The Right Exercise Regime For You

Many people nowadays are realizing that, in order to keep fit and healthy, they should eat better food, watch what they drink, quit smoking, and take some exercise. This is the right way for them to be thinking, nobody can deny that. But the question is: how much or how little is right for YOU?

Someone once said that nobody should do any exercise at all: people who are fit shouldn't do it because they don't need it, and people who are unfit shouldn't do it because it's dangerous! Well of course, the person who said that was making a witty comment just for a joke. But, as with most humour, there is a grain of truth in this.

When you decide you need to get more physical exercise into your daily routine, you might go to the library or on the internet, to research ways of doing exercise. Or you might read a magazine article (or even a blog article!) which gives you an exercise regime to follow, or a point-by-point plan, or a way to get rock hard abs, or something like that. What do all of these have in common? The writers of these regimes or articles do not know YOU, and they are not aware of YOUR particular exercise needs.

Or you might join a gym and you see other people on the rolling road, or pumping heavy iron. And you think, well, I guess I have to do that too. But you don't. What you have to do is to find out what is the best exercise regime for you as an individual. Now, our advice to start with is to find some activity you like doing, such as walking, cycling, swimming, or jogging, and at least at first, just trying to do that activity a little more strenuously than you normally would. You don't have to win any medals yet. Only try to push yourself a bit more than normal. If you keep doing this every day, and you be PATIENT, you will start to feel some good results fairly soon. You can gradually increase what you do as and when you feel ok about it.

A lot of people sign up to do these city marathon runs, such as in New York or London, that have become fashionable of late. Often it is because they feel they ought to run to support some charity, or because other people they know are doing it, or just because it's a high profile event. Some of the folks you see running in these events should not be there, or even within a hundred miles, because they are simply not fit enough.

So, our advice is this: Pace yourself, don't take on more than you can handle, and only try to push yourself a little way beyond your current limit. By doing that, you will get fitter without doing yourself some harm.