Lifetime Fitness - Exercise Motivation

Anyone can learn to love exercise.
The hard part is... how to motivate yourself to start.

Lifetime fitness is attainable by anyone, even if you have never had any interest in sport.

There appear to be two approaches to exercise motivation.

1. The traditional army sergeant major

This involves lots of yelling and pain and being forced to do it. For the beginner many exercise classes must feel like this. You may have had this experience. For some this works. Do anything enough and it becomes second nature. But what of the rest?

Why do some children grow up loving exercise and others find it so hard? What happens to a very young child to make this difference. Children learn from experimentation and encouragement, driven by really wanting something. Children do the things they like and which reward them in some way

The question you have to ask yourself is "How can I introduce exercise into my life that is going to keep me interested and excited so that I feel rewarded by the experience?".

This is the secret to exercise motivation.

2. Softly softly catchy monkey

You can motivate yourself to build lifetime fitness into your lifestyle, easily, simply and enjoyably and make it a permanent part of your life within a few weeks.

Lifetime Fitness Rule Number 1 - Make it simple. Make it easy. Make it fun.

Lifetime Fitness Rule Number 2 - Don't attempt too much at once. Rremember that everything can be broken down into smaller, simpler steps.

The following account of a patient of mine, Wendy Adams, demonstrates the best approach to execise if you are a newbie to the exercise world or retired a little too early.

If she can... you can...

I had one lady come to my clinic who desperately needed to lose weight (she was more than 5 stone overweight) and had never done any exercise in her life. She loved shopping, she loved dressing well and she had a terrific sense of humour.

So I had her go out and buy some jogging gear, headband, the whole lot (easy for a shopaholic). Then I had her put it on every day (easy for someone who likes dressing up).

Day one, I had her walk around her apartment.

Day two, down to the ground floor and back up in the lift.

Each day after, she walked an extra 100m (yards) farther from her building. This was easy for her, no pain, no risk to her health, no chance to be put off.

When she was walking over half an hour a day, I then had her jog back for the last 100m (yards), then the last 200m, increasing each day in steps of 100m. Now she is a regular jogger and has lost all the excess weight. As she put it 'It's not all over until the fat lady runs'.

Regular Habit

The other important detail was that she had to start at the same time each day and that she did it every day. No days off. This establishes the habit.

Write a Contract

I had her write a contract, frame it, put it on her wall and swear that she would abide by it. Making a obvious public statement in this way can be very powerful and compelling.

Piggy Backing

Combining first steps in exercise with some other regular activity such as walking (running) the dog, going to the store, or listening to a radio show on a walkman is very effective. This piggy backing of one habit on another is a great way to develop any fitness program or training schedule.

It Should Never Hurt!

The idea of no pain no gain is terrific if you want to become an athlete, but not if you are setting out to begin a new fitness regime and develop better health. Never. If you are not in the zone for pushing yourself past your limits, then pain will just put an end to your fitness plans.Which leads us to:

Lifetime Fitness Rule Number 3 - No pain. No pain

Unused to Daily Exercise?
Lifetime Fitness Recommendation 1

Meet The Coach - Donald Dunn & his Fitness Success Program

Donald Dunn After twenty years in the U.S. Navy with a background in medicine, Donald is now a certified fitness coach running speed camps and strength training camps in Mississippi. He runs a series of "Freedom to be Fit" seminars.

The video below tells Jeff's story. A man who met Donald at the right time in his life and went from dangerously unfit, borderline diabetic back to full health. One of many success stories that Donald can relate from his fitness success program.

I am never over lavish with my praise for a product, but Donald's book is excellent if you are someone unused to daily exercise. Don't leave it too late while you watch the quality of your life slip away. Do something about it now. Like Jeff in the video, who may be lucky to be alive right now.

120 pages of easy to read instructions and clearly laid out daily exercise plans.
A lot of information about combining diet with exercise and keeping your mind and body in balance.

Click here to find out more.

