The Word You Need To Add To Exercise And Your Workout To Succeed

By Donovan Baldwin

We have our favorite, or maybe not so favorite, exercise workouts, and we try to stay "motivated" and keep them up. But, sometimes, that motivation slips, our good intentions stray, and we lose our forward impetus.

What to do?

Well, while there many motivational tips and tricks, and just plain self-discipline, and that's no fun, there is one way you can make your exercise workouts more regular and more effective.

Add one word to "exercise" and/or "workout". It's a powerful word when used properly, but, be careful for there are pitfalls that come with incorrect use of such power.

The word is... "routine".

Yep, that one.

Many people approach exercise in a casual, add-on, kind of way. They look at all the stuff they are doing already and try to figure out where they can add some exercise. Their motivation? They really SHOULD get more exercise.

So, they work out when, where, and if they can, and life intrudes. Since the workout has been squeezed into some niche in their lives, it's easy to pop it back out and set it to the side when something "more important" happens.

Now, we often already USE "routine', such as in "exercise routine" or "workout routine", but, we usually simply are referring to the group and/or sequence of exercises we have chosen to perform.

We really need to think of "routine" in the sense of a regularly scheduled, and practiced, set of exercises. A regular workout should be "penciled in" so to speak in our daily calendar, and other things scheduled around it.

"No, I can't come to the bake sale at 2:00 this afternoon. That's when I exercise."

Oh, I understand that sometimes we will have to make adjustments because of life obligations, but, our exercise should be considered as so important that it becomes part of, a major part of, our daily... dare I say it... routine.

Once you've made that workout a "routine" part of your life, who needs motivation? Do you need motivation to shower, brush your teeth, or get dressed before you go out?

Well, having seen some of the people at the local discount store, I withdraw the question.

Point is, once exercise becomes part of your life, becomes a routine act, you don't have to stay motivated. In fact, you will find that you feel something is wrong when you miss, or are about to miss, a workout.

My other point is that, since the word has many meanings, some only slightly different,we need to make sure that our exercise routine becomes part of our daily routine with becoming... well... routine.

I'm not going to say you have to make your workout "fun" all the time. But, if you do the same thing day in, day out, week after week, you WILL become bored. So, try to switch it up a bit. Make exercise routine, but don't lapse into a routine until the point that it's too routine.

Make sense?

Okay, ready, set, exercise. Get that workout started and make it an integral part of your life.

Donovan Baldwin is a 73-year-old exerciser, and freelance writer currently living in the Dallas - Fort Worth area. A University Of West Florida alumnus (1973) with a BA in accounting, he has been a member of Mensa and has been a Program Accountant for the Florida State Department of Education, the Business Manager of a community mental health center, and a multi-county Fiscal Consultant for an educational field office. After retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, with 21 years of service, he began writing on health and fitness, and, now, frequently publishes original articles on his own websites and for use by other webmasters. Learn why diets don't work at http://nodiet4me.com/.

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