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Exercise And Your Anaerobic Threshold
If you’re like most people you’re looking to get the most out of a workout that you possibly can. However exercising to build endurance requires a different approach than exercising to lose weight. To get the most out of your workout you need to...
Exercise Bikes – How Far They Have Come
The exercise bike has long been the type of exercising that people just love to do. Why? It is relatively easy to do and it allows people to exercise at virtually any time, in a number of different ways. It is through these bikes that people can...
Exercise Your Way To Weight Loss And Health... You Can Do It!
We've all heard a hundred times that the key to weight loss and a healthy body is a sound diet and exercise. Many of us work hard to keep our diets in check, but have a hard time when it comes to exercise. Either we're short on time, feel too tired,...
Five good reasons why every woman should exercise her pelvic floor muscles
A strong pelvic floor is an essential to lifelong physical, sexual and emotional health. Yet the pelvic floor is often neglected by fitness experts. A simple programme of pelvic floor exercises can be the answer. Why?
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Underwater treadmill exercise to strengthen muscles, hip-abduction strength and gait strength.
Underwater treadmill is a treadmill which is submerged in water and provides exercise to people who have undergone total hip replacement. Underwater treadmill is a key component in rehabilitation centers to increase muscle strength and motion of...
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Exercise & Motivation, Part 4: Maintenance & Relapse
Copyright 2005 Tanja Gardner
WHAT ARE THE MAINTENANCE AND RELAPSE STAGES?
In the maintenance stage, you’ve been exercising regularly for long enough that it’s become a habit. You’ve created a routine that works for you, and (if you’re doing it right), you’ve started seeing the benefits you originally wanted in your life. There are still a few traps that can derail you, though. When this happens, and you find yourself no longer exercising, you’re in Prochaska’s ‘Relapse’ stage. Most ‘traps’ will either involve a change in your life circumstances, a change in your goals, or a combination of both – so if you’ve been exercising regularly for a while and suddenly find motivating yourself difficult, ask yourself what’s changed.
CHANGES IN CIRCUMSTANCE
If your circumstances have altered, you’ll usually be well aware of what’s happened and how it’s affected your motivation. For example – you might enjoy exercising in a gym, then take a sudden drop in income that doesn’t allow you to keep your gym membership. Your working hours might change, making your original workout timeslot unavailable. Someone you exercise with might decide to stop, or you might injure yourself somehow. All these things will disrupt what was an effective routine, and if you don’t actively plan to work around the disruption, it can sap your motivation to keep exercising.
If this applies to you, imagine you were back in the Contemplation stage, and look at the motivation suggestions for this stage. Revisit your main goal for exercising. Is it still valid? If so, move through the suggestions for the Preparation stage. Your initial ‘how’ no longer works – so what needs to change? If you can no longer keep the routine that used to work, what can you still do that’s convenient, enjoyable and affordable? If you’ve kept a fitness journal, go back through the entries you made when you were setting up your routine. What did you think of to try then (and didn’t end up using) that you could experiment with now?
CHANGES IN GOALS
If your circumstances haven’t changed, it’s likely your goals have. Perhaps your initial goals aren’t relevant any longer? If this is the case, don’t beat yourself up about it – instead, ask yourself what you *do* want now. Perhaps you started off enthusiastic about training for a triathlon, but quickly found the required time and effort unbalanced your life. Perhaps you began wanting to lose 20kg, then realised as you had to replace your entire wardrobe that you actually preferred being curvy – now you just want to feel healthy and energetic. Remember, it’s your life and no-one can tell you what your goals should be. It’s OK for goals to change – what’s not OK is to keep grimly putting time and effort into something you don’t actually want any more.
Remember there’s a difference between wanting to take a day off, and
losing long term motivation. Part of any successful plan is allowing yourself occasional rest days. Taking one or two every week doesn’t mean you’ve moved into Relapse – in fact it’s necessary to avoid overtraining. It’s also OK to vary your workout intensity from week to week – alternating weeks of pushing yourself with weeks of coasting. This strategy (called ‘periodisation’ when it’s done to a specific plan) is actually far more effective for reaching fitness goals than pushing yourself as hard as you can every single workout. If you’re starting consistently skip workouts though, you need to figure out why and do something about it.
GETTING HELP WITH MOTIVATION
Finally, as we suggested for those in the Action stage, if it’s getting harder to stay motivated despite all of the above suggestions, think about working with a personal trainer. In fact, a trainer can help you manage your motivational difficulties whatever stage of Prochaska’s model you’re at (or even if you’re not quite sure where you are right now!) If you’ve thought about hiring a trainer in the past, but the time has never been right, Optimum Life Ltd has an offer that might convince you to finally make the investment in yourself, your health, and your happiness. If you e-mail us on mailto:optimumlife@xtra.co.nz during October, you’ll be able to sign up for a full Total Fitness Membership at a 25% discount - only $US30 per month (when you consider that most trainers charge between $50-100 per session, you can see why it’s such good value!)
