How To Make Exercise a Great Part of Your Life

Written by Barry Demp - 17 Comments
Categories: diet, health and fitness, self improvement

Are you exercising enough?

For most people, the answer to that question is “no” – especially at this time of year, during the holidays. Exercise might not feel like your top priority right now. But keeping active is crucial for good physical and mental health.

Even if you don’t need to lose weight, exercise is important. It will give you a greater sense of vitality: you’ll feel better in your body. You’ll see this in physical effects like greater flexibility, and mental ones like greater wellbeing. There is even evidence to suggest that depression is reduced dramatically by exercise.

There are two key types of exercise that you can do:

  • Strength-training
  • Cardiovascular

When you do strength-training, your weight will be redistributed – giving you a more desirable shape. This happens through building muscles (and losing fat in other areas). For instance, if you’re a man, you will be able to broaden your shoulders by chest and shoulder exercises.

Cardiovascular exercise (like jogging or cycling) lowers cholesterol, reduces blood pressure, and improves your mood. It also helps you to lose fat, which reduces the size of your fat cells – helping your newly-defined muscles to show.

How You Can Find Time to Exercise

Exercise represents something that’s important but not necessarily urgent. If you don’t exercise, it won’t normally cause problems right away – but over time, it can lead to serious illness.

It’s essential to force important-but-not-urgent items into your schedule. That might mean you exercise:

  • First thing in the morning
  • Immediately when you get home
  • During your lunch hour or another scheduled break

Build exercise into the rhythm of your life until it becomes a habit.

About three weeks ago, I took a cruise from Boston to Halifax to Maine. Along with a friend, I went to the gym every single day. Despite eating very rich meals (and even partaking in a chocolate buffet!) I came back without having gained a single pound, because I’d kept up my exercise routine.

Use Your Body

Instead of thinking about “exercise”, think of how you can “use your body”. You could:

  • Take the stairs instead of the elevator
  • Park at the far end of the car park
  • Do some yoga before work
  • Take a five-minute walk to clear your mind

… anything that keeps you active.

If you can, work on your goal as part of a community, perhaps alongside colleagues. Many offices will have a weight-loss challenges and regular weigh-ins together. They may even have a personal trainer come in a couple of days a week and run exercise classes at work.

Don’t wait until the New Year to start being more active. Begin today.

Bio: Barry Demp is a business and personal coach in Michigan. He writes about professional and personal development on his website – click here to read his Four Simple Tips for Healthy Eating During the Holidays.

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Related Reading:

4 Steps to Sticking to Your Workout Plan

How to Take Charge of Your Unhealthy Eating Plan

 

Free Self-Confidence Webinar

If you are interested in finding out how you can improve your self-confidence, please join me and Barrie Davenport from Live Bold and Bloom for a free Self-Confidence webinar on Sunday, February 26, at 8:00 p.m. EST (5:00 Pacific). I will be the presenter, discussing a specific technique you can use every day to improve your self-confidence.

No registration is necessary for the free webinar, but please sign up on the Self-Confidence Course wait list to receive an email later in the week with log-in details. (This does not commit you to taking the course but is a way for us to contact you with the log-in and password.)

At the end of the webinar, I will discuss our upcoming Simple Self-Confidence Course which opens for registration immediately after the webinar. Webinar attendees will receive a discounted price for the Course. If you are not interested in the Simple Self-Confidence Course, you are still warmly welcomed to attend the webinar. You can just sign off when she begins discussing the Course.

Sign Up on Wait List Here to Receive an Email This Week with Webinar Log-In Details.

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  • http://the6amjogger.wordpress.com the6amjogger

    Couldn’t agree more.  I regained my motivation for running by slotting in an early morning jog – it’s so much easier when your time is your own first thing.  I take a compact camera with me to catch the perfect moment of sunrise – exercise for the mind too!

  • Barry Demp

    Hi 6am jogger.  Thanks for comment .  I always love it when people are able to combine multiple passions.  These combinations enhance the sustainability of each activity and simple support having a great life.

