“Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of a dynamic and creative intellectual activity.” – John F. Kennedy
Love exercise or hate exercise…It is essential for a healthy lifestyle, yes you heard me exercise is an absolute must. There is no way around it so the sooner you get used to that idea the better.
Having said that, exercise come in many, many forms so the secret is to finding something that you like to do so that you can keep up with it.
Some people love the gym because it has a variety of machines that can work the whole body, some people prefer classes because it has a social aspect to it and it can be fun and motivating doing stuff together in a group.
Other people like to workout at home to a YouTube video, especially if you have small kids and your time and energy is limited.
It is up to you what kind of exercise you do. To be successful you have to keep up with it. Find something that you love to do and keep doing it, don’t give up. Keep it fun and exciting. Exercise is one of those things that will make you eat well and keep you on track. It is a keystone habit.
How much Exercise is recommended?
Ideally you should aim to be active daily, but that does not have to be sweating it out in the gym or in a workout class. Any activity that raises your heart will do (You should not be able to sing but you should be able to hold a conversation.)
General guidelines for activity is at least 150 minutes (2½ hours) of moderate intensity activity per week, so you can choose to do 30 minutes 5 days a week or 50 min x 3 times per week or even 75 min twice a week.
A combination of moderate and vigorous intensity activities is good through the week. Examples of moderate activity include brisk walking or cycling. Examples of vigorous intensity exercise are running, swimming and football.
Make sure that your heart rate gets elevated for cardiovascular benefits. Apart from cardio exercise you will also need to improve your muscle strength. Ideally 2-3 times per week. (The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn.)
Examples of activities that improve muscle strength are exercising with weights, or moving heavy loads.
Benefits of physical activity
The benefits are many, exercise will make you:
· Feel better – with more energy, a better mood, feel more relaxed – exercise may also change levels of chemicals in your brain, such as serotonin, endorphins and stress hormones.
· Sleep better
· Help you manage your weight better - By increasing your metabolism or how many calories you burn in a day, it can also help you maintain and increase lean body mass, which also helps increase the number of calories you burn each day.
· Exercise can help reduce your risk of a heart attack
· Lower your blood pressure
· Lower blood cholesterol level
· Lower the risk of developing certain types of cancer such as colon and breast cancer.
· Physical activity promotes healthy blood sugar levels to prevent or control diabetes.
· Physical activity boosts the immune system.
· Physical activity boosts self-confidence and helps prevent depression.
· Good for your bones, muscles and joints and lower risk of developing osteoporosis
Sounds amazing right, knowing all this, it should make us prioritize exercise daily but still it can be hard. Getting started is always the hardest…
I have never liked exercise, not even when I was younger, I tried lots of different sports in school but didn’t like any of them, as I got older I tried a few new things but again NO matter what I tried, I couldn’t find anything to motivate me.
There was always some excuse to not being able to work out, I really did not like exercise but one day it all changed; I found my great motivator and it was so simple. I bought a heart rate monitor. You wont believe how that heart rate monitor did the trick for me.
I could track how many calories I was burning but also how intense my exercise was and it held me accountable. I earned effort points for every session of exercise that I did and I even had the option to set challenges and compete against other people online, it was brilliant and it made things so much more fun.
I found myself constantly trying to beat my last score and every month I set a new goal. Who could have guessed that a simple heart rate monitor would get me going?
My next step was to work with a PT to learn how to train in order to see results. Later on I even took a fitness courses myself. A 16-week fitness transformation course where I learned how to create programs for beginners. I am not a personal trainer but I know how to train to see results and I can program a workout now so that helps for sure.
Getting started is always the hardest, we end up pushing ourselves too hard too soon and then we quit before we even started so in this case what you need to do is to do very little daily and work your way up. Even if you just do 15 min in the first few days, that is better than nothing!
Action step this week:
· Set and exercise goal for yourself.
· Write it down.
· Get active.
Start with something simple and doable like a 20-min-walk outside or 10 min cross-trainer in the gym or any other activity you think you would like.
If you are already an active person, either step it up one notch or try something you have never done before like take a new class in your fitness center.
You are only one exercise away from feeling great!
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