By Sean Kirkby
Have you ever tried exercising in earnest, and wondered “how in the world do other people do this every day? this is miserable!” ??? Consider that you may not be *prepared* to exercise:
- Get enough sleep. Go to bed early, wake up early. (Stop watching TV, unwind another way.)
- Drink enough water. Statistically, you are probably mildly dehydrated, which is OK for pushing pencils, but not for brisk walking, jogging, bicycling, weight lifting, etc. There are lots of rules about what is “enough”. I try to drink 1/2 my body weight in ounces, every day. If I weigh 230 lbs, that’s 115 oz. (about 12 cups) a day. Study the literature and find your own number, but drink enough water.
- Eat the right food. You will be amazed at the magical transformation this has on how you feel before, during, and after exercise. In general:
- a) eat less chicken beef and pork, because plants fuel exercise way better than meat, and eating less meat makes you more hungry for plants – be sure to eat fish, beans and other protein-rich plants, and to supplement with protein powder. Do this and the cellular chemistry that fuels exercise will work way better, and you will get tired less easily.
- b) eat more vegetables – they should make the bulk of your diet.
- c) eat very little simple carbohydrates (refined sugar, sweeteners made from other plants like corn, and refined grains – eat only whole grains.)
- d) don’t eat fast food. You are better off waiting until you get home. Some Subway sandwiches (or similar) might be an exception, though. (See #3.a and #3.b.)
- Eat the right amount of food.
- a) Don’t eat after 9:00pm.
- b) Cut your normal servings in half, and wait 5 minutes after you finish them to decide to get more.
- c) count calories, but do so roughly. Don’t be a food Nazi. Just be sensible.
- Stretch before and after exercise. You will perform better and hurt less.
- Exercise with a buddy. Groups are good too, but if they are large groups, you can skip too easily without being noticed.
- Vary what you do. Unless you are exercising to increase a specific skill or ability, it doesn’t matter what you do, as long as it is work (you sweat and breath hard). Don’t let yourself get bored. Try different things. Get a good mix of weight lifting and cardio. Establish the basic habit of spending time doing it, then fine-tune it later. Just do something!
Just a few things I have noticed that help me. If I sleep enough, get enough water, eat the right food in the right amount, stretch, exercise with someone, and mix it up (but actually work), I find exercise very enjoyable. I have the oomph to actually do it, and I recover more quickly.
Sean is a Husband, Father of 5 girls & 2 boys and is the “Director of Emerging Technologies” at a software company.
