How to get into fitness

Fitness, Fitness, Fitness – something I have been into all of my life. For some, working on their fitness is as natural as waking up and having breakfast in the morning. For others, it can be a little bit of fun, a challenge, a chore or something so foreign they cannot bear to think about it.

Everyone has their own reasons for exercising or getting fit whether its something they really WANT to do or something they feel they HAVE to do.

Most of us are aware of reasons why fitness is important - its effect on cardiovascular health, reducing risk of diabetes and chronic diseases, lowering the risk of osteoarthritis, helping with weight control, increasing strength as well as general mood and wellbeing. However, even though we know this, many people simply do not want to exercise and lack the motivation to do so.

People ask me everyday “ How do I get fit?” or “What do I need to do?” My answer to such questions is to ask why do you want to do it? I have always talked about the need to find the emotional reason as to why you want to get fit. Your why is what drives you!

Simply thinking that you want to lose a bit of weight may help in the short term but this will not always get you out of bed at 5am when it is raining or get you to the gym after work when you just want to go for a beer or sit on your sofa. I can say this because I have been there! Fitness doesn’t have to mean going into the gym and punishing your body until you feel sick or cycling one hundred miles or running a marathon. That way we can put so much pressure on ourselves that the very thought of exercising can become such a chore that we simply don’t do it.

It can be something you enjoy, it can be something you look forward to and something you can feel rewarded by, but for this you must have a reason to do it, your motivation - your why!

I therefore suggest that you to find your why first. Once you have that you will have the motivation you need to move forward into your fitness plan.