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It is possible to have fun losing weight! You can even have fun working hard to lose that weight. With all of the exercise options available, you should never have to do an exercise you hate.
Remember when you were a kid? You could run and play all day and seemingly not get tired. The fact that you went to sleep as soon as your head hit the pillow proves that you were exhausted. But, you had so much fun playing that you didn’t think of it as exercise! In fact, the best exercise available is fun exercise!
Its not against the law for adults to have fun exercising! For example, I enjoy exercising outdoors. I exercise outdoors most of the time. I like to run sprints instead of 60-minute cardio sessions. So, I run sprint intervals for 20 minutes. I never do 60-minute cardio sessions. They are not fun for me and there are more effective ways to do cardio exercise.
Have fun exercising people! You will accomplish more of your weight loss and fat loss goals by doing exercise routines that are fun. And, on those days that you don’t feel like exercising, you are more likely to do a fun exercise routine. Its difficult to keep doing something that you don’t enjoy.
So, here are some tips to make exercise more fun:
1. Make a list of five to 10 strength and cardio exercises that you enjoy (your list will probably grow to 20). You can probably think of an exercise for every body part. Full body exercises are even better. Fill (and rotate) your exercise routines with these enjoyable exercises.
2. Don’t forget about those kid exercises! These exercises are some of the best calorie-burners. Remember fun exercises like jumping jacks, jump rope, hop-scotch, cone shuttles and monkey bars?
3. Walking and jogging on trails, hiking and swimming are fun exercise activities for many people.
4. Did you play a sport in high school? You can still dust off that tennis racket and play two times a week (even if you don’t quite run as fast).
5. Did you dance for the drill team in high school? Those dance moves are still in your body! Get busy! Dancing is great full body exercise.
6. If weight training is foreign to you, then try bodyweight strength exercises. Squats, pushups, pull-ups, triceps dips, inverted rows, ab curl ups, knee ups, planks and bridges don’t require any weights.
7. If you need a group to keep things interesting, try a group exercise class with friends. Social support is a leading contributor to the weight loss success of many people.
Have fun, work hard, eat right, lose weight, burn fat and change your body!
Mark Dilworth, BA, PES, CPT is a Certified Personal Trainer and former NCAA Division I athlete. Mark’s Fat Blaster Athletic Training System has been proven to give his clients the fit, sculpted and athletic-type bodies they want. Visit Mark’s sites:
My Fitness Hut http://myfitnesshut.blogspot.com
Her Fitness Hut http://herfitnesshut.com
Sports Fitness Hut http://sportsfitnesshut.blogspot.com
Add a Comment1 Comments
Partner dancing is absolutely my favorite way to exercise. Contradancing, swing dancing (lindy hop, charleston, jitterbug), ballroom dancing, blues dancing, I am less good at Latin dancing like Salsa but I love it too.
I find dancing to be great because it uses the whole body...you use all sorts of muscle groups and build muscle tone in addition to engaging in aerobic activity. Fast dancing can be more aerobic and slower dances such as blues focus more on quality of movement, almost like yoga or Tai Chi.
I also think partner dancing is really valuable because it combines exercise with a social activity. Dancing that's based on lead-follow (like swing, salsa, ballroom dances) not only is exercise but it develops your ability to communicate nonverbally. I found that my ability to read people's nonverbal signals (in situations beyond dancing) was taken to a totally new level when I started getting really into partner dancing. Caller-based dances like square dancing and contradancing build totally different skills, and have a different feel because you're dancing with everyone in the room at the same time.
I also find that touch is really valuable. Touch releases hormones that relax us, promote healthy immune response, and make it easier for us to relate to others and form stronger bonds with them. I personally find that it's a lot easier to stay relaxed in partner dancing when you're in physical contact with other people than when engaging in other forms of equally vigorous exercise, and I suspect that touch has something to do with it. Relaxation is important in exercise because it prevents injury! I also think that touch leads to better connections with people.
So...if anyone hasn't tried out partner dancing I would really encourage them to give it a try!!! I swear I used to have two left feet but after doing lots of different styles of dance for years, now I absolutely love it.
March 30, 2010 - 9:10amThis Comment