So, as we near the end of January how are you doing with staying on track with your goals?
Is the motivation wearing thin a bit? The joints starting to stiffen up again?
NOW is the time to press in and pick up where ever you may have left (or dropped) off!
One of my goals this year is to get more people moving and motivated to achieve new levels of fitness they may never think possible. AND this doesn’t just mean physical fitness but MENTAL and EMOTIONAL fitness too!
There so many reasons why it’s good to keep moving and so many ways to incorporate more movement into our working lives! (Yes – even if you are office-bound!) So here are just a few:
IT KEEPS BONES STRONG! Resistance exercise is a MUST if you are hitting 35 and especially over 40, this is because peak bone mass has been reached and the body starts to reabsorb more old bone than new bone created.
Resistance training is the type of exercise you need to be doing to keep your bones strong, but it’s got to be more than carrying the shopping or pushing the vacuum cleaner around. Why not start working out using some light weights take up walking, jogging, tennis, or even dancing? You chose!
REDUCES HYPERTENSION (high blood pressure). This is caused by increased plaque in the arteries that builds up from consuming a high-fat diet. Exercise helps to reduce your blood pressure by attacking the plaque and unclogging the arteries so that blood runs through them more freely enabling the pressure to drop. Your heart is a muscle and so the more you give it good work out the greater its ability to pump blood through your arteries.
Cardiovascular or aerobic, exercise can help lower your blood pressure and make your heart stronger and there’s plenty of ways to include this in your week…try parking the car further away from work or school to incorporate more walking into your week, take up jogging, pick up a skipping rope, dig out the bicycle, go skiing, skating, rowing or swimming or learn a new sport! Basically, START MOVING!
REDUCES STRESS! When we exercise Stress hormones such as Cortisol are decreased and ‘feel-good chemicals such as serotonin and endorphins (the body’s natural pain killers) are released. These chemicals naturally help to improve mood and reduce stress so more reasons to rope more physical exercise into your day!
Research tells us that too much Cortisol can suppress the immune system, increase blood pressure and sugar, decrease libido, produce acne, contribute to obesity, and more! If it is within our means to reduce the short and long-term effects of stress why wouldn’t we want to get moving and keep reaching toward our fitness goals?
On average, we are told it takes 21 DAYS to form a new habit. As a Fitness Instructor, January has always been one of the busiest months of the year, closely followed by September and Easter….see a pattern? Wonder why? More still, do you recognize where you are RIGHT NOW with your healthy eating and living lifestyle? It is never too late to start again EVEN if your weekend and healthy plans went to seed or you have devoured most of the office cakes by Monday mid-day!
So, make sure this week you get back on track! If you have fallen and stumbled a bit, that’s ok. So long as you pick yourself back up and dust yourself down!
Happy Moving! x
