What do you, Arnold Schwarzenegger & Ethiopian long-distance runner all have in common? (No, this won’t end in a terrible punch line.) You all have the same 24 hours in a day. You have the power to choose how to use these precious hours. Will you sit on the couch for eight hours and consume a metric tonne of cheese-covered cholesterol puffs? Or will you spend the time to prepare balanced meals of fresh produce and lean protein and hit the gym or hike for an hour?
Nobody has time to exercise – people make time to exercise. Time, money, age, or the size of your pants is not an excuse to hold off on living a healthy lifestyle. Kick the excuse.
A new year is beginning, which is a good excuse to jump start your exercise routine. You know you’re going to make that new year’s resolution anyways – you might as well join the gym with a fresh flock of gym newbies who will be sweating like a sheep in a lion’s den and struggling with machines. Support is key. Join a gym with a friend or lock eyes with a fellow gym newbie in a gesture of moral support/awkwardness. You can find six more tips to sticking to your exercise routine here.
Everybody has to start somewhere. “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and elite athletes did not start out as infants with perfectly chiselled physiques. Take baby steps. Replace driving with walking wherever possible: to work, school, or the grocery store. Instead of mindlessly scrolling through your cousin’s husband’s sister’s co-workers social media feeds, incorporate a brisk walk after dinner (it helps with digestion as well! A bonus for everyone.)
A lack of motivation is everyone and their mother’s excuse for not sticking to their new year’s resolution of living a healthy lifestyle and exercising. There is a plethora of resources – in real life and on the vast universe called the Internet – for motivation. Find a friend, relative or arch-nemesis that has kicked excuses and started living healthy and use them as motivation. Surrounded by couch potatoes? Find online flocks of fitness freaks for support for your new fitness goals. Bodybuilding.com is a great online universe for support and motivation (and it’s not just for bodybuilders!) with forums on every fitness topic under the sun, fitness goal-tracking tools, and an online supplement store.
If you have an encyclopaedia of excuses for why you cannot (or will not) start exercising, bribe yourself. It’s almost 2014 and while we may not be riding hovercrafts to Mars, we do have pretty amazing technology — even for fitness. Nike introduced a high-tech wristband called the FuelBand, which counts steps, tells time, tracks the intensity of your workout, and connects you with other Nike FuelBand users in online motivational groups. If you find it difficult to get excited about exercise, but can get excited about technology, cutting-edge technology could be your “excuse” to exercise.
Are you thinking about kicking the excuse to exercise? What made you #KickTheExcuse?