I have taken the liberty of reproducing this extract from the beginning of Donald's book which is an account I'm way too familiar with in my line of work.

"I tried talking with my father about eating better and getting
some type of exercise. I emphasized how heart disease can kill him.
He believed that he was eating the things he liked and they were not
that bad for him. He also believed that since he worked in the
construction business that he got plenty of exercise. His answer to
me and I will never forget was, “if I die I will die happy”.

Well on March 28, 1987 my father, Felton Donald Dunn,
was the happiest man in the state of Tennessee. He died that day
from a massive heart attack. Three months from the time we
discussed his health.

Now was March 28th really the happiest day of his life?:

o He never met his grandchildren.
o He never watched me graduate from college.
o He never saw his grandson play high school football.
o He never heard his granddaughter sing and play piano.
o He never really had the chance to know the most wonderful
person in my life, his daughter-in-law.

Whatever your reasons are for starting any exercise program,
one of the main reasons should be your health. A lot of times I am
approached by people who ask me how to lose 20 pounds or how to
get down to a size 3 dress size for a special occasion such as a
reunion.

After further questioning them I usually convince them that the
numbers they should be concerned with are their blood pressure,
resting heart rate, cholesterol level, and fast blood sugar. If you get
these numbers under control and in their proper ranges then the
dress size you desire will take care of itself."

Donald Dunn

His fitness success program includes FREE MEMBERSHIP to his personal fitness coaching site.
Click here to find out more.

If you are used to exercise but want to build up your strength then the following program from Pete Sisco uncovers some remarkable links between muscle growth and the human brain.

A Great Psychological Technique to Build Muscle - Lifetime Fitness Recommendation 2

If you are in the market to build up your body or just increase your overall strength then the web site you need to visit is Precision Training. Peter Sisco's discovery that one repetition at extremely high power is all you need to activate muscle growth for several weeks has revolutionized muscle training in the US.

You can maintain muscle strength for life. Real lifetime fitness. There are walking examples of individuals over 80 years old that have put this understanding of the psychology of muscle growth into action with spectacular success.

It doesn't matter if you are a world class body builder or just an ordinary guy like me who wants to stay fit. The ideas behind this training system work because Pete Sisco has discovered, although accidentally, how the brain decides which muscles to develop.

The other program run by Pete Sisco is Maximum Strength which is intended for the more serious body builder. Visit Maximum Strength.

Specific Sporting Workouts - Lifetime Fitness Recommendation 3

Fitness Girl If you are looking to develop your skills in specific sporting events then the WorkOutPass program has a vast number of training videos and resources to help you train.

This web site has a vast array of fitness training programs and runs some good deals. There are many video workouts for many different sport and fitness needs.

Here's what they have to offer:

An entire library of over 5,100+ workouts (and growing daily!)
New workout membership sites added frequently (and you’ll have free access to all of them.
Private members-only forum to have all of your workout questions answered
Exclusive tele-seminars and conference calls with the world’s leading fitness experts and veteran trainers
Full membership gives you access to ALL of our original workout websites...this is truly amazing stuff

Resources

www.your-fitness-trainer.com As your Personal Fitness Trainer I am going to help you achieve your fitness goals and improve your health. We are going to attain the weight loss through exercise and diet by achieving Fitness Success first and building upon it.

The Lower Back Pain Toolkit is a reliable source of up to date information about lower back pain. Written by a physiotherapist it contains lots of helpful advice on how to manage lower back pain and also includes videos of some useful exercises.

"Rebounding takes only 15 minutes a day to achive optimal fitness and weight loss."

www.exercise-program-expert.com Dedicated to helping you get excited about exercise, fitness & changing your life for the better. From the beginner to advanced learn to exercise safely and more effectively with innovative, motivating & challenging exercise programs that are totally free.

Hypnosis CDs & MP3s

We have taken the most effective techniques from our live sessions and recorded them on a series of hypnosis CDs and mp3s. They have been enhanced with binaural tone technology which will help you to achieve a hypnotic state more easily.