Healthy B.P.M.

First things first, just what is your fitness goal, do you want to?

1. Strengthen your cardiovascular system? (Of course)
2. Boost your immune system? (Sounds good)
3. Lose weight? (Woo-hoo!)
4. Tone and shape your body? (Yeah baby)
5. Gain strength? (Definitely)
6. All of the above? (That’s what I’m talking about)

Now that you have a reasonable idea of what you want from your fitness regimen, it’s time to put a plan together.

 Got Discipline?

As much as we’d like to think that we are filled to capacity with willpower and discipline, you have to have a Plan B. This is the real world and “stuff happens”. We also have to be honest about what we really want to do and can do. If you have bad knees, a toddler, and no babysitter; jogging may not be the activity for you. Do you like action and adventure and have the attention span of a gnat? Stationary biking would bore you to tears, choose something else. Searching for the right program has as much to do with discipline and willpower as much as sticking to it once you’ve found it. Don’t look upon the programs that you started and stopped in the past as failures, you just haven’t found the right one yet. Or could it be that your attitude about exercise derailed your plans.

Are you a YIPPEE or an OH WELL?

Does this sound familiar?

“I can’t wait to get to the gym. Today I’m going to add an extra 15 minutes to my time on the Stairmaster, then take a spinning class. After that it’s off to the Nautilus machines“.Slow down! It’s good to be motivated and ready to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but you have to pace yourself. Too much too fast often results in burn out and injuries.

How about this one?

“I guess after I drop the clothes off to the cleaners, run to the store, return the book to the library, and drop lil Ricky off to soccer practice, I’ll try to squeeze in a couple of minutes of walking.”A little more gusto wouldn’t hurt. You get out of it, what you put in.

On your Mark, Get Set

Go ahead and get started. You don’t have to be perfect. Running a marathon or coming in first is not the goal. Optimal health and fitness is. Go at your own pace and make exercise work for you. The one thing that you can’t/shouldn’t/don’t want to do is give up. One more thing, if you don’t set goals you won’t know when you reach them.