The Secret to a Successful
Exercise Program

by Elliot
(From The OC)

The secret to a successful exercise program is love. You need to find a physical activity or multiple physical activities that you love to do.

Experts disagree on what is the best exercise program. But, experts agree that probably the biggest factor in being fit and healthy is getting regular exercise. So, if you want to be fit and healthy now and for the rest of your life, you are going to need to exercise regularly now and for the rest of your life.

So, although it is true that some exercise programs may achieve better results than other exercise programs, it is brutally true that an exercise program that you do regularly and stick with will increase your health and fitness and will be much better for you than an exercise program that you don't do regularly and don't stick with.

Some people (go type "A"s) can exercise regularly and stick with it simply because they know it is good for them. Most mere mortals will not exercise regularly and keep doing it for the rest of their lives, even if they know they should, if they are not enjoying it.

The failure of most exercise programs is not that the program is not good enough; it is that people don't stick with it.

So, you need to find one or multiple physical activities that you love to do.

How are you going to find the activity or activities that you will love to do and will continue doing? Try different ones. There are tons of them.

I love inline skating. Some people love running; some love biking; some love kick-boxing; some love yoga; some love Jiu-Jitsu; some love walking; some love dancing. You get the idea. Try different activities. Find what you love! Maybe it is a little like dating. Trying out different ones 'till you find the one that you like spending time on regularly and will stick with for the long term.

Over time you might find that what you love to do changes and what you can do might change. Both are fine. I have a friend who becomes passionate about a sport and pursues it rabidly for about 10 years, and then switches to another sport that he pursues equally fervently. I loved running, but had to give it up because of a defect in my back. It was frustrating, but I found I loved skating and biking.

Yes: "love" is the "big" secret to success in an exercise program. I am also going to tell you 2 other smaller secrets that hopefully will help you in finding what you love and implementing the "big" secret.

Small Secret 1: you might find you enjoy your exercise more and find it easier to stick to your exercise program if you do multiple types of physical activity. Like I said, I love inline skating; I love the movement (like dancing), I love the exertion and burn uphill; I love the speed and adrenaline downhill. But, no matter how much I love it, if I do it every day; I find my enjoyment diminishes over time. Fortunately, I also have found other things I love to do. So, I skate a lot, I bike fairly frequently, I surf 1 to 2 times a week and I occasionally hike and occasionally ski. Some people are very happy doing the same physical activity every day; but I think most people enjoy their physical activity more if they throw in some variety.

Small Secret 2: Starting slow for 10 - 15 minutes helps a lot. Although I do enjoy every minute of my skating and biking, the physical joy is more after 10 - 15 minutes of taking it easy and my body warming up and loosening up.

Find physical activity you enjoy -------- and then enjoy your physical activity ------ and then you will want to do it regularly and you will want to keep doing it ------ and you will reap great health, fitness and feeling good benefits.