Strategies For Starting An Exercise Routine

There are some key aspects you should think about to be successful with starting an exercise regimen.  These strategies will help you ease into and stay consistent with your routine:

• Planning: How are you going to do something if you don’t know what you are going to do or when you are going to do it?  Try to make a plan that is realistic.  Set specific days and times with exactly what you are going to do.  This will ease your mind and make it easier to get started.  Make sure you have a plan, but always have a plan B in case something comes up.
• Prepare: Now that you have planned what you are going to do, you must prepare for it.  Do you have good walking/running shoes?  Are you going to pack your bag for the gym so you can go right after work?  Do you need to buy some equipment to workout at home? Do you have comfortable workout clothes?  Do you need a routine you can follow at home or at the gym? All of these things will help you get organized and make you successful.
• Patience: This is usually the hardest aspect for individuals to grasp.  This is needed to stay consistent with any type of routine.  You can see this in multiple areas too.  Having patience when first starting an exercise routine is key.  Be realistic with where you are starting from.  If you have workout experience, and haven’t worked out in a while, there is a tendency to jump right back into what we were doing before. If you don’t have any workout experience, start small and build from there when you are ready.

You need to be patient with yourself and your schedule.  If you can’t do what was planned, try to figure out something you can do that is active.  Even if it is 15-20 minutes of walking, that is going to be better than nothing.  Focus on the long and short-term benefits.  It is going to make you feel better, you will have a sense of accomplishment, stress relief, decreased likelihood of specific diseases and conditions, and so on.  Once you prove to yourself you can do something on a regular basis, even if it is 15-20 minutes a day, this will create momentum for other aspects of health and life in general.