Fit exercise into your busy schedule? That’s as absurd as saying that there are eight days in a week. I’m sure that this is what most of you are thinking. I would hate to think that the most exercise you get is toting around a briefcase everyday for exercise. No matter how sharp, elegant or sleek the briefcase may be, it's not providing you the exercise you need to live a long and healthy life. First, you're probably saying to yourself, "I've never exercised before or regularly played a sport". Second, you’ve never been into the fitness crowd and third, you’re far too busy to even think about exercise.
In other words, you're just not into it. However, your friends talk about it and rave about the latest fitness craze, but you’ve seen it all too often, some of them are on the “on-again-off-again” treadmill, stair master, elliptical mania, and you wonder why they haven’t shed the fat that they’re desperately still trying to hide under their clothes.
After seeing what your friends go through and not seeing any results, you cling to the notion that your total lack of interest in exercising is justified. You’re not the least bit inclined to engage in these circus-like contortions or do those mindless freestyle strokes in the water. That would only encroach into your already busy schedule of juggling family, home and career. With these three combined – husband/children/work; you tell yourself that they are your exercise.
Well before tackling the idea of fitting exercise into your busy schedule, it might be better if we start with the concept of self-assessment and then familiarize ourselves with the disease-prevention aspect of exercise.
Once you’ve accepted the fact that exercise is good for your health, then you can consider the many ways you can include it into your life.
Lifespan and Physical Appearance
The average life span is 80 years, give or take a few years. The truth is, a significant number of people look and feel 80 before their time. They have:
Sagging dry skin
Unsightly posture
Uneven and unsteady walk
Aching joints
If their outward appearance is bad, imagine what the inside machinery is like. Most likely, it’s even worse:
Clogged blood vessels
Heart problems
Mounds of sugar and fat parked in or around vital organs
Conditions such as diabetes, nervous tension, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease that are silently brewing
If fitness authorities had it their way, they’d create legislation to make exercise mandatory as soon as a baby leaves the cradle, not during the teenage years when obesity is likely to strike. But fitness shouldn't be associated with any age. You can start at 10 or at 30 – even at 50 or 60. Fitness should not be seen as the cure for an illness you already have, but as preventative maintenance.
Now let’s first start off my assessing your fitness level:
Brad King and Dr. Michael Schmidt in “Bio Age, Ten Steps to a Younger You” have devised a questionnaire for assessing physical damage to a body as a result of no exercise. We will borrow some of their guidelines:
Start with the question, “How do I look?” Do any of these answers apply to you?
Am I overweight? Do I look like an apple or pear?
Do I have a spare tire?
Has my skin become excessively dry, almost paper-thin?
Next, ask yourself: “How do I feel?”
Do my joints hurt before or after any physical exertion? Or, when I awake in the morning?
Am I constantly worried and anxious?
Do I feel tired and sluggish most of the time?
Do I suffer from mood swings?
Last question, “How am I doing?”
Is walking and climbing stairs difficult?
Do I have problems concentrating?
Is running impossible for me now?
Am I unable to sit straight, preferring to slouch or stoop my shoulders?
Now that you’ve completed your basic assessment, you must be honest. You would only be fooling yourself and that’s not going to do you any good or get you the level of fitness that will prolong your life. Check back in later and I’ll explain the “Benefits of Exercise”, and the many diseases that can be prevented.
Live Fit Live Strong!!
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