Finally the day is here and you are ready to start a health and fitness program. Now you need to figure out what forms of exercise you will enjoy doing and ones that you will be consistent at doing. There are so many choices out there theses days that it can be kind of overwhelming.
Every day you see a new piece of equipment on TV or in catalogs and new gadgets are popping up all the time. So how do you weed through all of the choices. The first thing that I would recommend is to save your money. Don?t spend anything yet until you have tested some of the free methods first.
Walking is one of the most obvious forms, as well as running or jogging, although I personally don?t care for running or jogging because they create too much impact on my joints. You have to decide for yourself. Another way to find out what you like is to borrow equipment from a friend. Most people have fitness equipment just lying around not being used at all and would be glad to get it out of their homes.
Now the next step would be to start spending little amounts of money on equipment. If you borrowed something that a friend doesn?t want maybe you can get a good deal on it. Go to yard sales, flea markets and pawnshops. You can just about build a complete fitness complex from these types of places.
Anyway the point is to test many different things until you find some you like. Most pieces of equipment or gadgets can be fun for a while, but may get boring so having many different types can be a great benefit (If you have the room!)
I almost always have to be outside to exercise other that when I?m weight training. All aerobic types of exercise are done outdoors. I do walking and one of my favorites in winter is hiking through the bush. Recently I bought a $20 dollar bicycle just to find out that I love bicycling. So I went and bought a new bike and now do 14 miles 3-5 times a week.
Once you find a form of exercise you love and that you can do consistently, you may want to put more money into it. For example I bought lights for my bike so I can ride at night as well as replaced some of the other parts to make riding more enjoyable. Finally I would like to say just do whatever it takes to keep up your motivation and the rest should fall into place. Remember the most important thing is to just do it!
Dan Desjardins
PO Box 151, Charlton, Ontario
Canada P0J 1B0 URL: http://www.headingforhealthy.com Email: dan@headingforhealthy.com "KEEP HEADING FOR HEALTHY!" Dan is a certified personal trainer who has helped people with their fitness goals as well as provide advice on disease, nutrition, training and supplementation. While making some major changes is his life he learned better ways of creating and sustaining change and would like to pass that knowledge on to others. | |
