes it through the programme. Injury flare-ups, traffic accidents and crazy work schedules have pulled some over to the sidelines for very valid reasons. An important observation though: in general, the people that have made it to the end are not the less busy, but the people who found a way to keep training despite their busy lives.

We’re on our seventh season now and the people that seem to have the most success tick a lot of the boxes in the areas listed below. There’s a lesson for most of us here!

Following through on fitness goals — traits of successful exercisers:

They commit to a priority

Jill Bennett, holistic health coach at Courthouse gym, opened my eyes to the concept of “roving priorities”. This relates to the simple fact that different things will have a different priority at different times in your life. It may be that your family always comes first, but you may also have several years where career or entertainment, (for example), are more important to you than health or exercise. People are most successful at sticking to an exercise plan at a time in their lives when health or exercise comes high up on their priority list. To help you bump this up the list, think about everything you gain if you are healthy and everything you risk or lose if you are not. Once you find yourself in a spot where exercise is high up on the priority list, you are much more likely to follow through, even against the odds. Despite some challenges, one of my clients just e-mailed and simply said: “I have come too far to give up.”

They stubbornly protect the window

Once you have chosen your activity and found a time to do it, diarise it and protect it! Do it despite having other things to do. If something urgent comes up, you may have to juggle things around, but make sure it’s really urgent. Julia Pitt, another wonderful coach I work with, recently pointed out to me (and others at a seminar) how much time we waste on things that are neither urgent, nor important. We just receive those things in an urgent way (e-mail alerts, messages to our phones) and treat them as such. While e-mail, text and social media have amazing benefits, they interrupt our concentration, making everything else take longer.

They fuel well (or at least improve)

If your nutrition doesn’t keep up with the new demands on your body, you might struggle. What you choose to eat or drink can either make your fitness journey easier, or harder. Good nutrition builds you up, bad nutrition knocks you down!

Fuelling well through the day keeps your blood sugar balanced and your energy up — so you won’t feel too tired to exercise. You don’t need to be perfect, but simple things like ditching soda and hydrating with more water make a huge difference.

They push, but not too hard

It’s always important to push yourself when you work out. The bits you do when you are most tired or really feeling the burn, count most. Pushing yourself helps you make noticeable progress rather than treading water. But you also need to know when to stop. Rest days are important and always listen to warning shots — sharp pain, or persistent pain in any area, always warrants attention.

They feel the impact permeate

It’s important to stop and smell the roses. Pause long enough to recognise the impact your improved strength and fitness is having on your life. Less out of breath? Pants looser? Able to keep up with your kids? Following through on a goal and seeing results keeps you motivated and inspires change in other areas too. With greater fitness often comes greater concentration and focus — and a better mood too. Good news all ‘round!

• The advice given in this article is not intended to replace medical advice, but to complement it. Always consult your GP if you have any health concerns. Catherine Burns BA Hons, Dip ION is the managing director of Natural Ltd and a fully qualified nutritional therapist trained by the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in the UK. Please note that she is not a registered dietitian. For details, please go to www.natural.bm or call 236-7511. Join Catherine on Facebook: www.facebook.com/nutrifitandnaturalnutritionbermuda