Reward Systems!

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

When your kids do something great, you reward them. When they get good grades, you take them out for a favorite food or perhaps let them pick out a toy. When they win on the sports field, you celebrate. When they do all their chores in a week, you give them their allowance. Rewards are a way to encourage positive behavior with positive reinforcement. It's important to recognize that you need to be nice to yourself too, especially in the early weeks of any new workout.

For example, you can set yourself up with short-term, weekly, workout and long-term goals. Those goals will be your milestones on your path to better fitness. As you achieve those goals, it's important to reward yourself. After all, rewards are a combination of a pat on the back as well as a great payoff for working hard.

Here are some ideas for a reward systems that have worked for others in the past:

· Short-term goal = 1 hour on the treadmill per day, six days in a week. · Reward = Complete first week, enjoy an hour-long massage. · Short-term goal = Lift weights three days in a week. · Reward = Dinner at a favorite restaurant. · Workout Goals = Pick up the pace from 2.5 speed to 3.2 speed on treadmill. · Reward = Pick up the new watch you've been wanting. · Monthly Goal = Lose 5 lbs and maintain workout for 4 weeks. · Reward = Dinner and a movie at favored spots. Yes, a reward system is bribery, but so what? It works, especially in the early weeks when quitting looks so attractive. The goal and reward systems give you something worthwhile to look forward to and to 'earn.' Imagine going to work every day and not getting a paycheck at the end of the week - few of us are going to volunteer that kind of commitment as a charitable act.

So committing to you involves rewarding yourself too. It's important to make the rewards something you really would enjoy and not something you typically give yourself. For example, if you are a Starbuck's junkie and you drink mochas on a daily basis, they wouldn't work well as a reward. If you don't get to go to the movies that often, then a movie would be a really good reward.

You might even start a reward/penalty system. This one was my favorite and it actually paid off in those early weeks. For every goal I met, I earned my reward; however on the days when I missed my workout for whatever reason, I put five dollars into the 'penalty box.' The money went in and had to stay there until I managed to do 4 weeks of my workouts straight without interruption.

If you're thinking, what happens when you're sick? I put the five dollars in the penalty box and 'reset' the clock as it were. The reasons for missing the workout are not as important as the fact that the workout was missed. It took 9 weeks before I hit the 4-week goal mark. I opened the penalty box and took out close to 75 dollars. It was a nice reward and I got to use it how I wanted to. Once that first 4-week window was hit, I reset the clock to 12 weeks and started the penalty box over again.

Dropping five dollars in on every missed day hurt and I tried to miss, as rarely as possible, but in some ways it was a real hoot to get to the goal marker. My current penalty box represents six months and I've yet to cash in, but that's okay - when I do I figure it will be more than worth it and I'm going to treat myself to something really nice.

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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