Being More Active: Step 2

At each new year, gyms fill with the hopeful. People come earnest and determined to really follow through this year with the resolution to get fit, and stay fit.

How do they do? The data don’t look good.

By Valentines Day, a full 80 percent of people have abandoned their oh so well intentioned resolution. Unfortunately, many assume that they are the problem, when in fact it may just be their approach. This year, let’s take a new path for fitness by avoiding the three main causes of Resolution Dissolution.

Start Slow

I was an athlete in competitive college sports, and remember exactly how what it was like to be able to sprint around a soccer field for 90 minutes, take a breather and feel like I could go at it again.

My brain remembers. My body?? Not so much.

This is a key issue for many people who have been sedentary for a while. Muscles weaken, connections to tendons and joints are not what they were. Even though you your brain may remember how you could just pop up out of bed and go run 5 miles, your body has certainly forgotten.

To avoid an injury that will put a stop to your activity program altogether, think about stepping up your activities slowly over time. Make a schedule for yourself that makes sense to you, in which you take a week to do something simple. The next week, write down how you will kick it up a notch and add time or reps or whatever. By the third week, your body should start adjusting to the new demands and responding in a way that is beneficial, not detrimental, to sustaining your long term fitness goals.