Get Past Your Exercise Barriers

The weather is finally warming up and now is a great time to get outside and get over your exercise barriers. I found some suggestions relating to top barriers of why people don't exercise. Check out these solutions to help improve your wellness!

Barrier: Between work, family, and other demands, I am too busy to exercise.
Solutions: Carve out some time each week to be active and put it on your calendar. Try waking up a half-hour earlier to walk, scheduling lunchtime workouts, or taking an evening fitness class. Build physical activity into your routine chores. Rake the yard, wash the car, or do energetic housework. That way you do what needs to get done and move around too.
Make family time physically active. Plan a weekend hike through a park, family softball game, or an evening walk around the block.

Barrier: By the end of a long day, I am just too tired to work out.
Solutions: Break your workout into three 10-minute segments each day. Taking three short walks during the day may seem easier and less tiring than one 30-minute workout, and is just as good for you. Find another time during the day to work out. If evening workouts are not for you, then try a bike ride before breakfast or a walk at lunchtime.
Sneak physical activity into your days. Take stairs instead of elevators, park further away in parking lots, and walk in place while watching TV.
Barrier: I think my weight is fine, so I am not motivated to exercise.
Solutions: Think about the other health benefits of physical activity. Research shows that people who are overweight, active, and fit live longer than people who are not overweight but are inactive, and unfit. Also, physical activity may lift your mood and increase your energy level. Do it just for fun. Play a team sport, work in a garden, or learn a new dance and make getting fit something fun. Train for a charity event. You can work to help others while you work out.

Barrier: Getting on a treadmill or stationary bike is boring.
Solutions: Meet a friend for workouts. If your buddy is on the next bike or treadmill, your workout will be less boring. Watch TV or listen to music or a book on tape while you walk or pedal indoors. Check out music or books on tape from your local library. Get outside. A change in scenery can relieve your boredom.

These are not only great tips for your home and family life, but in the workplace as well. Have a walking meeting or do team building activies that involve fun physical activ. Get outside and change your scenery!

~Lauren Rappaport from the WWRT