11. Try Different Options Until You Find One That Fits
Exercise is a broad
term. Just about anybody can find some kind of exercise they actually
enjoy. Maybe joining a gym is the answer for you—all those classes, all
that equipment, the sauna and spa to relax you afterwards, even child
care! Maybe you need something more tranquil than high-impact aerobics,
and you’ll find new inspiration in a yoga class. Maybe you just need to
get out into the fresh air and take a walk. Even if you find something
you can only, at best, tolerate, try it for a while. Expand your fitness
horizons and keep an open mind.
12. Get Outside and Move
Walking is
great. It’s easy, fun, and can get you out in the fresh air or can
provide an opportunity for socializing with friends while you all shape
up together. Walk at a brisk pace for thirty to sixty minutes at least
three times each week, and preferably five to six times per week. If you
feel particularly inspired by great views, fresh air, and the lovely
and varied smells of the natural world, choosing an outdoor exercise can
inspire you to keep up the habit. Whether you walk, jog, run, bicycle,
roller blade, cross-country ski, hike, or climb mountains, exercising
outdoors is good for your body and soul.
13. Play Sports
Team sports can be an excellent way
to get exercise and a social life at the same time. Weekend football
games, tennis leagues, racquetball tournaments, playground basketball
games, beach volleyball, or whatever else is available in your area and
interesting to you can be so much fun that you’ll forget you’re
exercising! Swimming is another great sport to consider. Swimming is
great for people who love the water, people with joint or orthopedic
problems, and people who have a lot of weight to lose. The water buoys
the body so that joints, bones, and muscles don’t feel the impact of
exercise, making injuries less likely for people who are vulnerable to
the impact. Work up gradually to thirty to sixty minutes of steady
swimming. Varying your strokes—freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke,
sidestroke—will help work all your muscles. Water aerobics is very
popular and fun, too, and it can be tailored to any fitness level.
14. Join a Gym
A gym provides fellowship, a wide
range of fitness possibilities from aerobics classes (step aerobics,
cardio funk, kickboxing, and many other types of aerobics are offered
these days) to yoga to racquetball to swimming to weight lifting to the
latest in exercise machines, from high-tech treadmills to no-impact
elliptical trainers. In many clubs, you can also find personal trainers,
nutritionists, sports leagues, and child care, as well as other
amenities such as massage therapists, saunas, spas, steam rooms, and
snack bars filled with healthy fare.
Plus, if you’ve paid for a membership, you might be more inspired to get your money’s worth.
15. Breathe and Stretch with Yoga
Yoga is an
ancient Indian method of exercise designed to “yoke” body and mind. Yoga
involves specific postures, breathing exercise, and meditation. Hatha
yoga, most popular in the West, consists primarily of the postures and
breathing exercises. Yoga is an excellent fitness activity on its own
and also makes the perfect complement to other fitness activities
because it increases strength, flexibility, circulation, posture, and
overall body condition. Yoga is great both for people who have a hard
time slowing down, and for people who have a hard time engaging in
high-impact or fast-paced exercise. Yoga is among the more perfect
stress management exercises. Its original purpose was to gain control
over the body and bring it into a state of balance in order to free the
mind for spiritual contemplation. Yoga can help you to master your body
so that it doesn’t master you.
16. Strengthen Your Core with Pilates
Pilates is an
increasingly popular core-strengthening routine that uses either
special machinery or a simple mat. Pilates concentrates on strengthening
and gaining control over the body’s core, or the torso, especially the
abdominal and back muscles. Many fitness centers and certified
individuals offer Pilates classes. The exercises are part yoga, part
gymnastics, and part ballet. Because Pilates have become so popular,
classes and even do-it-yourself Pilates books are widely available.
However, nothing beats the expertise of a certified Pilates instructor
to help you get the exercises right.
17. Flow with Tai Chi
Tai chi and
its precursor, Qigong, are ancient Chinese Taoist martial arts forms
that have evolved to fit the twenty-first century. Rarely used today as a
method of defense, tai chi consists of a series of slow, graceful
movements in concert with the breath designed to free internal energy
and keep it flowing through the body, uniting body and mind, promoting
good health and relaxation. Tai chi is sometimes called a moving
meditation. Qigong involves specific movements and postures as well as
other health-maintenance procedures such as massage and meditation to
maintain and improve overall health and balance the body’s internal
energy (called “chi” in China).
18. Get Out on the Dance Floor
Whether you take an organized
class—ballet, jazz, tap, ballroom dancing, swing dancing, country
dancing, square dancing, and Irish dancing, to name a few—or go out
dancing with your friends every weekend, dancing is great cardiovascular
exercise and also a lot of fun. Something about music makes exercise
seem less like exercise, and dancing, especially for fun, even alone in
your house with the music blaring, is about as “unexercise-like” as you
can get, but with all the benefits. Vigorous dancing can also be an
excellent way to relieve tension and anxiety. So, get up and shake it!
19. Mix It Up
Try a
different kind of activity once a week. Also, varying your pace can add
up to increased health benefits. Author and exercise physiologist Greg
Landry, M.S., suggests interval training, a simple way to vary any
exercise you’re already doing. Landry suggests warming up for five
minutes, then exercising at your regular pace for four minutes, then
stepping up the pace for one minute. Then, for the rest of your workout,
work four minutes at a regular pace, then one minute at a fast pace,
and so forth. Interval training can help you to break past a weight loss
plateau, help get you in shape faster, increase your energy and your
body’s rate of calorie burning by raising your base metabolism rate, and
keep your workout more interesting.
20. Pump Some Iron
Weight
lifting isn’t exactly aerobic activity, but it’s an important part of
any fitness routine. Lifting weights is great for any adult. It builds
bone mass and can reverse osteoporosis. It increases muscle tone and
helps your body to burn more calories because the more muscle you have,
the more calories you burn during the aerobic portion of your workout.
Stronger muscles means everyday efforts, from lifting grocery bags and
small children to carrying that box of office supplies into the supply
room, are easier. You’ll feel better, your posture will improve, and
your body will look firmer and shapelier.
21. Don’t Overdo It
Lift weights no more than every other
day (or every day, but alternating which muscles you work). If you
strain your muscles too much, you could end up with a serious and
painful injury. To find a good plan, talk to your health club trainer,
find a good book on weight lifting that addresses your personal goals
(toning or building), or subscribe to a magazine, such as Shape, that
keeps track of the latest news and research on weight lifting and
provides different routines with detailed explanations on technique and
benefits.
