I'd be willing to bet that the number one source of most of my office visits is the fact that patients are out of shape. It contributes to easily 75% of the things Doctors treat: hypertension, high cholesterol, joint problems, diabetes, depression...The list is long! I often discuss medical management of conditions that could either be treated or altogether cured if patients could maintain a more active lifestyle. I also fully recognize the difficulty of either starting or maintaining a routine of regular exercize. The following is a list that I've found useful in getting started
Be Realistic. Especially at the outset, set an attainable goal and work your way up from there. Set the first bar low! Training for a marathon can start with walking Green Lake! If your focus is on a distant goal, you will defeat yourself at the outset. Think baby steps.
Pick a Date. Don't run home and use up all that motivation! Hold back and let it build up steam as you see the countdown to "go" day. Studies show that picking a date and giving yourself time to prepare result in better odds of success.
If you feel crummy, take a day off! Life is not boot camp....Stuff happens. Kids get sick in the middle of the night and you don't sleep, you freak about maybe losing your job. If you allow for the occassional missed workout, you mentally won't beat yourself up and give up. If your goal is to sweat five days a week, start off with two and increase by one day a week.
Break Old Habits as You Start New Ones. Think of this as a replacement: Instead of coming home and having that snack, come home and go directly for a jog or a walk. Pick three habits you'd like to lose and three to replace them....The momentum of achieving a good goal can extend into kicking a bad habit.
Give It A Week. Commit to any goal for a set amount of time and then re-evaluate. If you manage to swim at lunch for a whole work-week, when you re-evaluate in a week you'll realize how great you feel. Having that endpoint will make it attainable and propel you to the next step.
Pick Something You Enjoy. Why in the world do so many people go jogging when they hate it!? Because it's easy and they can't think of anything better. Before you do anything, stop and think what you WANT to do....Swim, Ping-Pong, Bike, Climb, P90x, pogo-stick....The idea is to break a sweat on a regular basis, do it with something that appeals to you. You may not enjoy it initially, but at least like it enough to push yourself to improve.
Find a Friend or Partner. This will make it much more enjoyable and help keep you accountable, but in a non-imposing way. How strong is the urge to roll over and hit snooze, and how much will the fact that your friend is waiting for you prevent you from doing just that? On days you're dragging, they can give that boost to carry you over.
Talk to Yourself. We all talk to ourselves, and too often it's negative and sub-conscuious. I can't tell you the exact conversation, but I know if I try to jog, my brain thinks up all sorts of reasons not to. To overcome this, start off with intentional positive feedback, "You can do this!" "I'm gonna tear this up!" etc... As silly as this sounds, it will help you overcome the negativity that contributes to being sedentary.
Create Variety. Boredom is the bane of all good habits Eventually those healthy changes you've made are going to get boring unless you change them periodically. If you walk, turn left instead of right sometime and discovery something unkown. Variety in any workout not only prevents boredom, but keeps things demading on your body.
