Lexington, KY - Most of us have lives that we feel are too busy; we never seem to have the time to finish all the items on our lists. So how could we possibly add exercise to our life? Good question.
I cannot argue with the fact that most people are unbelievably busy, or that trying to find 30 -
60 minutes to work out a few days a week can seem like an impossible goal. However, I also know that it is something we have to do.
Not liking exercise, not having the time for exercise, and not having exercise as part of your core value system are all valid reasons for not doing it -
except for the fact that you still have to.
There is no substitute for exercise, period. It doesn't matter if you need to lose weight or not, if you are healthy or not, if you are athletic or not, or what age you are -
you still have to exercise.
Paying your taxes, taking out the garbage, brushing your teeth, doing your laundry, these are some of things that, as adults, we do even if we don't like them. We find time to do these things because we know there are negative consequences if we don't.
If you love exercise, you won't put it in the same category as these tedious tasks, but most people do not like to exercise. If you don't, you need to put exercising in the category of things you don't like but do anyway because of the negative consequences of not doing it.
Maybe the consequences of not exercising are not abrupt enough to get you to take action. Maybe you can't connect the dots of all the medications you take, the extra weight you are carrying around, and how lousy you feel with the fact that you are not exercising enough. Maybe you don't care about dying earlier than you should or being completely dependant on others during the last decade of your life because your body has failed you, but the doctors are still keeping you alive. I don't know, but it worries me.
The inactivity of the citizens of this country and the epidemic of obesity is frightening to me. My goal, as a wellness professional, is to try to open the eyes of as many people as I can to the idea that moderate, consistent exercise must be part of their lives and that all responsible adults need to have exercising included on their list of things to be done.
Again, I understand, sympathize and empathize with all of you who feel too busy to add exercise to your life. If it was easy to get yourself to exercise as much as you should, then there would be little need for the field of personal training, which happens to be one of the fastest growing professions in our country even in the down economy. It is difficult to overcome inertia and workout; it is difficult to make the time; it is difficult to make, yet another, commitment in your busy life -
but you have to.
Please start with this premise: you have to exercise. Start from there and then figure out how you can do this. For many, hiring a personal trainer, making the appointment and putting it in your calendar (iPhone, Blackberry, whatever) is the only way it happens. For others, putting together a group of friends to walk with on a daily basis is what works for them. It doesn't matter how you do it, you just have to do it.
Make a different New Year's resolution this year regarding exercise. Don't make a resolution to exercise-make a resolution to realize that you have to do it and that you are going to put it on your list of things that must be done, even if it's something you don't like.