Conquer Your Fitness Fears. WebMd

[Jeni 85 0]

I found this on webmd and thought it may be helpful to some starting the band journey, starting an excercise routine, or trying to get out of an excercise slump.

Enjoy!! I know i did!:w00t:

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:waytogo:Conquer Your Fitness Fears:scared2:

Hate exercise? Here's how you can learn to love working out

By Barbara Russi Sarnataro

WebMD Feature

Reviewed by Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH

Wouldn't it be great if you could be allergic to working out?

Then you wouldn't have to admit to friends, loved ones, and co-workers that you simply hate to exercise. Saying your throat swells up or you break out in hives might be easier than enduring the disapproving looks that you fear might come with confessing the truth!

• Yes, you can get a great workout indoors
  
• Gyms offer a new approach to fitness coaching
  
• Be fit and 40-plus
  

But truth be told, there are plenty of exercise haters out there.

Never mind that study after study has shown that regular physical activity -- even at moderate levels -- reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure and obesity and enhances physical and mental functioning. Many Americans still choose a sedentary lifestyle.

A CDC report released last summer showed that 55% of American adults didn't move enough in 2001 to meet the minimum recommendation of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days of the week. And the Gallup Health and Healthcare Survey found that just 45% of Americans regularly engaged in vigorous exercise in 2002 -- down from 52% in 2001.

Experts say there are many reasons people hate to exercise. They include:

• Intimidation. "There's lots of fear and intimidation," says exercise physiologist Kelli Calabrese. "And rightfully so. The industry is so confusing. Everyone is making these claims and you don't know what works." You also may feel embarrassed that you don't know how to use the machines at the gym, have no rhythm in step class, or don't own the right exercise clothing.
  
• Lack of time. "People put themselves under pressure that they have to get an hour workout," says exercise physiologist Nicole Gunning, who manages the Unilever Cosmetics International corporate fitness center. "Especially single career moms will say they don't have enough time or they don't know how to manage their time to fit it in." If you have trouble managing your time, exercise is often the first thing to go. A not-so-important meeting or a grocery run can hinder your best-laid plans. Heck, a rerun of Friends often sounds better than a trip to the gym.
  
• Negative image of exercise. Does just saying the world "exercise" bring up unfortunate memories of dodgeball games during grade-school gym? "I hated gym class," says Calabrese. "For some people, that's their only experience with exercise, so they start out with a negative perspective."
  
• Slow results. Seeing and feeling the benefits of exercise does take time, and many people give up long before they get there. "Some people are still looking for the magic pill or the 'drink this and you'll lose weight,'" Calabrese says. "They are still thinking there's a better, faster, easier way, so why exercise?"
  
• Money. "People think they can't afford a health club or the equipment or gear they need to get involved in a particular activity," says Calabrese. "They also have a fear or wasting money on something they won't use or won't like."
  
• Lack of support. Without the encouragement of a spouse, friend, or family member, it's easy to give up.
  
• Motivation. Whatever the excuses are for hating to exercise, in the end, it's a lack of motivation that keeps us from moving our bodies. "As anyone who has tried -- and failed -- to adopt a regular fitness routine realizes, knowing that exercise will benefit you in the distant future isn't the best motivation," says Jay Kimiecik, professor of exercise motivation at Miami University of Ohio.
  

But can an exercise-hater really change? Will you ever be able to face a daily workout without dread?

Yes, say Calabrese and Gunning, who offer these tips to help you turn "hate" into "tolerate" -- maybe even "love":

• Find something you enjoy. Bottom line, they say, if you don't like what you're doing, you won't stick with it. If you're not sure what you like, explore: Take a dance class, learn to Rollerblade or swim, or hike in some nearby mountains. Try them all. Keep experimenting until you find the thing that moves you, mentally and physically.
  
• Set goals. "Write down your goals and review them often," says Calabrese. But be realistic. If you've started out walking for 10 minutes, don't aim to run a marathon in three months. Your goals "can start really short term and lead to long term," she says. "Create specific, measurable, action-oriented goals -- and have a time frame for accomplishing them."
  
• Be a morning exerciser. Statistics show that people are more likely to stick with a fitness program if they exercise first thing in the morning, Calabrese says. There's less of a chance to make excuses, and you get it over with before your day begins.
  
• Schedule your workout. "Write it in your planner just like a meeting or appointment," says Calabrese. Schedule a whole month in advance, writing the day and time of your workout. "And if you have to cancel one, reschedule it immediately."
  
