This blogpost is going out to you if you can identify with one of the statements below-
I don’t like exercise.
I feel guilty about not exercising.
I go through periods in my life where I work out intensely, then quit, then start up again.
I look for excuses not to exercise.
I know I should exercise, but I really don’t enjoy it, so I rarely make it happen.
I have never exercised in my life.
I try to exercise on a regular basis, but it never feels right.
Learning to love exercise is a complicated process.
It looks a little different for everyone, depending on one’s history with exercise.
I had to train myself to enjoy exercise and make it a permanent installment in my weekly life and now I have grown to love exercise.
It's part of life now.
It's routine and I miss it when it isn’t.
There are a few key ingredients for forming a healthy relationship with deliberate, routine physical activity.
If you incorporate these ingredients (adjusting for your individual life) then you will be well on your way to a life where exercise is part of your weekly routine and not some insurmountable task you face (avoid!) intermittently.
You ready?
Here we go.
#1 Commitment.
If you’re ready to get off the exercise roller coaster and make physical activity part of your normal life, then the first step is commitment.
This is the mental component of the process there you make up your mind to exercise on a routine basis.
No matter what.
The exact form of exercise can vary.
IN FACT, if you’re serious about honoring this commitment, I recommend being flexible with yourself about what forms of movement you engage in.
Being too rigid about what exactly your movement looks like can be stressful and prohibit consistency.
On a side note, I’m talking here about movement and exercise.
Let me clarify a bit.
When I say "movement", I am broadly referring to deliberate physical activity.
Forms of movement that fall under this category are the following: leisure walks, gentle yoga, casual hikes, light swimming, dancing, stairs (at a slow and easy pace).
These types of movement lower stress hormones which help to prevent your body from being in “fat-storing” mode.
They help promote daily activity, even if it’s not in an intense and physically challenging manner.
And, bonus!!! These actions aid digestion, keep your heart healthy, balance hormones, and help to increase oxygen consumption!
When I say "exercise", I’m referring to short bursts of intensely physically challenging activities. Specific forms of movement that leave you breathless with a burning sensation in your muscles.
Movement that sparks your metabolism and causes physique changes.
Ok, so back to commitment.
You need to make a commitment in your mind to change how you think about movement and how you think about yourself.
Now here’s where it gets complicated.
Most of you are at-least in your mid-20’s and older.
By now you might have already adopted some labels.
Maybe you've uttered things to yourself like, “I’m not a runner. “ or “Oh, I could never do that…”
Or "That’s so and so….she’s really fit.”
And perhaps you've become accustomed to limiting yourself and or putting others on a pedestal, when it comes to fitness.
The commitment portion of this process requires that you let all that go.
You have to be ready to become a new person, with respect to movement.
image courtesy of sashasheng.com Thank you!
You are now going to be someone that is active on a routine basis.
Yes you, in your own unique way!
Don’t worry about being like that gal down the street you see jogging every day (regardless of temperature) or that woman you know that does triathlons...
You’re a new and different breed.
You’re creating your own active lifestyle and it’s not going to look like anyone else’s!
You are going to cultivate a like for exercise.
You will begin to notice the absence of exercise the way that you notice when you miss your favorite show, your afternoon coffee, your weekly meeting with your friend.
You are going to create a relationship with various forms of movement where you genuinely enjoy the activities, you are happy with the results, and you no longer look for reasons to escape them.
You will now be someone that willingly engages in physical activity.
I know! Can you believe it??!!!
Totally.
More specifically, you need to commit to daily movement.
Commit to moving 6 out of 7 days a week, 7 if you’re ready for that!
(If you’re a little gun-shy, you can start by committing to 6)
Six out of 7 days of your life, you are going to do your best to get in some form of movement.
Stay with me. Don’t freak out!
There will be some mental and behavioral training involved here.
YOU don’t have to become this person overnight, but you do have to commit to becoming a person that consciously moves (almost) every.
Why everyday?
To form a regular habit, you need to practice it daily.
If you were to look at your weeks and list all of the activities you participate in every week, I would bet that most of them are things you do on a daily basis.
To add something to our lifestyles, we need to perform the action over and over again until it becomes regular part of life.
We'll need to take the necessary steps to making that happen, but before all that, we need to be willing to make the change.
We need to devote mental power to this shift.
We need to commit.
Stay tuned for the next step, coming soon!!!!
If you'd like to receive Step # right in your inbox, then sign up here for my Newsletter!
xoxo
Sarah