Exercise Motivation

The realization that my physical fitness has declined significantly has led me to take some actions to increase my motivation for exercise.

Taking inventory, I realize that I have just about every piece of equipment to do the exercise needed. I have weights, a simple bench, yoga equipment and book, punching bag and jump rope. I've acquired a bunch of stuff, but I just haven't been using any of it. In addition, we have a space that can be semi-dedicated to exercise.

Thus, it was clear it wasn't lack of equipment but the lack of motivation. With some thought, I realized that most of my successful exercise has been social, specifically on team sports. Nowadays, exercise is more of an individual activity, e.g. running, biking, or weight lifting. Interestingly, the only time I consistently did running was when I had three to four friends with whom I ran. Currently, my only remaining social exercise is a neighborhood tennis league.

Here's what I'm doing to increase my motivation to exercise:

Increase social sport activities. My indoor tennis league is only during the fall and winter. A few of us decided to continue the league through the summer on a casual basis. In addition, two of my friends are now able to play golf on weekday mornings, which is a good off peak time to play. Finally, my wife also does yoga and we could train together. My goal is to have two social sports activities each week this summer.

Combine weight training with other compatible activity. I've decided to create a financial news center in the weight training room. Since I don't have cable, CNBC is not an option. As an alternative,I will record the Nightly Business Report each day and watch it the next morning during the exercise period. I will also record WealthTrack on weekends. In addition, I will start knocking off my backlog in educational or entertainment videos.

Do exercise first thing in the morning. Since retiring in my forties in 2007, I've stopped getting up at 5:30 AM and am sleeping until 7:30 AM regularly. While I have enjoyed the extra sleep, I now realize I need to do activities like exercise before the rest of the family is awake. It looks like I'm going back to at least a 6:30 AM wake up.

This morning was the first match of our informal summer tennis league, at 7AM on Sundays. We were able to play a two set match and finish by 8:30AM. Tomorrow, I will begin my weight training and watch the Night Business Reports and WealthTrack that I missed from last week. Finally, this week I will develop a yoga routine that I can do with my wife.

We'll see how exercising goes for the month of June, 2008. If it goes well, I may be able to achieve the first of my 2008 New Year's resolutions, losing 10% of my weight :-)

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for the next segment.

This is not financial or health advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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