Before you get busy with this year’s health and fitness resolutions be sure to embrace the new exercise mantra of this decade: Exercise, IT’S ALL GOOD! The more your health and workout plans revolve around this idea the more likely you are to stick to your resolutions long enough to reach your goals. The truth about exercise is that there is no right or wrong as long as you’re getting some virtually every day for 20-60 minutes. The type, amount, and intensity are all just small stuff and you know what they say about small stuff. Here’s what you do need to sweat to reach your health and fitness goals this year.
Choose Exercise Plans You Enjoy
Have you ever started an exercise plan that was a complete drag, signed up for a health club that you dreaded attending, or worst of all forced yourself to participate in exercises that felt like complete torture? The old “no pain no gain” mantra would have you believe that this is all just a normal part of the exercise experience and to some extent this is true. There are various forms of discomfort you will experience when starting a new plan including fear, pain, embarrassment, anxiety, difficulty, etc. Some discomfort is normal but persistent discomfort that makes you unhappy is not. When your exercise program makes you miserable most of the time, you are unlikely to continue to “just do it” for very long because humans prefer pleasure over pain and real exercise masochists are about as normal as a six pack on most people. Your workout plans must make you happy to some extent in order for you to continue with them long after the newness wears off.
Focus on Health First Workout Plans
It’s o.k. to want to get fit and toned, fit into your skinny jeans again, or look great naked but what good is any of that if your workout plan leaves you feeling depleted, injured, unhealthy, or even depressed. Many of the latest workout plans address the visible changes you want to see at the expense of the health changes you need to experience for permanent results. The best workout plans take a health first approach to fitness and are not too concerned with aesthetics because looking great is a natural progression once you get healthy. Keep in mind that health always precedes flat abs, a firm butt, toned arms, and a fit body. Any program that claims the opposite will only disappoint you in the end.
Stick with Dynamic Workout Programs
The most important exercise discovery of the last decade is that humans are not robotic machines designed for linear motion on treadmills, pec decks, or recumbent bikes. Every piece of fitness equipment is good to some extent but the best exercise for you includes dynamic movement patterns like the ones described in any of the latest Primal Exercise books. It’s o.k. to jump on machines from time to time but keep in mind that the more your exercise resembles what your body is designed to do the more effortless your fitness transformation will be.
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