Slow Start Helps Keep Fitness Resolutions Alive: Experts
Illawarra Mercury
Tuesday January 1, 2008
IT is the time of year when New Year health and fitness resolutions are made with the best of intentions - and even a degree of determination.
January is the busiest month for signing long-term gym contracts, as people determine to lead better lifestyles in 2008, forking out hundreds of dollars for a membership. A whopping 15 per cent of those people never set foot in the gym again.Fitness First Wollongong assistant club general manager Teresa Courtney said she had witnessed the problem time and again, though there were some fairly simple strategies to avoid the early drop-out."Get yourself a personal trainer - you will reach your health and fitness goals faster and you have someone making sure you are motivated," she said."If you can't afford it, join the gym with a friend or family member so that on days when you don't feel up to it, you'll have someone on the phone saying 'come on let's go'." Fitness First personal trainer Dee Milenkovic said a multitude of reasons prevented people from committing to exercise regimes, but a few simple changes in thinking could make exercise less arduous."Exercising is not a chore or a choice," she said."It is something you do to make yourself feel better, and you will feel better, sleep better, look better, walk taller and feel more confident."Ms Milenkovic said it was important to view exercise as "preventative medicine" and a top priority in life."Life does get in the way; illness, parties, children, injury, bills - there are lots of reasons why people don't stick with it," she said."But what you do to your body now determines how you will feel in 10 or 15 years time and it is that focus on the long-term that helps motivate you in the short term."All those people determined to stick to a healthier regime in 2008 should not overdo it when they first start out.The Christmas and New Year period is the peak time for coronary artery death and experts recommend people starting out on a new fitness regime get their GPs on board and start slowly to build base level fitness.TOP TIPS FOR STAYING MOTIVATED IN 2008? Visit a GP and be aware of the risks of heart disease and other dangers before exercising.? Start slowly, walk and move muscles in gentle activity before intense exercise.? Involve family, fly a kite, kick a ball or join activities with your partner, friends or children, so exercise is fun.? Try some push-ups, sit-ups, walk up a hill or stairs.? Assess your state - if your body is coping, increase duration and try some variety.? Join a gym, try Pilates or take part in higher-intensity organised exercise.The bittersweet news for Christmas gluttons, delivered by researchers in The New England Journal of Medicine, is that most people gain only about 0.5kg each Christmas. However, most people never lose that weight, and add to it the following year.
© 2008 Illawarra Mercury