Making Exercise Work
Let’s get clear on something. Getting and staying in good shape and in good health is work. The concept is simple, exercise a few days a week, eat better, move more, but make no mistake it is not easy.
Results are not immediate and that can really test us on our journey to better health and fitness. You can’t do a workout, wake up the next day and look in the mirror and see change. Like anything worth while, you have to stay at it, work at it over a long period of time and then once you achieve your goal, you still have to continue to work at it to maintain your achievement or you risk losing it and wasting all of that time and effort to get there.
To make this exercise thing work for you it has to become part of your lifestyle. The trick is to fit it in to your life but not have it take over your life where it becomes a burden. Here are a couple tips to help you achieve this.
Plan Ahead. If you treat exercise as something that is a nice to do when you have time you will never have time to do it. You have to plan ahead and schedule time for your workouts like any other appointment you have that you wouldn’t miss. Figure out what a realistic schedule is for you to stick to and schedule it. We recommend 3 days a week but if you can only fit in 2, that is ok too. Consistency is the key so whatever amount works for you. Remember that this is a lifestyle, not a quick fix. Working out 2 days a week for the rest of your life is much better for you and will give you much better long-term results then working out everyday for 2 weeks and then quitting because it is too much.
Keep it Short. Don’t Over Commit. This is in regards to your workout time. In and out in an hour or less should be the goal. You can do everything you need to do in that amount of time. You could even get a good workout in in 30 minutes if that is all you have. The point is to not make your workouts take up too much of your day, otherwise it becomes a burden on your schedule and you will skip it.
Whatever your goal is, whether it is weight loss, strength gain, better quality of life, the results don’t happen in a moment, they come over time. The longer you stay at it, the better the results. The members that we have seen have the most success seen it come over years, with some ups and downs along the way, but they were consistently staying at it and still are today. Nobody loses 80lbs in a month, or fixes joint pain from a couple of workouts. It does take time, but if you plan ahead and keep it short, it doesn’t have to take up too much precious time and you will be far better able to enjoy more time actively doing the things you want to, for as long as you want to, because you invested a few hours a week into yourself!
