I’m fascinated with all the current exercise choices. How does a person determine which modality is right for his or her body? At my local rec center, the choices are Power Pump, Water Aerobics, Zumba, Jazzercise, Yoga, Spin, Core Fusion, Pilates, Flow, Step Interval, Pilates Beam Fit, and Intro to Step. Choices at other clubs include Boot Camp, Sun Salutations, Power Yoga, and Power Pilates. Most exercise facilities offer a full weight room filled with elliptical trainers, treadmills, stationary bikes, and a plethora of weight machines. At home we have a fitness rider (collecting dust), a Pilates reformer, a stationary bike (not collecting dust), fitness balls, an inversion table, flex bands, workout DVDs, and hand weights.
But wait, there’s more: My iPhone lets me download the wonderful Tara Stiles yoga podcasts which I rate as 5 stars. I can also download dozens of exercise podcasts. YouTube has 18,600,000 – that’s over eighteen million – exercise routines.
Personally, I divide my exercise time among several favorites: 2 sessions of Bikram (hot) yoga per week (at a studio up the street), Pilates mat class, weight training for posture and Madonna-style upper arms (I wish!!!), snowshoeing in winter, and hiking in summer. Most days I do the Five Tibetan exercises in the morning (print from my website at www.lucybeale.com). On days I’m not at the gym or studio, I do 10 Sun Salutations (these are so hard) or ride the stationary bike for a mere 15 minutes while reading a magazine (easy).
I need to tell you a bit about my personal motivation for exercising. I started exercising at age 23 by taking a killer aerobics class at the YMCA in Denver. I stopped exercising after several years and discovered I had high levels of anxiety. Since I prefer natural healing modalities, when given the choice by a therapist between taking “happy” pills or doing daily exercise to manage depression and anxiety, I opted for the exercise and have been faithful ever since.
I’m really NOT an exercise junkie, I just try to stay fit - mentally and physically. For the most part, my days are quite sedentary. After all, writing, coaching, and watercolor painting are not what anyone would deem aerobic activities.
So, here’s my question to you. With all these great modalities to choose from, how many people do you think are actually exercising? Not that many. I think most folks prefer the sofa. Actually, I do, too. I’m convinced we’re all biologically programmed and hard-wired to prefer the sofa.
How many folks do you know who exercise 3 or 4 times a week? What makes the difference between a person who exercises faithfully and one that doesn’t? My quandary is how to get my clients, newsletter readers, and blog readers to exercise faithfully day after day, year after year. I know they’ll feel better. I know they’ll have happier moods. I know they’ll look better. They’ll have fewer medical concerns, more energy, and more fun. They’ll sleep better. They may or may not lose weight, but the rest of their lives will work better.
So let me know. What would you do to convince another person to adopt the habit of regular exercise? How do you keep yourself motivated to get to class or to put on the running shoes and hit the pavement? Why are there so many fitness modalities and why do so few folks actually work out?
Desperately seeking solutions,
Lucy Beale, author
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Glycemic Index Weight Loss Version 2
The Complete Idiot's Guide Glycemic Index Cookbook
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Well on a Budget
http://www.lucybeale.com/, http://lucybeale-weight-loss.blogspot.com/
5 comments:
I love your articles Lucy. This one was especially good. One of the most motivating things for me to exercise regularly is to do it with a friend. Then when I want to lie on the sofa, I think, "No, I can't, my friend is counting on me." At the moment, my exercise "friends" are my two golden retrievers. Believe me, they can run the guilt trip if it looks like I'm thinking "sofa" instead of "walk."
I think this is very good advice for a person like me who as tried a lot of dieting methods but i just can’t stick to one because they require me to starve a lot.wish me good luck and i will certainly try your great tips thank you.
I am like you, I exercise for my mood/feelings. I was diagnosed with depression as a teenager and put on happy pills. I hated them and somehow stumbled onto the fact that I didn't need them if I exercised consistently. So, I do. I have done so for years. Sometimes I do specific types of exercise for weight loss, but not always. I tell myself that all I have to do is a short amount of some type of exercise I enjoy. I know that it's much easier to stay in the habit than to start a new habit.
I used to tell friends to do five minutes of whatever exercise they like best for three times a week - then give themselves some kind of reward, just to get the habit going. Chances are, once you do five minutes, you'll do at least another ten anyway. But, if not, than ok.
Just stumbled across this blog and I'm already in love with it. As a person trying to lose weight and get healthy its really inspiring and motivates me to carry on when things get tough.Seeing other people that have achieved their goals is fantastic and inspiring - and all the people featured look fantastic!
Thanks for your post and totally agree with you that everybody thought that which exercise is suitable for him and which not.I think if a person is fit than he can do any exercise but a person suffering from some disease than he should better consult to the trainer.
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