What If You Cannot Exercise?

By Donovan Baldwin

We all know that there are many health benefits of exercise. There's no doubt. We don't question it. It's fact.

However, exercise is... well... exercise.

It's hard. It takes effort, and, no matter how strongly we believe in it, actually doing it can be a challenge.

Here's a couple of tips if you think you cannot exercise.

1. Prioritize your exercise.
2. Make it pleasure, not punishment.

Prioritize Your Exercise

By prioritize, I don't mean set up a workout schedule of what comes when. While that CAN be an important part of any physically active lifestyle, at this point, I'm just trying to get you off the couch and out the door.

So, at this moment, I'm talking about making exercising a regular part of your daily routine. It should be as much a part of your life as brushing your teeth or getting dressed. With that in mind, I want you to get much the same feeling when you skip your workout as you would if you walked outside without your pants on.

This means that working out, exercising, should have a high priority (see?) in your daily activities. We often tend to try to fit exercise in little niches and nooks around out other activities. It's better to give physical activity a front row seat, and work a lot of the other "stuff" into your life, around your fitness routine.

Make It Pleasure, Not Punishment

No one has decreed that "exercise" has to be pushing weights around in a gym, or riding a bicycle until your lungs give out.

First lesson?

Start off low and build up slow. Unless you are already in great shape and regularly tasking your body, there is going to a "train up" period. Also, what you see in the mirror, or on the bathroom scale, does not even begin to tell you what's going on inside your body.

It's not all about muscles and fat. There are glands and hormones, and even the brain, involved in physical fitness. You cannot see what's happening inside, and, it's important to realize that if you try to do too much too fast, you can actually do more harm than good.

Second lesson?

You are more likely to do what you enjoy than what somebody says you HAVE to do. There are not only many different forms of exercise and fitness workouts and regimens, but, many activities that some people would not consider "exercise" at all.

For example, bicycle riding, swimming, gardening, hiking, and yoga to name just a few.

The fact is that few of us simply "cannot " exercise. Most of us just don't want to. We see it as work, as effort now without immediate reward.

Well, the rewards are there, not just in the health benefits of exercise, but in the many physical, psychological, and emotional ways in which regular physical activity, defined as exercise or not, can impact our lives in a positive manner.

Bottom line is that, if you can wiggle your fingers, tap your toes, swing your head from side to side, you can put some activity into your life. If you are fortunate enough to have full use of your limbs, then you cannot honestly say, that you "cannot" exercise... you've just found excuses not to exercise.

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/.