Yes, 2019 is just a few weeks old and you made the commitment to get more physical for the New Year. Maybe the goal is to get in better, healthier shape, or lose some of that extra baggage you’ve been carrying around for a few years. In order to accomplish this, you’ve decided to put one foot in front of the other, at a quick pace by taking up running. Well, Good for You! But, do you know what you're getting yourself into?

Running is a sport, just like any other sport that you may watch on tv. But running is a personal, individual, one that basically pits you against yourself. Every time you lace up your shoes, you're going to be competing against your last time out, the distance you ran, how long it took you, how well you ended up. It’s all about how well your body is performing this time out, against the last time you set off, out the door.

Like any new endeavor that you want to commit to, you need to really commit to it! It must become a habit to you, a part of your life, that if you don’t do it, you’re going to have that nagging feeling hanging around you for the day, knowing that you missed your appointed time slot and that somehow you need to make it up!

Starting a new habit of any kind is hard, especially when it’s one you kind of dread can be a little scary. But the trick is, don’t go all in at the start and swear you’ll run six days a week if you’ve barely run before. Create a schedule and stick to it. Another specific that can set you up for failure is don't set unrealistic or hard to attain goals when starting out! This again is just going to set yourself up for failure. You can get to your ultimate goal, but you need to pace yourself and gradually build up your body's stamina and endurance to help you to get there and reach those goals. Most people that take up a running regimen fail because that want to reach that 5-mile mark without breaking a sweat.

First things first, running is probably one of the easier, more cost-effective sports to take up. After all, you basically just need a good, comfortable, while a supportive pair of running shoes. The outfits can come later but you need good running shoes to start, not a fashionable running outfit so you look good out on the road or trail!

The most surefire way to get the right shoes is to head to your local specialty running shop. They’ll put you on a treadmill and analyze your stride to match the right fit and style with how you naturally run. Listen to them, again, color and style do not mean a thing if you’re not wearing a supportive pair of shoes that can go the distance with you so that you’re not injuring your feet when your pounding that pavement, or mountain trail, if that’s the type of running you’re going to be doing. And if you are, then make sure you tell the shoe specialists that so they can fit you with the right terrain shoes for your run.

Remember up above we talked about goal setting? One of the best ways to keep you honest in making sure you really are attaining those preset goals of your is to track them. In order to track them, you need to monitor your daily runs and the best way to do that is with a good, reliable GPS enabled smartwatch/activity tracker. As the saying goes, the only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday. Now with technology getting better every day, you can measure this for real.

One brand of GPS watches that I like is from Garmin, and their slogan really sums up what I mentioned above. Their slogan is "Beat Yesterday" which with a personal sport like running, that’s really what it’s all about, right? Some GPS watches save your previous times for routes and workouts, giving you the chance to race a previous you. This way you can clearly see your improvements and get motivated to push yourself that little bit harder on every run.

A good beginner running watch that fits this to a "T" is the Garmin Forerunner 35 GPS Watch. Which is a simple, easy to use GPS watch that tracks your steps, calories burned, the intensity of your run and can upload this data to an online community with its free app called Garmin Connect. With the aid of which you can summarily track your progress and if so, inclined can share this data with your running friends and see how you're doing against others. Which provides you with a little more of a competition against others instead of just against yourself. Which sometimes can be a great motivator to push yourself further, thus increasing your personal best! And unlike some other GPS watches, the Garmin Forerunner 35 also comes with a wrist-based heart rate monitor that monitors your heart rate without the need for a chest strap and lets you know just how well you're maintaining your heart rate rhythm while running and also at rest!

And the reliable GPS, which Garmin is known for quickly acquires satellites to track distance, speed, and location without requiring the use of your cell phone, so you have more portability without the need for a strong cell signal.

Keep in mind that you need to maintain a healthy diet, since your running, you’re going to need to eat the right amount of foods, some rich in carbs, fiber and of course protein. But knowing when to eat and what can be another topic for us to write about. Let’s just say you don’t want to eat a big meal before a run. A bagel, or a bowl of oatmeal, or a banana will do just fine. After all, you don’t want your body trying to digest a heavy amount of food when it should be working on breaking down what you’ve ingested into fuel, energy!

So, now that you have a few basics, go ahead and get those proper shoes, dress appropriately for the weather and strap on your Garmin Forerunner 35  and get out there and run!

