Exercise for Those Who Hate Exercise
When I was in my thirties and had a chiropractic practice and a family, I did what I could to get some exercise. Some days I would run to the local gym (little over a mile) to do a workout and then run home before breakfast and work.
One day I commented to the person behind the desk about my pitiful workout. He stopped me right there and said that any amount of effort will have huge benefits. This person was a bit older than me, had a master's degree in exercise physiology from Stanford. He basically liked being a track coach and finished a couple of places off the pace for the Olympics in the marathon. He was still running a lot at that point and taught stretch and other classes at the gym when he wasn’t coaching.
I took his words to heart and decided not to minimize even a small effort when it comes to exercise.
At this point, I was at the peak of my adult running phase. Whether I felt like it or not, I would get my running clothes on, head out the door and if I got to Old San Jose Road (a couple of blocks) and still didn’t feel like running, I would walk home and call it quits for the day. I didn’t feel like running a lot of those days but once I got to the decision point, about 19 times out of 20, I would keep going.
I have been asked over the years what is the best exercise. The simple answer is, the one you will do. If you will get on a stationary bike, then do that. If you prefer yoga, do that. You get the idea.
The key is to make exercise a habit. From what I know and read, it takes a few months of repetition to begin to create a habit. I often tell people who can walk to start with 10 minutes out and therefore, 10 minutes back. The key is create the beneficial habit. I have heard it said that difference between a good life and a not so good life is good habits vs bad habits.
The hardest part is often getting started like changing shoes or whatever you need to do to get in the exercise mode. Do this whether you feel like it or not and if you get 5 minutes in and still don’t want to finish then don’t.
So get the yoga mat out, put on some comfortable clothes and at least, start. This will contribute to making that new beneficial habit.
I will tell you about my biggest failure in encouraging someone to exercise. I can talk about my mother because she is gone now, her brothers and sisters have passed on, my own sisters don’t read my blogs to my knowledge, so here goes.
My mother was in a car accident when she was a teenager. She really didn’t have any issue until our car was rear-ended when she was probably in her early 30s or so. Pain began in her neck. It is a long story but to jump ahead about 30+ years she had about 15 back and neck operations and was in constant pain. I told her exercise would help and she told me she couldn’t do any.
I told her that if she would use what she had, she could get more, basic biomechanical function, that is.
I convinced her to go to the gym and we would find out what she could and couldn’t do. I was not surprised that many of the machine-based exercises were possible without pain. She would need some help with the lat pull down machine as she could only do about half the range of motion but most the exercises she could indeed do without assistance.
If you guessed that she never went back, you would be correct. What she really needed was 5-10 minutes of exercise routine she could easily do at home, and then after several months, maybe a gym workout would have been possible in her mind.
At OVitaminPro, we are interested in your health improvement and maintenance so we have to talk exercise once in awhile just because it is part of the equation.
If you are looking for a supplement to help your workouts (besides muscle building stuff), look to GABA. It appears that GABA is taken up and delivered to the pituitary in exercise and helps with stamina. This is for those doing 45 minutes or more of strenuous exercise. We used to use this on our downhill ski outings. Take this maybe 15 minutes before your exercise.