| Many of us this time of year look down at our body and decide we want to “get fit” for summer which is coming up sooner than we want to admit. Government recommendations suggest about 150 minutes of moderate activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week. But like recommendations for vitamins, this number is pretty low. It is estimated that 65-79% of the people are not doing enough activity especially strengthening activity to be really healthy and obesity levels are climbing higher and higher each hear which will add to the chronic long-term diseases in the future.
Most of us know we should be doing more so we decide to join a gym in the winter or pick up a new sport in the spring, but how do we keep the exercise up when the motivation slips like it is so likely to do.
Here is the first part of a 2 part newsletter on how to get and stay fit by experts from across the world.
1) You need the WHY.
Just wanting to get fit is not enough motivation to keep it up for more than a short term period. Many people can be motivated to start out of guilt or shame or to look good, but those motivations fade very quickly. Goals like reducing stress or feeling good or increasing your energy or making new friends are more likely to get you to prioritize exercise in your life which is what you need to stay on track. Find a goal that is truly compelling and valuable to you and your daily life.
2) Get off to a slow start
Many people who decide to “get fit” just jump into everything all at wonce. They change the diet, join a gym stop drinking and smoking and within a few weeks get frustrated or exhausted and just stop it all. You have to realize that if you have been out of shape for a while, it’s going to take some time. The first month should include a few days of rest and only doing vigorous exercise a couple of times a week. Add in some waking swimming or slow jogs so you have some recovery time and allow your body to get the benefit from your work, plus you won’t loose your motivation as quickly.
3) You don’t have to “Love it!”
Forcing yourself to do exercise you don’t enjoy makes the long term outlook more unfavorable. When deciding what exercise you want to do, consider things you liked when you were a kid. Roller skating, bike riding, tennis, basketball are all activity that can give you the activity you need in a way you can enjoy them. But when it really comes down to it, you don’t have to really enjoy the exercise itself. If you feel the physical response of your body getting stronger or the great feeling of mastering a sport, your brain will love the activity.
4) Find a purpose.
Anytime you can exercise while getting other goals accomplished will help you stay motivated. When I work out in the morning I’m watching YouTube videos that teach me things and motivate me so I get more done during the day than I would otherwise. This is a great motivator to keep going and stay on course. I also invested in an Apple Watch. This has a program that tracks my calories and exercise minutes. I have to “close my rings” each day. This is not always easy and almost impossible if I don’t set aside at least 30 minutes of vigorous exercise a day but closing those rings each day has become a goal that gives me pleasure to accomplish each day. My new goal is a full year of closing all the rings each day.
5) Make it a habit
A mentor of mine once taught me “if there is something you don’t like to do but it must be done, make it a habit. For example if your exercise of choice is running, each day you have to decide to do it, you have to decide when your going to do it and then where. That’s a lot of decisions that go into that activity and any one of those points could derail your exercise for the day and after a few times of not doing it, you stop all together. However if you make it a habit that you get up 30 minutes earlier so you can run before work, or decide you will run over the lunch or after work, then you don’t have to have all those questions, you know you are doing the run at a certain time and you just do it.
You can apply this technique to lots of things in life and it is very powerful to do so.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jack Belitz, DC |
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