staying healthy in the fast laneexercise after a few weeks. But “pain is no gain.” Some hard-core
exercisers will disagree with me on this. For the average person it
is far more important to have lots of victories to keep your exer-
cise program alive than to push through pain and injure yourself
or be so sore you quit. Nagging injuries, persistent soreness, and
pain are “killers” to building the exercise habit. Down the road, af-
ter exercising three months to a year, if you really want to push
yourself, give it a try. You are less likely to quit when you have built
the exercise habit.
Making Exercise Efficient
Let’s face it: Most of us are very busy. The most common excuse
I get in the clinic is “I can’t exercise because I am too busy (and/
or too tired).” If you knew you were going to get results fast, you
might not give that excuse so easily. I can tell you how to be efficient
with your time and get results fast. How can I say this? Because I
live it! I am very efficient with my exercise from strength training
to aerobics and my flexibility work. I block out anywhere from one
half-hour to two hours per day for exercise. Remember the TRIAD
Exercise concept. You want to have a good cardiovascular system,
be strong, and be flexible—and you want to do the exercises fast,
efficiently, and safely.
When you have that exerciser’s mentality—when that exercise
habit is part of you—you will see the opportunities within your
daily life to exercise efficiently and safely. You just find a way as
you go through your busy day. If you get injured you find a way to
exercise around it.
How to Increase “Non-Exercise” Exercise
More traditional cultures get their exercise from “non-exer-
cise” exercise. Just the work they have to do to feed themselves,
their daily jobs, and taking care of their dwellings provide some
vigorous physical activity. The modern-day American who sits all