You know physical activity is good for you. But that doesn't necessarily motivate you to keep exercising long term.
Oh sure. You've mastered starting physical activity programs. You've done it several dozen times. But sometime after that first month -- or even within the first week -- your resolve wanes. Before you know it, you're back on the couch and looking more like a potato than ever.
If you've started and abandoned exercise programs more often than you'd like to admit, you're not alone. Current research shows that more than 50 percent of people who begin exercising tend to abandon the program within six months.
 "Becoming physically active takes more than a simple 'Ready, Set, Go!' approach," said Kyle McInnis, ScD, FACSM. "To just flip an exercise switch one day after a decade or more of relative inactivity tends to be ineffective and short-lived. We need to focus more on helping people understand and overcome the challenges of living in an environment that almost forces us not to move around very much."
Get Ready
Despite a recent surge in membership at health and fitness clubs and booming sales of home exercise equipment, the overall combined rate of inadequate activity and sedentary living has not improved and has hovered near 75 percent of the population for well over a decade.
The inactivity problem isn't caused by lack of availability. Rather, the exercise drop out rate could be caused, in part, by unrealistic expectations. Physical activity should not be promoted as an "all or nothing" proposition. Most people can anticipate having less than perfect success and should develop an action plan for making up an exercise session that is missed.
To help keep you motivated, look for ways to incorporate activity into your daily life. Set reachable short-term activity goals. Because small changes are often easier to stick with, plan a program that will slightly increase your activity level. If your idea of strenuous activity is walking up one flight of stairs, you'll doom yourself to failure if your initial goal is to run in next month's local 5K fun run.
If you don't exercise at all, make your first goal to walk more throughout the day. Make a list of the activities you enjoy and vary the activities you schedule into your exercise program.
Get guidance from fitness professionals such as personal trainers and fitness consultants who can help devise a plan that's individualized to your health, interests, abilities, and circumstances.
Get Support
Once you've decided on realistic physical activity goals, enlist the support of family or friends. Tell them your specific plans as well as why you've made the decision to become more active. Invite them to join you -- but don't be surprised if they turn you down.
Your decision might change the relationship you share with some of your friends or relatives. Change is difficult for some people to accept. Resist the urge to preach to them about the evils of sedentary lifestyles. They know the facts just as well as you do. They must make their own choices, just as you must make your own choice.
You will find your friendship circle expand, simply because you will meet new people who share your commitment to fitness. This doesn't mean you will lose your old friends. Girls in Brownies, Girl Scouts, 4H, and other clubs have long sung a song based on a poem by Joseph Parry Brownie. The words are, "Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold."
You might need to schedule specific time with your sedentary friends. Just make sure it's not time spent drinking beer and eating pizza. If your together-time revolved around food and your friend refuses to accept anything but that, you have a choice to make. If you choose to retain the friendship, pass on high-fat, empty calories. Order a turkey sandwich or salad with no fat dressing and sip unsugared iced tea or lemon water.
Expect Success
Post your goals and activity plan on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror. Visualize yourself being successful in your long-term health goals. For adults with pre-existing health concerns, be sure to talk with your health care team before becoming more physically active.
Success breeds success. Keep track of your activities and reward yourself each time you reach a goal. Take a friend to the driving range and hit a couple buckets of balls. Go camping with your family. Buy new socks -- whatever will make you feel good about reaching one of your goals.
Update your goals and your activities as you find yourself accomplishing your goals. Feel good about the improvements you're making. |