We all know that exercise is necessary for everyone if they want to maintain a healthy body, and mind! Humans were made to be active. Not sedentary which has become a major problem with todays society. Years ago, and we mean years ago, most people worked at menial jobs, which took a toll on their bodies, along with working a minimum 10 hours each day and for some 12 hours were the norm. This was all done with eating a minimum calorie diet, which was watched over by the person in charge of the household, at least the running of the home, and yes, we mean the mother. Who worked longer hours than most of the family, getting up early to make sure everyone had a hearty breakfast, using as much as could be spared or dolled out from the family larder. The good thing about this was everything was made fresh that day. Not too many things were made ahead of time. That means, warm, freshly made bread out of the oven or on top of the stove. Fresh eggs and milk and large helpings of grain cereal like oatmeal. It may have not been a large variety of foods, but it was something that got everyone through the day and saw them through till their next meal.

Today, everyone is running around, trying to fit more things into their day. Answering or sending emails and texts, making calls or answering them all with the pretense of being more productive. But this change in lifestyle comes with a price. Most of us, are doing all of this sitting down. From their desks, workstations, on the way to or from a job or just heading out the door to a quick lunch, usually eating something that's high in carbs and loaded with salt and or sugar. If they're thinking about their waistline they may go and grab a protein shake. Then after work, they might defeat the purpose of that shake by having a few high-calorie drinks. 

One of the other downfalls of this new age society is that most of us have become sedentary and are not moving or expending large amounts of physical energy in performing their daily work-chores. Those of us that want to be healthier head out to the gym, either before work begins, during a lunch break or getting a little sweaty after work, before they head for home.

What most of us do not realize that if we are looking to burn more calories. Moving more doing cardio exercise burns more calories and pumping some iron creates lean muscle mass which when at rest allows your body to continue to burn calories, which is always a good thing. You just want to make sure that when you do hit the gym, you want to make sure you're getting the most out of your workout.

That's why your heart rate is so important; to get in an effective workout, especially with cardio, your heart rate needs to be elevated from its resting state to reap the heart-healthy and calorie-burning benefits. This is why heart-rate monitors are so popular. Using a good, accurate heart rate monitor like the Garmin Vivoactive 3 GPS Smart Activity Tracker  

Track steps, distance, Sleep and more. With help from Elevate™ wrist-based heart rate technology², Vivoactive 3 lets you monitor key aspects of your fitness and stress to show how your body responds under various circumstances. For example, it’s able to estimate your VO2 max and fitness age — 2 indicators of physical fitness that can often improve over time with regular exercise. It also tracks your heart rate variability (HRV), which is used to calculate and track your stress level. Vivoactive 3 can make you aware when physical or emotional sources cause your stress level to rise so you can find a way to relieve the pressure.

As we said before, you want to get the most out of your exercise time and the best way to do this is to exercise at your maximum heart rate! Turns out there's a simple formula you can use to find out your max heart rate and how to get into the fat-burning zone. Determining your max heart rate is as simple as taking 220 minus your age. So, if you're 30, your max heart rate is 190 beats per minute.

To get into the fat-burning zone, you need to be at 60 to 70 percent of your max heart rate during exercise. Since each person's heart health and activity level is different, one person could reach his or her 60 percent after just a minute of exercise, while others could take longer (or shorter) to get there.

You also need to keep in mind when starting out that you really need to first get checked out by your physician before you start exercising to the extreme. Also, when talking with your doctor, make sure you raise the question about any medication you may be taking that could raise your heart rate. Or could be a deterrent to getting an accurate read on just what your real heart rate is if you are taking medication that could make reaching that heart rate goal of your un-achievable.

Some trainers say that if you're doing steady-state cardio, such as running, walking, or cycling, you should aim for 70 to 80 percent of your max and stay there for a while. It will take around 18 minutes for your body to start using fat as fuel. If you want to do a shorter, more intense workout like high-intensity interval training (HIIT), you want to get your heart rate up to 80 to 90 percent for short bursts, then recover until your heart rate is back down to 60 percent. When you exercise at your target zone, you should feel like your heart rate is faster and your breathing has increased. A one out of 10 is resting, while 10 out of 10 feels like you need to be picked up off the floor. Using this scale, you should be at a six, seven, or eight out of 10 when you are in the target zone.

Again, taking the guesswork out of determining your max heart rate and at what intensity you have been performing at is best done with a fitness tracker like the Garmin Vivoactive 3 GPS Smart Activity Tracker  That monitors your exertions all day long and can provide you with trackable data via Garmin Connect where you can compare your progress and if you so desire, can compete against group members of a like mind to see who is out performing who.

So, what do you say, are you ready to Crank Up your Heartrate for 2019?