Al-Huda
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the Message Continues ... 11/179
Newsletter for October 2016
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Easy Ways to Make Exercise a Habit
By Leanna Skarnulis
Try these tricks to become one of the fitness
faithful
Let's face it: it's not
all that difficult to start a
fitness routine. After all, most
of us have done it more than
once.
The trouble, of course,
comes with sticking with it. All
too often, our initial
enthusiasm and energy wanes, we
get distracted by other things
going on in our lives, or we
don't think we're seeing results
quickly enough -- and we throw
in the towel.
Yet many people do manage
to hang in there, and would no
sooner skip their regular
workout than their morning
shower. What's their secret?
A recent study by
researcher Diane Klein, PhD,
shed some light on the subject.
Long-term exercisers (who had
been working
out for
an average of 13 years) were
asked to rank what motivated
them to keep up with their
regimes.
Their answers might
surprise you. The exercisers
were not as concerned with
powerful pecs and awesome abs as
they were with feeling good and
being healthy.
Here's how the study
participants ranked their
motivators:
So, once you have your priorities in the right place, how
can you become one of the
fitness faithful?
WebMD has compiled 10 tips for making fitness a habit in
your life. To create the list,
we sought the help of Klein,
along with long-term fitness
buff Roy Stevens and his wife,
Wanda, who is transforming her
hit-and-miss exercise schedule
into an almost-daily habit.
1. Do a variety of activities you enjoy. And remember,
there's no rule that says you
have to go to a gym or buy
equipment.
"We've shifted our perceptions from regimented exercise
to physical activity,"
says Klein, assistant professor
of exercise, sports and leisure
studies, and director of
gerontology at the University of
Tennessee, Knoxville.
Having a variety of activities
weight lifting,
walking, running, tennis,
cycling, aerobics classes
-- will ensure that you can do something regardless
of the weather or time of day.
2. Commit to another person. "The social aspect of
exercise is important for me,"
says Wanda Stevens, a
stay-at-home mom in Austin,
Texas. "I'll let myself off, but
if I've agreed to walk with a
friend after dinner, I won't let
them down."
She is six weeks into an exercise
program, thanks in part to her
husband's support. Roy Stevens,
who works as a management
consultant, has become her
"in-house personal trainer."
They work out together every
morning, doing a combination of
aerobics, strength
training, Tae Bo, and stretching.
If he's out of town, he gives
her a wake-up call, and she
takes the dog for a walk.
3. Make exercise a
priority. "It
has to be a non-negotiable,"
says Roy Stevens.
He began exercising to
manage his weight when
he was in the Air Force band
some 20 years ago. "We'd travel,
and other guys would get off the
bus and go eat wings and drink
beer. I'd go running." He's
maintained the exercise habit
even during his years working 70
hours a week as a restaurant
owner.
There's another advantage
to making exercise
non-negotiable. Friends and
family members learn that it's
part of your identity, and give
up saying things like, "Why
don't you take it easy today?"
4. Exercise first thing
in the morning. With
two preschool
children, Wanda Stevens couldn't
find time to work out except on
a hit-and-miss basis. Any number
of things could sabotage her
good intentions to walk or go to Pilates class
after dinner. But all her
excuses vanished once she
started getting up before the
kids so she could work out.
"I didn't think I was a
morning person," she tells
WebMD. "But it's working for
me."
Experts agree that a
morning schedule is best. "If
you go to a gym, it should be
located between your home and
work," says Klein. "Exercise,
take a shower, and you're
energized for the day."
5. Or, exercise on your
way home from work. The
next best thing to exercising
first thing in the morning is to
do it on your way home from
work, Klein says.
"Don't go home first,"
she says. "I learned that the
hard way. There aren't a lot of
people who are so motivated that
after they go home and change
clothes will go back out again
and exercise."
6. Exercise even when
you're "too tired." Chances
are, you'll feel better after
exercising.
"It energizes us," says
Klein. "You breathe deeply, and
your body makes better use of
the oxygen exchange. You'll get
an exercise-induced euphoria
during the activity and for some
time after."
If Wanda Stevens thinks
she is too tired to get up and
exercise, Roy shows her no
sympathy. "She gets mad, but
then she feels better
afterwards," he says.
7. Log your activity. Write
down the things that are
important to you. It could be
how much time you exercise each
day, how many steps you walked,
how far you ran or cycled, what
you weighed, etc.
Some people make a game
of it. You may have heard of
runners calculating the miles it
would take to run from their
homes to Boston (home of the
famous marathon), figuring how
far they run in an average week
and setting a target date for
"arriving" in Boston.
8. Be aware of all the indicators of progress. It's great
when your clothes fit better and
you can lift heavier weights or
work out longer without getting
exhausted.
But there are a slew of other progress indicators, such
as:
9. Walk -- with a pedometer (or a dog). "If you enjoy
walking and haven't exercised
for awhile, 10 minutes three
times a day will give you 30
minutes," says Klein.
Use a pedometer, and work up to at least 10,000 steps a
day. "Nobody starts out with
10,000 steps," Klein says. Find
out what your daily average is,
and, the next week, strive to
walk 300 extra steps each day.
Increase your steps each week.
"Better yet, walk the dog," Klein says. That's how she
motivated her sister to
exercise. "Twice a day she walks
her dog, which is good for them
both and provides
companionship."
Wanda Stevens also enjoys
walking her border collie and
finds there's another benefit:
"It relieves the guilt I felt
over not giving her enough
attention now that we have
kids."
10. Reward yourself. Are
you telling yourself that you
don't deserve a reward for
something you should be doing
anyway -- or that once you can
zip your jeans without lying on
the bed, that will be reward
enough? Well, honestly, how
inspiring is that?
Experts say that making behavior changes is
hard, and rewards motivate. So
decide on a goal and a reward,
and work toward it. You might
buy yourself a video you've
wanted after you stick to your
fitness plan for one month, or
buy new walking shoes when you
achieve 5,000 steps a day. Do
whatever works for you. |
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The opinions and/or assertions contained therein do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of this site,
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