Exercise: How do I get motivated to start moving?
Although most Americans know that exercise is critical to good health, that exercise insures weight control and strengthens our hearts, almost 60% of adult Americans get little or no exercise!
We all know we “should” exercise but that isn’t usually enough to get us moving. The reason you want to start exercising has to feel compelling to you. The reason needed is almost always bigger than just looking good. Finding your personal motivation is an important part of any health plan. If you do it because you should, you will likely fail.
Let talk about why exercise is a good idea…
- Exercise contributes to strength and endurance. Inactivity contributes to fatigue.
- Exercise improves blood circulation and our ability to use oxygen for energy.
- Exercise helps reduce the risk for heart attacks and cancer.
- Exercise greatly enhances weight control by fanning the metabolic fires.
- Exercise reduces stress and tension, and encourages relaxation.
- Exercise stimulates hormone production in men and women.
- Exercise helps agility and joint mobility.
- Exercise lowers insulin levels and promotes regular elimination.
- Regular exercise helps manage glaucoma by reducing intraocular pressure.
- Weight bearing exercises trigger bone mineralization to help prevent osteoporosis.
- Exercise releases heavy metals, like cadmium, lead and nickel, pesticides and other toxic material through increased perspiration.
- Exercise will give you a youthful appearance.
- People who exercise report having better sex.
- People who exercise live longer and have a better quality of life. Studies show that exercisers live on average ten years longer than non-exercisers.
- By releasing pain-relieving endorphins, exercise reduces anxiety, relieves depression and extends your lifespan.
It strengthens your whole body—muscles, nerves, blood, glands, lungs, heart, brain, mind and mood.
Make exercise easy.
It’s as available as your front door. Today we know that you don’t have to “feel the burn” to reap the rewards of exercise. A daily 45-minute walk, breathing deeply for just 3 miles a day (1.5 miles out, 1.5 miles back) makes a huge difference in weight and fat loss. Deep exhalations release metabolic waste along with CO2; deep inhalations flood your body with fresh oxygen.
Choose activities that work for you conveniently and easily. Always make rest a part of it. Start small and work your way into a regular exercise schedule. Like maybe you start walking with a neighbor a couple of times a week. Then you add a yoga class at church. Then maybe you visit your local gym and start lifting weights. Work out harder one day, go easy the next; or exercise for several days and take two days off. It’s better for body balance and will increase your energy levels when you exercise the next time. After a regular program is started, exercising four to five days a week will increase your fitness level; exercising three days a week maintains fitness level. But any amount of exercise is better than nothing at all.
Exercise is integral to good nutrition. In fact, it becomes a nutrient in itself.
At any level, nutrition is the most important factor for exercise or sports performance. Most of us notice that when we’re exercising we’re not hungry. We get thirsty as our bodies call for water and electrolyte replacement… but not hungry. Muscles become toned, heart and lungs become stronger, and fats are lost, but the body doesn’t call for calorie replacement right away. Its own glycogens lift blood sugar levels for a feeling of well being. This phenomenon is one of the reasons that rapid results are achieved in a body streamlining program. Exercise also promotes an “after burn” effect, boosting metabolic rate for up to 48 hours after a workout.
Now, of all the reasons given what reason is big enough to get you moving? Not sure?
- Learn about creating an exercise plan
- Download the weekly exercise worksheet
- Why exercise in the morning?
More Healthy Solutions Information:
BECOME A COACH