Interesting Ways to Make Doing Exercise Easy and Without a Break!

Are You Starting Your Workout, but not continuing?  Interesting Ways to Make Doing Exercise Easy and to Keep My Exercise Program Going Without a Break!

Despite knowing the life-changing benefits of doing exercise regularly, I had some difficulty in pursuing my daily routine and one of the few obstacles to exercise was “I don’t have enough time to exercise”. As I shared in my earlier blog, I was exploring the ways to be consistent in going for my morning walk and doing yoga. I found a few interesting suggestions to make exercise easy and keep my daily workout program going.  

First and foremost: Start slowly, Do not rush. We can start with an activity we feel comfortable doing, go at our own pace, in other words, we shall keep our expectations realistic. We can choose the activities we like to get started. My friend, who is a trainer at a gym said ‘focusing on activities you enjoy will help you to start your exercise program and also to move to the next level, for example, if you love to swim, dance, or play tennis you’ll find it easier to stick with an exercise program that’s built around those activities’. At the same time, we need not rush to do everything at once. Over enthusiastically,  at the starting itself, if I plan: Wake up at 04.00 am, one hour dance practice, one hour running uphill, then an hour of workout at gym, …. I might lose interest or get exhausted! What do you say?

Secondly, we can make exercise fun and enjoyable. There are many activities which we can combine with our exercise routine, for example, you can play your favorite music and dance for that, take a dance or yoga class, go for some outdoor activities like shuttle or play Frisbee, or household work or gardening. You can even do workout with a friend, and afterwards enjoy a cup of coffee or watch a nice movie. Ask others to join you. Studies have shown that we’re mostly happier exercising with friends, family or colleagues than doing alone. Once in a while we can arrange for group activities like walking at the beach and having breakfast together. Recently, in my maternal family group, one of my nephews, Karthi initiated a walking competition and many of our relatives, irrespective of our age, participated. He had arranged some surprise gifts and that again motivated us to continue walking. I purchased a new pair of shoes that marathon runners use, which means you can guess how interesting it was! Because of this a few started walking regularly even after that competition was over, who did not have a walking habit!

Next, the very important thing is Staying motivated. Mr. Raghuram said he has seen many people working in that organization where he is the physical fitness consultant, for whom a workout partner can be a great motivator. Further, he added,

‘no matter how much you enjoy an exercise routine, you may find that you sometimes lose interest in it. At that point of time you can try something new, add other activities to your exercise program, or alter the way you pursue the exercises that have worked so far’.

I have a walking friend, she used to appreciate herself often like, if she is regular for walking for a week or if she finds herself having lost weight etc. Also, she will set a goal, say, daily walking for 50 minutes for a continuous fifteen days and if she achieves that she will go out for a dinner with her family and enjoy. This is one way of keeping oneself motivated in doing exercise! Is n’t it? So, reward yourself when you reach your goals—a new pair of shoes, a dinner out, a one meal or one day(!) junk food, whatever works to motivate you and that is one of the best ways to stay motivated.

Being consistent is one another way to keep our exercise program going. We can make our walking or other exercises habitual by doing at the same time every day, if possible. 

Committing publicly will also help. Talking to others about our fitness routines will help us keep the motivation strong and hold us accountable to our exercise program.

We, a few of our colleagues and friends were doing the yoga practice together through googlemeet. That was very successful I will say. Everyone will join, adjusting their other commitments. See, if I tell my friends that I am regularly going for morning walk and if I miss on some days I will feel guilty when I see them, right?

Taking care of my body is my responsibility. So, one good thing I can do for my physical and mental health is making exercise a priority in my life. 

Mainly, we should not be discouraged if we happen to skip our regime for a few days or even a few weeks. It might happen to anyone. Just we have to get started again and slowly build up to our old momentum. We have to expect ups and downs, but as we continue to exercise, we’ll start to reap the physical and mental health benefits and improve our overall performance. 

Finally, an easy way for someone like me! Sometimes, when I am not able to find time for my morning walk or yoga, during my daily routine I will find some activities like climbing the stairs when lift is available, instead of asking my assistant to do some work I myself will do etc. as the alternative.