My exercise update for August is a dismal litany of excuses so I am focusing on goals and motivations for the month of September, a glorious month to be out-of-doors, on an extended walkabout.
My plan is to walk every morning for an hour, and to pick up the pace. Summer stickiness is mostly a thing of the past so working up a sweat is much more pleasurable. I've logged four hours at a lively pace in only three days , so I'm off to a great start. It's pouring this morning, a perfect day to get a weight session out of the way!
I spotted an excellent article in THE NEW YORK TIMES last week, written by Personal Health columnist, Jane Brody. It points to some interesting data on what motivates people to sustain a long term commitment to exercise. Forget motives like weight loss, firming up the abs, prevention of illness or future fraility, she reports.
The greatest motivator, it seems, is instant gratification. What I took away from the article was this- I can best motivate myself to get out there everyday by reminding myself that exercise feels good, right here, right now. The bottom line is, I really do feel better during exercise, and it makes the rest of the day sing too!
I'm linking with JOY'S BOOK BLOG READERS'WORKOUT and I plan to ENJOY 1800 minutes( 1 hour a day for 30 days) of walking at a lively pace this month and 3 sessions a week of weight training.
Those are great goals!
ReplyDeleteYay! Those are terrific goals! My best motivators for exercise is that it improves my mood and improves my sleep -- and everything in life is better when those two things are better.
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