Mile 25 at the 2008 NYC marathon
Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. ~Winston Churchill
Have you seen the study that suggests your genes can influence your desire to exercise? Grrr. I promise your genes are not the determiner of whether or not you exercise. You are! The reason I know this is because I was born without a hint of an exercise gene or athleticism, and now I've been active for over 15 years. I also hate the morning, but I can't imagine life without getting up early to exercise - it's as natural as brushing my teeth (and I didn't inherit that gene either, but I still do it). Oddly enough, some people even consider me athletic. Not bad for a kid that hated gym class and was always one of the last picked for kickball teams. If I could get myself to exercise, so can you.
If you want to become an exerciser, you can. I naturally hate exercise. Well, I started out hating it years ago, and now I only hate it sometimes. Most of the time I tolerate exercise, and every once in a while I even like it. I now work out 5-6 days a week without thinking about it, and I feel out of sorts without it. No one else in my extended family exercises (except Stella), so I know it's not in our gene pool. As a kid, I was the scrawniest, least athletic person around. If it was my turn at bat, all the fielders moved in.
The only reason I started exercising was because a trainer once told me that old women break their hips because they have such poor upper body strength they slip when they try to lift themselves out of the bathtub. This vision scared me into lifting weights and swimming. I tried to exercise after work, but I was so hungry by then I never made it to the gym. This made me try the impossible - getting up early to exercise. At first I couldn't do it regularly, but I still did it more than the evening. And I found that working out in the morning actually woke me up. I was haunted by the vision of myself as an old lady unable to lift myself out of a chair, so I kept trying to work out, and it got easier and easier. After a (long) while, it became a habit without my even noticing. And the more I exercised, the more active I became.
Anyway, the point of this is don't be scared off by any report that says there is a reason you can't exercise. All you have to do to become a regular exerciser is to want to. If you want to, you will.
What to do - Start Exercising Regularly
- Find your motivation to exercise. Maybe it's to have more energy, sleep better, play with your kids, look great in a swim suit or not be pathetic. There are so many reasons - exercise makes you smarter, more attractive and more fun. Whatever your motivation is, hold tight to it and make a commitment to yourself.
- Plan your exercise. Figure out the three times a week you can do it, and the right time - morning, afternoon, evening. It can be a mix of all three, depending on the day.
- Read this post on mindful exercise on how to get started.
- Play mind games with yourself. Your brain might hate exercising, but your body is thanking you for it (you just can't hear it because your brain is screaming so loudly). It's like taking the dog out for a walk - take your body out because it needs it. Silence your brain - listening to music often helps you forget the pain.
- Take time to feel awesome after every workout. You're getting closer to your goal and you should be proud of yourself. Figure out what you like about it. One of my favorite things about working out is getting to stop at the end - and that feeling only came after a workout. So of course I have to work out to get it.
Want to read more? Here's an article about how genetics can influence your desire to work out. Look through the Exercise section for more tips. If you want to lose weight, you need to watch what you eat too.
What I ate: vegetable juice, strawberries, 2 cappucinos, semolina gnocci + mushrooms, arugula salad, green tea, 1/2 chocolate mousse cake, NYCheese raw milk cheddar, brown rice + ground flaxseeds, steamed tofu + sugar snap peas, Mindful Mix, dried mangos, 12 oz hemp milk, 22 oz apple cider, 40 oz. water
Exercise: ran 7.5 miles
