I love exercising – in fact if I go for more than one or two days without doing something which gets my heart pumping, I just don’t feel great about myself. But it wasn’t always this way. To tell truth, I wasn’t one of the sporty kids at school – in fact, I’d try my best to miss the dreadful PE classes. Cross-country running was a nightmare – I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to run miles, and when i heard that one of my PE teachers was running the London Marathon in the 80’s – i thought he was insane.
Well, my 11-year old self would not recognise me today. Not only have I run 6 marathons, but I love cross-country running these days!
My point is, anyone can get into running or exercising as long as you pick an exercise you enjoy (no one will stick with something they hate) and you stick with it.
David Dack, a runner and established author, has outlined some useful steps to start exercising – or moving your body – which is what it was designed to do:
‘Turning your fitness vision into a concrete reality requires long term discipline and consistency. And the best way to do so is by making your exercise routine a daily habit. Let’s face it: Human beings are creatures of habits. This mechanism evolved over 1000’s of years to conserve energy and optimize performance so instead of struggling to perform the daily task, the automatic pilot kicks in and takes control.
Therefore, if you’re looking to improve your fitness level by forming a healthy exercise habit, here are 4 guidelines that can help.
Exercise in the morning
When it comes to achieving staggering consistency with a training program, picking the right exercise timing is critical. For that, and according to many studies, the best time of the day to go for a workout is in the early morning when the rest of the world is still asleep. Usually during this time of the day, there aren’t many things to do unless you prefer staying in the comfort of your bed.
As a result, if you think that you’re up to the challenge, make sure to get ready for the morning workout the night before. Sketch out your training program and lay out your training gears in the open so when the alarm goes off, you’ll know exactly what to do with much second-guessing.
Commit For 30-Days
According to Tony Schwartz, the author of the highly acclaimed book on productivity and management, “the power of full engagement”, the best approach for forming a new habit is by committing to doing the new activity for at least 4 consecutive weeks, non-stop. As a result, make sure to block out a specific chunk on your daily calendar for the next 4 weeks; that’s your exercise calendar.
Commit to another person
Human beings are also social creatures; we dread social rejection and being disapproved of—even by people we don’t really like. So why not use this instinctive mechanism to your advantage. As a result, instead of being a lonely wolf, make sure to do the bulk of your training with a workout buddy. The latter must share your training vision and have similar fitness levels.
In addition, you can hold each other accountable for the actions you need to take while providing encouragement and incentives thus you’ll both see your consistency and performance levels going through the roof.
Make your exercise enjoyable
If your exercise is enjoyable and fun, then you’ll be looking forward to doing it. Nevertheless, not all workouts can be fun—especially if you like to up the ante and push your body to your next level. In fact, going out of your comfort zone is essential for growing and improving your fitness level. Nonetheless, you can inject some fun into your training program by doing the following:
- Vary your training programs. Instead of sticking to the same routine, try different regimes and break out of the boredom mold.
- Listen to your favorite music and keep updating your playlist with upbeat and inspiring tracks.
- Pick an exercise that you really enjoy. You can also opt for it as an alternative if you’re not in the mood for the scheduled workout.
- Reward yourself for the hard efforts. Just make sure that the rewards are non-food based.
- Keep track of your progress by taking measurements, before/after pictures, and soliciting appraisements and compliments from your family members for progress.
Though these guidelines are simple and easy to follow, getting results requires rapid and consistent implementation. Therefore, make sure to put into action what you’ve just learned and remember to always exercise with your current fitness skill.
About the author: David DACK is a runner and an established author on weight loss, motivation and fitness.
If you want more free tips from David DACK, then go to http://runnersblueprint.com/weightlossrunning.html and for a limited time you can download his 35-Pages “Weight Loss By Running” eBook for FREE.
If you really want to Lose Weight fast and forever, this is a proven step-by-step technique that can help. You can lose up to 5 pounds each week by just following this simple report. So what are you waiting for? Click Here Now!’
