Exercise
  1. Home
  2. Health
  3. Exercise

Quiz: Is Your Mind Ready for Exercise?

When it comes to starting an exercise program, what comes to mind? For many of you, it might bring on a feeling of dread, frustration, confusion or even fear. Your body might be ready for exercise, but your mind is what you need to work on when it comes to sticking with an exercise routine. So, what do you really think about exercise? What are your goals? Is your mind ready to commit to exercise? Take the following quiz to learn more about your ideas, beliefs and perceptions about yourself and exercise. Once you know your own mind, setting up an exercise program and sticking to it becomes a little easier.

My PRIMARY goal is to
Look like a model or movie star I admire
Look like I did when I was young
Fit into those jeans I've had in my closet for the last few years
Feel better, look better and/or have more energy

I've been trying to reach the same fitness goal for:
More than 10 years
For 5-10 years
For the last 5 years
For just a few weeks or months

When I start an exercise program, I usually:
Plan it but never follow through
Wait until my schedule clears up
Do a few workouts and then quit out of frustration, boredom or confusion
Start right away no matter what's going on in my life

My weight loss goal is usually to:
To lose some weight
To lose a certain amount of weight based on what I used to weigh years ago
To lose a certain amount of weight based on what I think I should weigh
To lose a specific amount of weight based on what's reasonable for my current age, gender and lifestyle

I often stop exercising when:
I don't see results
Something comes up such as extra work hours or business trips
I feel burned out or bored doing the same thing over and over
I get sick, have an injury or need a rest

If I get off track with my workouts for several days or weeks, I usually:
Quit altogether
Start back after a few weeks or months
Jump back into my full workouts out of guilt and shame
Ease back into my workouts to allow my body time to adjust

When I think about exercising, I think about:
How much I hate it
How hard it will be
All the reasons I should do it vs. all the reasons I don't want to do it
How good I'll feel when I'm finished

 

Explore Exercise
About.com Special Features

Conquering High Cholesterol

Learn how you can reduce your your numbers with these nutrition and exercise tips. More >

Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds

Keep yourself, and your family, happy and healthy this fall with these tips. More >

We comply with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.
Exercise
  1. Home
  2. Health
  3. Exercise

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.