Of course Olympic athletes train exceptionally hard. Makes sense. After all, that is their job. Apolo Ohno reportedly works out 4 times every day for 2 hours each time. That’s a full day’s work.
Most of us don’t have that kind of time…or drive. The good news is we don’t have to workout all day long to achieve weight loss success!
What we do have to do is move every day. Consistently. You don’t get to the Olympics by sometimes working out and sometimes not. All the athletes work out every day…or 6 days a week.
We can do this, too. So we work out for 15 minutes, or 30 minutes a day. Maybe we add in an extra walk, hike, or bike ride now and then…the key is consistency.
You must move your body to YOUR ability. And you must make it a priority.
If you are out of shape and/or obese your ability to move will be less than the person who has already been exercising for a while. That’s okay. Remember, in YOUR Olympics it is just you…you don’t have to compete against anyone else. Think about the athletes who get injured…they have to cut back on their workouts and listen to their doctors and trainers in order to get back into the game quickly…for a time they cannot do their normal workouts either.
So find a routine (or two or three or four) that works for you. When I was 125 pounds heavier, there were days where my back, hips and knees hurt so badly that all I could do was sit on the edge of the bed and move my legs and arms vigorously…I even remember days where I was flat on my back and all I could do was move my arms and legs like I was doing jumping jacks, without the jumping.
Order some DVDs…or check them out from the library…create your own routine. Try a variety of things until you find something that you enjoy, whether it is Sweating to the Oldies or walking around the neighborhood while listening to Black Eyed Peas on your iPod. Remember the Olympic athletes don’t do it all…they found a sport they love and they aim to be the best at that sport. Even so, they do a variety of activities that support their sport…so be willing to try some new things.
If you are not sure where to start, you can begin where I did…and what I still do most days, a simple program called “Bounce and Shake”…that I learned from Dr. John Gray. You can get his extended DVD set here and it will provide you with several different workouts that you can use no matter your fitness level or age.
No matter what workout routine you choose, this is the perfect time to commit to do 1 thing a day. Not 30 pushups or situps or whatever–1. Commit to doing 1 every single day. You can do more, but you only have to do 1. Start there. If you dont’ feel like exercising, remember you just have to do 1…or 1 minute. Anyone can do 1. Amazingly enough, if you commit to doing just 1 the chances are you will be in better shape in a month than if you commit to doing 30…because you can keep the commitment!
It is about making the commitment and keeping it. Being consistent. Your gold medal comes every day, with every 1 you do…whether it is 1 minute of aerobics or 1 jumping jack. So your moving goal this month is to decide what 1 thing you are going to commit to doing, then commit to it, and do it, every day.