• Have a partner. "Exercise can be very social," says Calabrese. Whether or not you're involved in a team sport, she says, "having the commitment of a friend or spouse increases your commitment."
  
• Reward yourself. Gunning uses rewards to inspire people to set small goals along the way to the larger ones. When you can complete a 30-minute walk on the treadmill or do 10 push-ups, for example, reward yourself with a new CD or T-shirt. When you've stayed with the program for 12 weeks, get a new pair of sneakers. "Just make sure (the rewards aren't) food related," says Gunning.
  
• Chart your progress. Start by getting a fitness assessment when you first begin a program. (If you're not a gym member, do it on your own. Write down your weight, measurements, and BMI, then record how long you're able to exercise on the first day.) In three months, you'll see how much progress you made.
  
• Try a mind-body approach. Starting out with classes like yoga or Pilates, in which you focus on breathing and stretching, can give you a taste of exercise's feel-good benefits right off the bat, Calabrese says: "By breathing and oxygenating the muscles, you feel an immediate stress release, and you may feel the benefits sooner without feeling the soreness that comes with strength training or even cardio right away."
  
• Abandon the all-or-nothing approach. So you don't have an hour? How about 30 minutes? It's certainly better than nothing, and if you work smart you can really reap benefits from a 30-minute workout, says Gunning. And recognize you're fallible. You'll fall off the wagon a time or two. Don't beat yourself up. Just get back into your routine and stop procrastinating.
  

Falling in Love with Exercise

Just tolerating exercise isn't enough, Kimiecik believes. In his book, The Intrinsic Exerciser: Discovering the Joy of Exercise, he advocates learning to love exercise for its own sake. "Most people don't like (exercise)," he says, "because the information they're given doesn't do much to get them to like it."

People know exercise will help them live longer and be healthier, "but that doesn't do much in the way of motivation," he says. "It's external, or outside, in. Those reasons are not powerful enough to keep you motivated for the long term. Those people, on a daily basis, aren't paying attention to the feelings of exercise."

On the other hand, Kimiecik says, people who consistently exercise are motivated from the inside, out.

"The people who maintain exercise on a regular basis are those who really enjoy the movement," he says. "Regular exercisers almost always talk about how exercise makes them feel; they rarely talk about disease reduction."

So how do you get there?

"Find activities that make you feel alive and make you feel enjoyment," he says. To do that, he suggests: "Think about how you want your body to feel when you're exercising. Do you want it to feel fast, do you want it to feel strong, do you want it to feel pushed?"

In other words, be involved in the activity mentally and physically. Connect your mind and body.

Kimiecik admits it's not always easy, but without internal motivation, he says, it's next to impossible to keep up an exercise routine.

"To become a regular exerciser," says Kimiecik, "we all have obstacles. Like with most things in life, if you don't find a powerful inner motivation for doing something, obstacles are easier to find."

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10 Easy Ways to Make Exercise a Habit

Try these tricks to become one of the fitness faithful

By Leanna Skarnulis

WebMD Feature

Reviewed by Matthew Hoffman, MD

Let's face it: it's not all that difficult to start a fitness routine. After all, most of us have done it more than once.

The trouble, of course, comes with sticking with it. All too often, our initial enthusiasm and energy wanes, we get distracted by other things going on in our lives, or we don't think we're seeing results quickly enough -- and we throw in the towel.

Yet many people do manage to hang in there, and would no sooner skip their regular workout than their morning shower. What's their secret?

A recent study by researcher Diane Klein, PhD, shed some light on the subject. Long-term exercisers (who had been working out for an average of 13 years) were asked to rank what motivated them to keep up with their regimes.

Their answers might surprise you. The exercisers were not as concerned with powerful pecs and awesome abs as they were with feeling good and being healthy.

Here's how the study participants ranked their motivators:

• Fitness
  
• Feelings of well-being
  
• Pep and energy
  
• Enjoyment of the exercise
  
• Making exercise a priority
  
• sleeping better
  
• Feeling alert
  
• Being relaxed
  
• Weight management
  
• Appearance
  

So, once you have your priorities in the right place, how can you become one of the fitness faithful?

WebMD has compiled 10 tips for making fitness a habit in your life. To create the list, we sought the help of Klein, along with long-term fitness buff Roy Stevens and his wife, Wanda, who is transforming her hit-and-miss exercise schedule into an almost-daily habit.

1. Do a variety of activities you enjoy. And remember, there's no rule that says you have to go to a gym or buy equipment.

"We've shifted our perceptions from regimented exercise to physical activity," says Klein, assistant professor of exercise, sports and leisure studies, and director of gerontology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Having a variety of activities -- weight lifting, walking, running, tennis, cycling, aerobics classes -- will ensure that you can do something regardless of the weather or time of day.