  • http://www.clintcora.com Clint Cora

    As a lifelong fitness enthusiast, I’ve found that it’s much easier to have exercise in my life when they are connected to some sporting activities that I like to do.  For example, I do martial arts, skiing and scuba diving.  These activities are exercise on their own.  However, on top of those, I still do general fitness workouts with weights and cardio.  

    I have to admit that I’m not as enthusiastic with my general fitness workouts as I am with say a day out on the ski slopes.  But I always keep in mind that my general workouts will enable me to ski better or do martial arts better.  This is how I’m motivated to get through my general workouts.  I know that they will add to my overall enjoyment of the sports I am passionate about as well as the fitness health benefits.

  • Gail Kasper

    In my self-help book, I introduce
    the Systematic Attitude Development-Technique™ (SAD-T™) which is a readily
    available self-empowerment tool. A systematic method that gets you the results
    you want, when you need them the most. A series of steps you can take to get
    unstuck whenever you find yourself trapped in an unproductive pattern.

    Gail Kasper

    Author, Another Day Without A Cage: My Breakthrough From
    Self Imprisonment To Total Empowerment and Unstoppable: 6 Easy Steps To Achieve
    Your Goals

    http://www.gailkasper.com

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000222932720 Emily Guy Birken

    As a mom to a 1 year old boy, the gym is one of the few ways I can get me time.  The tough part is making my workouts count, rather than just going through the motions.  I program great music or audio books to help me power through my workouts, and I always feel great afterwards, which helps me keep motivated.

  • http://Mazzastick.com Justin

    Hi Barry,
    Great points for making exercise part of our life. I like to do physical work around my house like splitting wood or cleaning the yard of debris. Its all about not making it feel like exercise.

  • http://www.taoofunfear.com Matt, Tao of Unfear

    I did walk several miles today, but I haven’t been doing such a good job with running, which is what I wanted to start doing.  It’s getting a hold on my schedule that’s the real issue. I think I’m going to have to start scheduling my day more rigidly.

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  • http://pristineperception.com Suzanne

    Use Your Body is a great way to put it. Parking at a distance for example is just easy. Not to mention the extra fresh breaths of air we can inhale before entering a facility. Taking the stairs, once done just makes you feel good, and so on.

  • http://inspirationescape.blogspot.com/ Carolyn

    Great post. Often we look at exercise as a chore but once we get moving it’s hard to stop…it’s like breathing. Difficult to get the time during the holidays but we either find the time or lose the battle of the bulge when it’s time to slip into those fabulous outfits! Lyn (http://inspirationescape.blogspot.com/)

  • http://inspirationescape.blogspot.com/ Carolyn

    Great post. Often we look at exercise as a chore but once we get moving it’s hard to stop…it’s like breathing. Difficult to get the time during the holidays but we either find the time or lose the battle of the bulge when it’s time to slip into those fabulous outfits! Lyn (http://inspirationescape.blogspot.com/)

  • Stacy Gilliland Flores

    Thanks for the exercise tips. My goal for 2012 is definitely to be healthier and incorporate exercise into my daily routine. I have already started working towards exercising by adding zumba into my weekly routine. I am loving it.

  • Husniyyah

    Zumba is great. I took classes with a friend of mine and it was exhilrating! I am in the Gym now and it feels good to get a workout in after a long day of work.

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  • Anonymous

    I love your focus on fitness! It is so beneficial to many aspects of life mentally and physically. Thanks for the tips! It keeps you healthy mentally, physically, and emotionally.Gail KasperMotivational Speaker and Author, Unstoppable: 6 Easy Steps To Achieve Your Goals

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1296768086 John-Julian Motivation A Must

    Movie Star Motivator-Personal Trainer NYC, ”I motivate you”. John is a master adviser.Image consultant Date coach and Business consultant. Servicing the client’s tempered headquarters: http://motivationamust.com
    We are New York City best personal trainers, and  Suitable to service clients in  any state.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1296768086 John-Julian Motivation A Must

    Movie Star Motivator-Personal Trainer NYC, ”I motivate you”. John is a master adviser.Image consultant Date coach and Business consultant. Servicing the client’s tempered headquarters: http://motivationamust.com
    We are New York City best personal trainers, and  Suitable to service clients in  any state.