Breaking down exercise barriers
We all know the importance of exercise for maintaining good health, but doing it is another story. Getting into a regular exercise schedule is challenging for most people, despite good intentions.
There are many factors that may affect our exercise plans at different stages of life.
Being smart about your exercise routine and developing strategies to overcome exercise barriers will assist you to not only get started but stick to an active lifestyle.
Know you are not alone when it comes to being and staying active. It takes effort and discipline to start and stay with an exercise program. Understanding some of the myths and fallacies about exercise can help you navigate the fitness industry and avoid getting caught in products and programs that offer half truths.
The most common reasons for not exercising are time, boredom and accessibility. Time is the No. 1 reason people do not exercise.
Everyone’s life is busy and dynamic. Our available time to exercise will change frequently based on many external factors, including family, occupation, health, finances and more. Evaluating your time and looking for opportunities in your schedule to fit in exercise is the first step.
For example, use your social time to work out with friends and family.
However, even the best laid plans may not always work so give yourself permission to be flexible and adaptable with your time.
Rather than giving up after missing a week of workouts, take on a new attitude of changing your course and use a different strategy.
Be smart with your time. Time is valuable so plan your workouts to give you the best bang for your time spent. You don’t need to exercise for 60 minutes every workout.
In planning your workouts, you can adjust your time and intensity of exercise to accommodate your lifestyle. The important thing to remember is that these two variable work together in planning a smart workout.
For example, you can get great benefits from a 20- to 30-minute workout, however the intensity of the work will need to higher than a 60-minute workout to get the same gains. Simply making your workout shorter without changing the intensity will decrease your benefits.
Time and intensity of training always work together. As your exercise time goes up you can decrease your intensity. This is also true for resistance training.
When you lift heavier weights you can get the job done in 10 to 12 repetitions of an exercise. If you decrease the amount of weight, the number of repetitions needs to go up to accommodate for the intensity, requiring more time for the same results.
So if time is a limiting factor, choose higher intensity workouts for shorter time periods.
Workout even for a short period of time when you can’t fit in a full workout as it psychologically sets you up for success rather than failure. Rather than feeling discouraged, you’ll have a sense of accomplishment.
Boredom is the second most common reason people give up on their workouts. Doing anything too much and for too long will lead to boredom. The best strategy to overcome boredom is to choose a variety of activities.
As the saying goes, “variety is the spice of life.” Mixing up your workouts not only helps to overcome boredom, it also changes your overall training results.
By frequently changing the type of workouts, the intensity and style of exercises the body is continually stimulated to make changes, producing better results over time. Mix it up during the week or change your routine every six weeks for the best results.
The other thing to consider is the workout environment.
Exercising in a group setting is motivational and shows a higher level of exercise adherence. Find an energizing and supportive environment in which to train. Choose activities that are fun for you.
Accessibility is the other limitation for many people. Convenience is an important factor in staying with a fitness routine.
Gyms offer a wide range of equipment and classes to keep your workouts interesting and effective. Having these options is ideal however it may not always be available to you. If this is the case remember something is better than nothing.
Be creative with what you have at home. Body weight exercises such as squats, lunges, pushups and jumping jacks are excellent exercises that can be done anywhere and at any time. Inexpensive small fitness equipment such as elastic tubing can be used to give you a great workout at home or while travelling. As well, there are a wide variety of workouts available online for home use.
Bottom line … if life gets in the way of your workouts, build in strategies to keep you on track.
Helen Vanderburg, co-owner of Heavens Elevated Fitness and Yoga, fitness expert and celebrity trainer, author of Fusion Workouts, 2015 Canadian fitness presenter of the year, elite athlete, world champion synchronized swimmer and motivational and corporate health and wellness speaker. Find her online at heavensfitness.com and helenvanderburg.com. Follow her on Facebook/ helenvanderburg or Instagram: @helenvanderburg