Fitness Tips: Developing an exercise habit

by David Garred,
Club Manager Dusit Resort Sports Club.

Greetings and welcome back to the learning curve. That’s right we have finished with reviewing so let’s get on with something different.
BUT WHAT IF I HATE TO EXERCISE?........
Many people struggle with exercise. In fact, most people do NOT exercise. Simply knowing that exercise is good for them and inactivity is bad does not seem to be enough of a motivating factor to keep them exercising for a lifetime.
We develop many of our feelings about exercise and begin to form our athletic personalities in our early years. Children who were belittled in physical education classes, were picked last for teams or did not excel at the activities they were asked to do often bring negative feelings about exercise into their adulthood. Chubby children associate exercise with embarrassment and humiliation.
When adults who already feel like klutzes try a new activity, they tend to blame themselves for feeling awkward or not enjoying the activity while discounting the real reasons for their discomfort. Perhaps they just didn’t enjoy the actual movement, didn’t like sweating or couldn’t develop rapport with the instructor.
With the media’s emphasis on the importance of exercise, its easy to get caught up in a narrow view of what exercise is and “what counts”. While some people say they hate to exercise, it is more likely that they have not yet been introduced to a form of exercise which they enjoy. Remember that there is at least a hundred ways that you can move your body. So go dance, stroll, dash - and enjoy the health benefits of movement, on your own terms.
BODY TYPING......
The pleasure of exercise often eludes people who begin with unrealistic expectations they believe that if they exercise hard enough, they can sculpt their flesh into the body of their dreams.
The type and shape of body you have was determined by your parents’ genes. Broadly speaking, there are three body types. Most bodies are a combination of all three but predominately on type:
* Ectomorph - thin, linear
* Endomorph - round
* Mesomorph - muscular
There is a tendency to distribute your weight in one of two ways: above the waist (apple shaped) or in the hips and buttocks (pear shaped). Men are more likely to be apples and women, pears. This is due to the gender specific fat needed to sustain a baby.
Exercise can do nothing to change the basic shape and type of your body. In fact, your exercise programme will almost always disappoint you if you approach it with the single focus of using it to control the shape of your body. — Don’t set yourself up for disappointment. Set realistic, achievable goals.
Exercise is simply a healthy lifestyle behavioural pattern that can bring you and your body countless pleasurable hours together. Besides, when you use exercise as a diet, you miss out on the myriad of other “feel-good” benefits that come from movement, including higher self esteem and a greater feeling of freedom and appreciation of your body.
So be wise in what you choose but make that informed decision today. Seize the day.

Fitness Tips