If you want to encourage
yourself to exercise regularly, then put your equipment in a convenient place.
Don't put it down in the basement or in some room you never go into. If (you
want to stop eating certain types of foods, then throw the route Lithe keeled in
and avoid restaurants where they are served)
Stock up on the kinds of
food you intend to eat. If you want to cut down on eating, minimize your time
in the kitchen by preparing easy to make things) If you want to encourage
yourself to do your cardio-vascular exercises regularly, keep your running shoes,
skip rope or whatever equipment you use in plain sight. What you see—you think
about. What you think about—you do.
Monitor
Your Behavior
Creative Thinking
Maybe you find yourself
in some irrelevant meeting listening to someone rattling on. Give yourself the
luxury of escaping for a moment.
In your "minds
eye"...
- · See yourself coming home this evening.
- · See yourself changing into your work-out clothes.
- · See yourself doing your exercises.
- · Feel the satisfaction you will have when you've done
your workout.
This kind of visualization works in a couple ways. It's a good method to implant a thought that will recall itself at the right time. But when you add good feelings to the visualization you not only tend to remember to do it, but actually want to do it.
General, when you want
to promote a certain activity by thought it's best to think positively about
the benefits that come from carrying out the behavior, rather than thinking
about the negative consequences of failing to do it. In other words—think_
positively.)
Set-up an Intermediate
Reward System
Be Realistic
Crash diets put too much
strain on the system. The methods involved in doing them are almost never
supportable over the long-term, so people who crash down in weight, almost
always vault right back up again.
Similarly, be patient in
your muscle strengthening programmed. You will probably gain muscle strength
quickly the first few months without it showing up very much in the mirror.
Don't expect 30 minute weight-lifting sessions every day to result in you
looking like a body-builder. However, this type of programmed will start
visibly showing through in six months to a year. And over the course of several
years, the average person will take on an appearance of an obviously fit
person.
Support from a Partner?
You definitely do not
want to miss or even alter the timing of your workouts because of difficulties
in synchronizing two schedules. Schedule disruptions will damage your ability
to form the fitness habit. And habit is the key. Most people will be best off
developing the fitness habit on their own.
Just Starting Out?
1. To slowly accustom
your muscles and heart to exertion. Doing too much in the starting phase can
lead to serious muscle soreness. Obviously, doing cardiovascular exercise when
you are out of shape has the risk of overtaxing the heart, and should be done
cautiously and perhaps only after a physical examination by a doctor. Listen to
your body, and use good judgment.
2. To learn the proper
form of the routines. Do the exercises right, so you get the maximum benefit.
3. To ease into the
habit of taking time each day for exercise. Be consistent and use repetition to
ingrain a good workout habit in you.
How you start out on an
exercise programmed is important. Overdoing things in the beginning can mess
the whole thing up. Here's an anecdote about a guy who was in that position.
Get a calendar devoted
solely to your physical fitness and/or diet programmers. Maintain it daily.
Everyday mark down whether you followed the programmed, or did not. The days
for which you failed should cause you a certain amount of dissatisfaction and impatience
with yourself. Remember, repetition over time will make the desired behavior
become easier to fulfill. Lapses just delay and make your goal's achievement
more difficult.
Get in the habit of
imagining and mentally rehearsing what you want to do. Several times a day,
whether you are alone or not, take 20 or 30 seconds to imagine seeing yourself
and feeling yourself doing your next scheduled workout.
The main reward in a
physical fitness programmed takes some time in coming. However, perhaps there
are some things that you particularly enjoy that you can hold as rewards to
yourself for following your programmed. Perhaps two weeks with no lapses should
be rewarded by spending a little more than you normally would to see a good
play, or for shopping.
You often hear about
people setting very high goals and then driving themselves to fulfill them. You
don't often hear how this can promote discouragement and failure. If you (want
to lose 15 kg give yourself 15 to 30 weeks to do it in a steady progressive
manner? Even if you could lose it faster than that, it's usually unwise to do
so.
Can you benefit by
teaming up with a partner? The idea is that you encourage your partner if they
start slacking off, and vice versa. The problem is that a weak partner will
undermine your efforts. In addition, you may wind up disrupting the formation
of your work-out habits due to scheduling problems.
If you're just starting
an exercise programmed after a long period of inactivity you should take it
easy during the first month. The objectives during this beginning period are
not to see how strong you are or even to get much of a workout. The priorities
are:
