Vote in This Week's Poll: Which is the most important element for consistent exercise?
Tuesday October 17, 2006
In my article, Getting Motivated to Exercise, I discuss the different elements you may need to draw on to create motivation and stay consistent with exercise. The different elements I discuss include:
- Having goals - having something to work for helps create motivation to keep going
- Being prepared - having what you need and knowing what you're going to do makes it easier to follow through with workouts
- Discipline - using your discipline to follow through with workouts helps create habits and makes exercise part of your daily routine
- Flexibility - being able to deal with unexpected events and still find some way to exercise is a big part of consistency
- Commitment - recommitting to your goals and your desire to be healthy and fit is another part of consistent exercise
- Having fun - doing activities you enjoy makes it much easier to get motivated for workouts
I realize most of us draw on these elements (as well as others) each time we go out for a workout but, I'm curious. Which element do you think is most important for being consistent with exercise? Vote in this week's poll and tell us about it.
Poll: Out of the following, which is the most important element for consistent exercise?
1. Having goals
2. Being prepared
3. Discipline
4. Being flexible
5. Commitment
6. Having fun
7. Other - please explain in comments
Comments
In my case Pain was the biggest motivator. I had back surgery and I hurt when I didn’t exercise and do my stretches.
Practicality/Building Exercise Into Your Everyday Life: I commute to work by bike every day — no matter the weather. But I don’t think of it as exercise — just a practical, easy way to get around. No need to worry about finding a parking space, for one thing. For another, a car costs approximately $12,000/year to maintain and operate versus a bike costing approximately $250/year. Big difference! Think what you could do with a few thousand dollars extra every year. There are simply lots of practical reasons to use a bike instead of a car when possible! And it’s not as dangerous as some people believe (and I commuted for over 10 years on the streets of New York City). Statistically, it’s safer than being a pedestrian in most places! So I encourage everyone with the least inclination to try it, to go for it. Ride and feel like a kid again! It’s fun!
I am training for a marathong with a running group. Knowing that my coach and team are waiting on me to start running gets me up every morning. Also, knowing that I will need to be in good enouph shape to run 26.2 miles by Februrary gets me out of bed…I don’t want to die or embarass myself on race day.
I think you can be as disciplined, as flexible and as committed as anything, and still fail because you only have a vague idea of what you are trying to accomplish so you can easily talk yourself out of a workout. If I have a specific goal - say running a 10k or biking that 50 miler or hiking that tough trail, I am more focused and more likely to haul my tired butt out of bed and get in a workout. And it can definitely mean the difference bettern an easy workout and a tougher one - if you plan to run, you need endurance.
I think having a workout partner is the biggest thing. That way, you can keep each going. Usually when I need a push, I get one and vice versa. It is rare that we both don’t feel like it on the same day! I highly recommend it for daily workouts!