In life, in general, there are no shortcuts. You put in the time, and you reap the rewards. This is also very true of health & fitness. Our lives are so rushed and crammed these days that more often than not, it’s the appointments we have with the gym or with the kitchen that fall off the calendar only to be taken up by yet more rush and more stress.
Sooner or later, things begin to catch up with us. The longer you go without taking care of yourself, the more issues are compounded later in life.
Practicing good health is like brushing your teeth. You can’t neglect taking care of your teeth for 6 months and expect to get a great report from your dentist. In fact, the opposite is true. You know you’re in for a lot of scraping and flossing and bleeding (and scolding), and then you make a promise to yourself and your dentist that you’re going to do better.
Exercise works EXACTLY the same way. I wish we could store up a few days of insane training and activity and then take the next few weeks or months off, but the human body works much better than that. The biggest changes happen with consistency, regardless of what form of exercise you choose. Unless you’re an athlete and have to perform specificity training, it would be smart to think about doing something or some things you enjoy participating in at least 4 days a week, which focus on the body as a whole. The components you want to consider fall under these categories : cardiovascular fitness, skeletal strength and muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, agility and balance.
Regardless of your activity (or current inactivity) levels, there is something out there for you. If you’re really new to exercise, consult a professional. Make sure your trainer has more than just a weekend certification. Personal training is one of the last fields in health & fitness that isn’t regulated by licensure, so ask about their background and training.
Find a class at a fitness facility that you think you might like to try. If you’re unsure, ask to speak to the instructor who teaches the class beforehand, and ask them to help you safely through your first class.
Talk to your friends and find out what they like to do for fitness. Participating in activities together is fun, and makes the time go by quickly.
There are many options in our area, and the options make it easy to build a weekly calendar of fitness activities.
It’s never too late to start, and the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll be heading to good health. Make your health a priority, because without it, nothing else on your calendar is even going to happen.