It’s another New Year!
Most of us need to incorporate more regular exercise into our daily lives and the new year is a great time to reset. The benefits of regular exercise are enormous both physically and psychologically. But HOW can you INITIATE, then RETAIN the habit of regular exercise?
Keep it simple
Keeping your actions small, simple, and achievable to establish a habit of regular exercise is key to increasing activity and fitness. A habit takes on average 30 days to establish although this does vary between people. Starting and then committing to incorporating a small but meaningful change for 30 days will see you on your way to more permanent regular exercise habits.
How can you achieve exercise goals for 2023?
The answer is simple: Start Small.
> START. Schedule and prioritize your exercise. Allocate a specific time each day or attach the new routine to an early established routine. If your goal is small enough it won’t feel overwhelming.
> SMALL. Formulate a modest, achievable goal. Sometimes “less” is “more.” It is much better to be successful in small steps than to overstep and fail. Once you experience small “wins”, you can build from that foundation. Your confidence will grow with success, and you will experience “ramping up” instead of “spiraling down.”
This prescription – ‘start small’ — has been evaluated in numerous scientific studies that examine the effectiveness of weight loss in obese persons. The research reveals that goals that are ‘small’ lead to positive outcomes for weight loss. This idea can be applied to exercise habits, too.
No matter what stage you find yourself in your regular exercise habits, focus on small incremental steps and goals. This will allow your body time to adapt to the increased physical demands. As an example, my ambitions have varied over the years, but I have been most successful at achieving my regular exercise goals in small and doable steps. Read an example about one of my swimming aspirations several years ago.
So where do I start?
If you are not sure where or how to start an exercise routine, the Challenge below is a suggestion for increasing muscle strength.
If you already walk on a regular basis, you can add these strength-building exercises to the start or end of your walking or another exercise routine. This will only add five extra minutes to your routine, but will provide enormous benefits.
New Year Challenge 2023
I • WARM-UP | Perform 10-20 of the following three exercises
Arms: Arm circles forward and backwards
Legs: Marching on the spot with high knees
Legs: Star jumps
II • MAIN SET | Complete 10 repetitions of three exercises of your choosing from the leg, arm, and core exercises.
Legs: Air squats or Calf raises
Arms: Knee pushups or Bicep curls with a small weight
Core: Sit-ups (rotations) or Bicycle crunches
Core: Bridges
After 10 days, increase the number of repetitions by 5 or 10 and add an additional set when ready.
III • STRETCH | Complete the workout with stretches including quads, glutes and arms.
Happy New Year from SimpliMove | MyAgeFit !
You can also explore several of our earlier My AgeFit exercise challenges below, and in case you missed it our Christmas Challenge:
Challenge 1 7-Day strength-based exercises
Challenge 2 7-Day strength-based exercises
Challenge 3 6 Week aerobic exercise – running
Challenge 4 6 Week aerobic exercise – walking
Challenge 5 7-Day strength-based exercises
Challenge 6 7-Day strength-based exercises
Challenge 7 7-Day strength-based exercises
Challenge 8 7-Day strength and aerobic exercises