2. Commit to another person. "The social aspect of exercise is important for me," says Wanda Stevens, a stay-at-home mom in Austin, Texas. "I'll let myself off, but if I've agreed to walk with a friend after dinner, I won't let them down."

She is six weeks into an exercise program, thanks in part to her husband's support. Roy Stevens, who works as a management consultant, has become her "in-house personal trainer." They work out together every morning, doing a combination of aerobics, strength training, Tae Bo, and stretching. If he's out of town, he gives her a wake-up call, and she takes the dog for a walk.

3. Make exercise a priority. "It has to be a non-negotiable," says Roy Stevens.

He began exercising to manage his weight when he was in the Air Force band some 20 years ago. "We'd travel, and other guys would get off the bus and go eat wings and drink beer. I'd go running." He's maintained the exercise habit even during his years working 70 hours a week as a restaurant owner.

There's another advantage to making exercise non-negotiable. Friends and family members learn that it's part of your identity, and give up saying things like, "Why don't you take it easy today?"

4. Exercise first thing in the morning. With two preschool children, Wanda Stevens couldn't find time to work out except on a hit-and-miss basis. Any number of things could sabotage her good intentions to walk or go to Pilates class after dinner. But all her excuses vanished once she started getting up before the kids so she could work out.

"I didn't think I was a morning person," she tells WebMD. "But it's working for me."

Experts agree that a morning schedule is best. "If you go to a gym, it should be located between your home and work," says Klein. "Exercise, take a shower, and you're energized for the day."

5. Or, exercise on your way home from work. The next best thing to exercising first thing in the morning is to do it on your way home from work, Klein says.

"Don't go home first," she says. "I learned that the hard way. There aren't a lot of people who are so motivated that after they go home and change clothes will go back out again and exercise."

6. Exercise even when you're "too tired." Chances are, you'll feel better after exercising.

"It energizes us," says Klein. "You breathe deeply, and your body makes better use of the oxygen exchange. You'll get an exercise-induced euphoria during the activity and for some time after."

If Wanda Stevens thinks she is too tired to get up and exercise, Roy shows her no sympathy. "She gets mad, but then she feels better afterwards," he says.

7. Log your activity. Write down the things that are important to you. It could be how much time you exercise each day, how many steps you walked, how far you ran or cycled, what you weighed, etc.

Some people make a game of it. You may have heard of runners calculating the miles it would take to run from their homes to Boston (home of the famous marathon), figuring how far they run in an average week and setting a target date for "arriving" in Boston.

8. Be aware of all the indicators of progress. It's great when your clothes fit better and you can lift heavier weights or work out longer without getting exhausted.

But there are a slew of other progress indicators, such as:

• Getting a good night's sleep.
  
• Thinking more clearly.
  
• Having more energy.
  
• Realizing your muscles aren't screaming after you've helped a friend move furniture.
  
• Seeing your resting heart rate drop over time.
  
• Hearing your doctor congratulate you on improved cholesterol, blood pressure, bone density, triglycerides, and blood sugars.
  

9. Walk -- with a pedometer (or a dog). "If you enjoy walking and haven't exercised for awhile, 10 minutes three times a day will give you 30 minutes," says Klein.

Use a pedometer, and work up to at least 10,000 steps a day. "Nobody starts out with 10,000 steps," Klein says. Find out what your daily average is, and, the next week, strive to walk 300 extra steps each day. Increase your steps each week.

"Better yet, walk the dog," Klein says. That's how she motivated her sister to exercise. "Twice a day she walks her dog, which is good for them both and provides companionship."

Wanda Stevens also enjoys walking her border collie and finds there's another benefit: "It relieves the guilt I felt over not giving her enough attention now that we have kids."

10. Reward yourself. Are you telling yourself that you don't deserve a reward for something you should be doing anyway -- or that once you can zip your jeans without lying on the bed, that will be reward enough? Well, honestly, how inspiring is that?

Experts say that making behavior changes is hard, and rewards motivate. So decide on a goal and a reward, and work toward it. You might buy yourself a video you've wanted after you stick to your fitness plan for one month, or buy new walking shoes when you achieve 5,000 steps a day. Do whatever works for you.

Edited October 16, 2009 by Jeni 85

[dancing bear 0]

Thanks for posting this. I have been in a exercise slump, and this has helped. my all or nothing thinking is usually a culprit. Like tonight, doing a little yoga and dance is enough and fun.

DB