Exercise – Making It A Habit
According to the transtheoretical model of change, an individual goes through a series of stages before the act of fitness exercise becomes a habit. This could take as long as five years of regular exercising for you to fall into the category where “Fitness” is part of your healthy lifestyle. During the course of this process there may be many an occasion that can challenge your resolve and you may find yourself sliding backwards.
But there is always the option of getting back on the wagon. Initial rapid weight loss can be exhilarating. Inspiration in itself. Then comes the plateau phase it its important to find something other than your weight to keep you motivated. The compliments slow to a crawl and the scale doesn’t move. Keeping the weight off is just as hard work and you need to compliment yourself on that.
Take up other projects in the meantime and stop obsessing about the scale. This is a time when fitness exercise can wane and inspiration runs low but persistence invariably pays off and the plateau gives way to a new horizon.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO KEEP CHANGING YOUR ROUTINE AND SET NEW GOALS. THIS PREVENTS MONOTONY AND GIVES.
Time Out: Repetitive structured movement helps you de-stress.
Common Sense About Exercise
‘It won’t do you any good to exercise unless you do it until it hurts’, the saying goes. This is absolutely false. Although you may get some benefit from doing exercises until ‘it hurts’, this is not necessary in order to acquire an adequate level of physical fitness. As a matter of fact, greater benefits can be derived from exercise by avoiding stiffness and soreness.
Fitness Exercise – Feel good
Emotional eating, stress, fatigue, travel, lack of sleep can all interfere with good intentions. Feel good about yourself, including the body you are in now.
Sometimes it may be required to lay off a little with the fitness exercise or indulge in your favourite treat. Keeping things in perspective and priorities right will get you the results you want and try and have fun while doing it.
Minutes for Each Exercise
The allotted time for each exercise is noted at the bottom of the exercise columns. These times remain the same throughout all the charts. Total time for exercises One to Five is eleven minutes.
Note: It is important that the exercises at any level be completed in eleven minutes. However, it is likely that in the early stages, an individual will complete certain exercises in less than the allotted time while others may require longer. In these circumstances the times allotted for individual exercises may be varied within the total eleven-minute period.
