How to Make Exercise Easier

Lynn Hughes and her closest friends shared a problem. They all wanted to lose weight and stick to an exercise program, but they were finding it difficult. Though they were scattered across two different states (half lived in Florida, the others in Indiana), they shared the same obstacle: Something was always getting in the way of going to the gym. So the group which included four of the womens husbands created a motivational strategy called the Indiana/Florida Challenge.The friends split into two geographically defined teams and set goals, deciding how often they would exercise and how much weight they would lose. The challenge quickly moved into full swing, and months later its still generating enthusiasm and results. Perhaps most important, the competition keeps all the participants focused and motivated enough to stick with their respective programs.Every Sunday, all of us report our weight and the number of times weve exercised, explains Hughes. Five points are given for weight loss or if someone maintains his or her goal weight, and one point is given for each time a person exercises. If you meet your exercise goal, you also get five bonus points. The group keeps in touch by phone, building moral support between teams and team members. At the end of the challenge, the losing team buys the winners dinner.Hughes and her friends are on the cusp of a growing trend one in which people are moving from boring, ho-hum exercise programs to approaches they can enjoy, not just endure. (For more on the exercise approaches at the leading edge of that trend, see Welcome to the Fitness Revolution, available in the October 2008 archives.)What separates a fun and effective exercise regimen from a boring and ineffective one? Lots of things and, naturally, very different things for different people. While folks like Hughes and her friends found that a little competitive steam and structure did th! e trick, for others, the same approach might fall flat or even backfire. Thats why its important to evaluate your own personality weaknesses and strengths, delights and disconnects when designing an exercise program and constructing interim adjustments.Need some help upgrading your fitness-fun factor? Start with the following pointers.Pace Yourself
One of the biggest barriers to designing an enjoyable, sustainable program is going too fast, too hard, too soon. Its easy to do: You resolve to get your out-of-condition butt back into the gym, and on your very first day, you take two classes, lift weights and work your core to the core. The result? Days of aches and pains and a newfound animosity toward the gym.Instead of starting out with really intense exercises, begin with low intensities and work your way up, says Joseph M. Gonzalez, a sports-medicine program coordinator at the Center for Athletic Medicine at USC University Hospital in Los Angeles.Working too hard is also a symptom of another mistake that can suck the fun out of your workouts: the I-want-it-now attitude. With infomercials touting pills and creams that promise to deliver immediate miracles, and fitness magazines flaunting diets that claim to help you de-flab overnight, why shouldnt you expect to see instant results particularly if youre working out every day? It took years to put the pounds on. Its going to take some time to get them off, says Marty Tuley, author of Busting Your Gut and Butt (Basic Health, 2008). Its habits first, results later.No matter how motivated you are initially, if you expect instant results and they dont materialize, it wont stay fun for long. Nor will it be fun if you insist on sticking with the same program day-in and day-out, month after month, says Joe Stankowski, a personal trainer in Grand Rapids, Mich. If youre doing the same workout day after day, it not only gets boring, it also stops working as well as it used to, he says. Your body lear! ns and a dapts, finding the easiest way not to expend energy.

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