Your health depends in part upon your fitness. Programs have been developed and are available for young, old, disabled and couch potatoes. Everyone should have a fitness program regardless of their age, their physical or even medical conditions.
Always ask your primary healthcare provider to determine the best program when you begin a fitness program. They will base their decision on your medical condition, your medicine regimen and your current physical activity level. They will also consider any underlying medical condition, medications or other medical considerations when they discuss your program options.
Everyone has a current level of fitness. In today’s adult and teen population it’s important to raise that level of fitness to a point where you are able to climb stairs without getting out of breath, do daily living activities without difficulty and can easily walk and talk with your friends. In a fast-paced society that relies on technology and machinery to do most of the work, that goal can sometimes be difficult to achieve once you have passed the age of 30.
Your first step is to determine your goals. Your fitness program will be designed to achieve your goals. Do want to be able to walk up the steps without losing your breath, carry groceries in from the car effortlessly or run 4 miles a day? Whatever your goals or your current level of conditioning there is a fitness program for you.
Once you’ve figured out what you want to achieve, your next step is to figure out how to get there. There are an abundance of fitness programs to help you meet your goals from fitness walking, yoga, rowing, swimming, golf, running, and Tae Bo. Your choices are phenomenal. They can be simple or complex, indoors or strictly outside, individually performed or with a team.
Trainers can often help you choose a fitness program that best fits your needs, goals, lifestyle, financial abilities and current level of conditioning. Time limitations will also play an important part in crafting a fitness program that will work just for you. If you have arthritic knees then running would not be a good choice but walking on flat ground would be fine. If you have a rotator cuff injury then swimming might cause inflammation but soccer, running, Tae Bo or yoga would do the trick.
Once you have determined your goals and figured out what program you are going to use you should come to the realization that this is a lifetime commitment. Not that you can’t change fitness programs but that fitness itself is a lifetime effort. You should never put your health on the back burner.
A fitness program will fail unless you are prepared to put your heart into working through a program and staying committed to your health. Because it is so easy to work or give up a workout for another commitment you should schedule a time each day that you commit to and don’t break. Once your workout becomes important to your feeling of well-being you’ll find that you don’t want to break that schedule and you’ll find the time to work in a fitness program on a daily basis.
Remember to focus on your own abilities and don’t focus on the other guy. Working out in a gym will often give you a false impression of what your improvements are since you will be tempted to compare yourself to the ultra-marathoner on the treadmill next to you or Mr. Universe on the weights.
The Center for Disease Control lists the top five causes of death as heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lower respiratory disease and accidents. Except for accidents the risk for all these causes can be significantly lowered with a lifetime of health and fitness.
Make the commitment to include a fitness program in your daily schedule and you’ll soon find that you feel better, have more energy, have probably lost weight and are trimmer. The new you is just around the corner!
