One important point is our awareness of fitness and making the choice of building it into our daily routines. You can make the choice at home and at work as indicated below.
Practical ways how to incorporate fitness into your life routines
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– use the stairs at work instead of taking the elevator.
– walk to the corner store if you can. Go for a walk in your lunch break
– walk with your dog.
– take up a hobby like dancing, aerobic dancing, square dancing, line dancing
– buy or rent a fitness video and enjoy a work-out at home. It beats the winter doldrums
– do some tai- chi
– join a local sports club (tennis, soft ball)
– whether you are going alone or with a few neighbours does not matter, but go for a brisk walk!
– put the remote control away when you watch TV. Get out of that chair instead!
– rake the grass clippings and the leaves instead of buying a leaf blower. Similarly: sweep your driveway!
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Building Fitness Into The Daily Routines
Summary regarding physical fitness
We have not been born as couch potatoes. If you watch children, you will notice that they love to jump, running, climbing, dancing. They obviously are enjoying it to be alive and active, and so should you. You are never too old to have fun, and it is never too late either.
If you see people who exercise with the expression of exhaustion and agony in their faces and for this reason have come to the conclusion that true exercise means heroics and suffering, you are missing the boat like those studies of acute misery you have seen. The aspect of stress and cortisol release has been explained already. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing any more. Overdoses do not work, and I don’t care what overdose we are talking about. Also anything that is exaggeration and translates into “pure torture” will not stand up in time.
The result can be the extreme of injury or it will become a tedious duty, and you’ll be sick and tired of everlasting muscle aches and quit. An exercise frenzy will remain a fad that will lose its charms pretty fast. Making exercise fun by introducing various activities, by gradually building muscular strength and endurance and by enjoying a variety of exercise options will be successful, and you will reap the benefits over a life time. Whether you are enjoying solitary walks or whether you have more fun joining a group is strictly up to you, and you will find what works best for you. The next time you watch a cat stretching luxuriously or some children jumping and dancing, see it as a special invitation to yourself to be alive and active and having fun while you do it! Perhaps you want to lose weight at the gym with a regular exercise program.
References:
1. B. Sears: “The age-free zone”.Regan Books, Harper Collins, 2000. Also see Dr. Sears’ site.
2. B. Sears: “Zone perfect meals in minutes”. Regan Books, Harper Also see Dr. Sears’ site.
3. B.J. Wilcox, D.C. Willcox and M. Suzuki: “The Okinawa Program.” Clarkson Potter,2001, N.Y., U.S.A.
4. E.L. Rossi: The psychobiology of mind-body healing. Norton &Co., 1986, N.Y., U.S.A.
5. Vitamins and Foods. Audio-Digest Family Practice Vol 49, Issue 29, Aug.7, 2001.
6. P.C. McGraw: Life strategies. 1999, Simon&Schuster Source, N.Y., U.S.A.
7. B. Sears: “The top 100 zone foods”. Regan Books, Harper Collins, 2001. Also see Dr. Sears’ site.