As you can see from this article series, the question of how to motivate yourself to exercise isn’t an easy one to answer (if it was, we’d all be exercising regularly, and there’d be no need for this article!). The best way to motivate yourself depends very much on where in the stages of change you are at the moment with respect to exercise. Figure out where you are in the model, then try the relevant suggestions for getting yourself moving. If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact us – we’d love to hear from you. Otherwise, may every day bring you closer to your Optimum Life.
About the author:
This article © Tanja Gardner, Optimum Life Ltd. Please feel free to reprint it in whole, as long as this resource box remains intact.
Optimum Life Ltd (http://optimumlife.co.nz) provides balanced fitness and stress management services to clients worldwide. For details of how we can help you achieve your optimum fitness on a budget, visit http://trainerforce.com/optimumlife
Fora copy of our free 'What is Optimum Fitness?' Report and Checklist, please send an e-mail to mailto:optimumlife@xtra.co.nz with 'Please send Fitness Checklist & Report' in the subject header
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Exercise at About.com |
Offers fitness and exercise related links, articles, information, and discussions. |
exercise.about.com |
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American Council On Exercise |
Fitness Certification and Education: The American Council on Exercise (ACE), a non-profit organization, promotes active lifestyles by setting certification ... |
www.acefitness.org |
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Physical exercise - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Physical exercise is the performance of some activity in order to develop or ... Frequent and regular physical exercise is an important component in the ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Why Exercise Is Cool |
Tells why exercise is important and explores the many benefits of physical activity. |
www.kidshealth.org |
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Kids and Exercise |
When most adults think about exercise, they imagine working out in the gym on a treadmill or lifting weights. But for children, exercise means playing and ... |
www.kidshealth.org |
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Fitness Fundamentals |
It is influenced by age, sex, heredity, personal habits, exercise and eating practices. ... How often, how long and how hard you exercise, and what kinds of ... |
www.hoptechno.com |
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MedlinePlus: Exercise and Physical Fitness |
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases The primary NIH organization for research on Exercise and Physical Fitness is the ... |
www.nlm.nih.gov |
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MedlinePlus: Exercise for Seniors |
Pictures/Diagrams; Slide Show: Balance Exercises Improve Stability, Help Prevent Falls (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) ... |
www.nlm.nih.gov |
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Exercise: A Healthy Habit to Start and Keep -- familydoctor.org |
Information about exercise from the American Academy of Family Physicians. |
familydoctor.org |
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Welcome to ::-:: Exercise, Fitness and Leisure |
Information on various aspects of exercise and fitness and providers of sporting, exercise and leisure equipment. |
www.exercise.co.uk |
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ExRx (Exercise Prescription) on the Net |
Fitness and exercise information including diet, nutrition, exercise, sports and weight training. Includes a muscle directory. |
www.exrx.net |
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Weight Training, Exercise Instruction & Kinesiology |
Weight training and kinesiology reference with many animated weight training exercises, stretches, plyometric movements, and illustrated muscles. |
www.exrx.net |
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Exercise & Fitness |
Swimming, cycling, jogging, skiing, aerobic dancing, walking or any of dozens of other activities can help your heart. Whether it is a structured exercise ... |
www.americanheart.org |
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Howstuffworks "How Exercise Works" |
Exercise creates a set of responses in your body, whether you work out regularly or not. Find out how these responses can be enhanced by training. |
www.howstuffworks.com |
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Exercise and Diabetes - American Diabetes Association |
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Exercise works the same way. Taking that first step can be hard, especially if you've been ... |
www.diabetes.org |
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NIHSeniorHealth: Exercise for Older Adults - Table of contents |
See the Exercise Stories. Exercise for Older Adults Table of Contents. Benefits of Exercise · Safety First · Exercises to Try · Charting Progress ... |
nihseniorhealth.gov |
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Exercise to Improve Your Body and Your Brain |
My comprehensive exercise guide. ... The key to obtaining the benefits of exercise is to find a program and stick to it. Of course, it is useful to have a ... |
www.mercola.com |
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FitnessOnline.com - Exercise Health Nutrition Advice Weight Loss |
FitnessOnline.com - expert advice on exercise programs, diets, weight loss, muscle gain, vitamins, supplements & strength training. |
www.fitnessonline.com |
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Table of Contents |
Exercise: A Guide from the National Institute on Aging ... Chapter 2: Is It Safe for Me to Exercise? ... Chapter 4: Examples of Exercises to Do at Home ... |
weboflife.nasa.gov |
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Exercise Physiology Page for the MAPP |
Aging, Exercise and Short Term Power · Principles of Training- Revisited · The Time Course of Training Adaptations · Understanding Interval Training ... |
home.hia.no |
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