During our 10-day motor coach trip and several days before and after, I did not exercise. Now back home, I am finding it hard to do my race-walking and other exercise that I looked forward to before.
Exercise Is A Habit
Once formed, an exercise habit is easy to follow. It is also the greatly increases your chance you will get your exercise done for the day.
Establishing an Exercise Plan
Just start and keep it up. More precisely, established a plan of what days you will exercise. Then plan on the same time on your day of excerise. Many people find the best time to exercise is in the mornings, so that you get it done. If you do not plan what days and times you will exercise, then mostly likely you will have things come up to interfere and not get it done. Taking a scheduled exercise class or joining a exercise group is an excellent way to plan your exercise.
After a couple of weeks, your exercise plan becomes a habit and is much easier. It is something you start to enjoy and will miss, as I did, when you failed to do it.
Becoming an Active Adult
Exercise does not have to be a one and done event. Having several types of physical activities each day is ideal. It keeps things interesting and is actually good cross training on different muscles. So walking in the morning and playing pickleball in the afternoon is an example. I found two or three activities a day to be my limit. Some days you take it easier than others, but try to do something each day.
Becoming an Active Adult has become much easier for me since we moved to our Active Adult Community because there are so many opportunities here to take classes or join in group sports of all kinds. I have walked by myself and with a group. I took pickleball lessons and very much love to play with “Larry’s Group”, as we call ourselves. I am Captain of our bocce leauge and do get some exercise there as well. I did Lisa’s Cardio class for almost two years now and really get a workout in an hour there. Joining a softball team would be fun but I just don’t have time.
More Benefits of Being an Active Adult
There are other benefits of being an active adult in addition to getting some exercise. One is it gets you outside and out of the house. Fresh air and nature are therapeutic. Another huge benefit is that it puts you in touch with people, which turns into socialization and new friends.
So Get Started
As the 1980’s Nike slogan said, just do it. Start today. Make your plan and stay with it. Join a team or group. Try not to miss too many days but when you do, get right back in it. If you want to make a huge difference, move to an 55+ active adult community and try out many activities to find out which ones you really like. This is an easy way to become an Active Adult.
2 replies on “Exercise is a Habit”
Once formed, an exercise habit is easy to follow. Once lost, it is hard to get back. My knee injury kept me away from exercising almost a year. I was having trouble with the mental side of getting back in the game after a long workout break. I evaluated my losses and made a plan. It was like starting all over again. If you have a year off (but were in good shape before that), you’ll have lost at least 15 % of your cardio fitness and about half of your strength.
Another benefit is that you boost the quality of sleep and your mood ?.. Nice article