August 28 Weekly Challenge: Sticking With It
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themedalist
Posts: 3,212 Member
Theme: Exercise and Movement
Challenge: Sicking With It
Our challenge this week is simple but it's not easy. This week, let's stay on track and not veer away from our exercise habits and routines.
Granted, there's a lot of competition for your time right now. It's the end of the summer and that means children and grandchildren returning to school. For those of us who work in a school system, it's the beginning of a new school year or semester. Add to it back to school shopping and end of summer barbecues and family outings, and you've got plenty of things competing for your time and attention. It's pretty easy to let exercising slide under these circumstances.
Please don't let that happen. Exercise is a great stress reducer and a good way to make sure that part of your day remains your own. Exercise is your time to focus on you and to keep your health and fitness a priority.
But there's another solid reason to keep exercising even when life gets pretty crazy. Exercise is recognized as a keystone habit, a habit that tends to pull in other good habits with it. Ever notice that when you exercise you tend to eat better and when you focus on healthy eating you also tend to be more active? Both exercise and healthy eating are keystone habits. Though it's certainly not applicable to everyone, researchers and better living advocates recognize the power of keystone habits. Which is why stopping a habit like exercise can have a big negative ripple effect. We stop exercising and too often, we also stop caring about what we eat.
Let's not let that happen. This week, let's stick with it!
This Week's Challenge: Whatever your exercise habits and routines are, make them a priority this week. Keep going to the gym, keep working out at home, take that usual walk, run, bike ride, or spin class. And if that's impossible because you're away from home or for other circumstances, find new and creative ways to stay active. Walks can be done almost everywhere.
And if you're new to MFP and don't yet have an established exercise routine, now is a great time to start! I think the best exercises are the ones that we enjoy and will want to keep doing.
Wednesday Check-in: Look for the updates post this Wednesday. Please post any frustrations, suggestions, or questions you may have for our group. We can all learn from each other!
Make it a great week!
...............................................................................................
Suggested Resources:
8 keystone habits that can transform your life
http://www.businessinsider.com/keystone-habits-that-transform-your-life-2015-8/
Keystone Habits: The Simple Way to Improve All Aspects of Your Life
http://jamesclear.com/keystone-habits
This book is on my Top 10 list of books that have made a profoundly positive impact on my life. If you are curious why habits are so important, what habits can do for you, or how marketers use what they know about our personal habits to get us to buy more of their products, this is the book to read. Fascinating reading!
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
http://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/
..................................................................................................
Challenge: Sicking With It
Our challenge this week is simple but it's not easy. This week, let's stay on track and not veer away from our exercise habits and routines.
Granted, there's a lot of competition for your time right now. It's the end of the summer and that means children and grandchildren returning to school. For those of us who work in a school system, it's the beginning of a new school year or semester. Add to it back to school shopping and end of summer barbecues and family outings, and you've got plenty of things competing for your time and attention. It's pretty easy to let exercising slide under these circumstances.
Please don't let that happen. Exercise is a great stress reducer and a good way to make sure that part of your day remains your own. Exercise is your time to focus on you and to keep your health and fitness a priority.
But there's another solid reason to keep exercising even when life gets pretty crazy. Exercise is recognized as a keystone habit, a habit that tends to pull in other good habits with it. Ever notice that when you exercise you tend to eat better and when you focus on healthy eating you also tend to be more active? Both exercise and healthy eating are keystone habits. Though it's certainly not applicable to everyone, researchers and better living advocates recognize the power of keystone habits. Which is why stopping a habit like exercise can have a big negative ripple effect. We stop exercising and too often, we also stop caring about what we eat.
Let's not let that happen. This week, let's stick with it!
This Week's Challenge: Whatever your exercise habits and routines are, make them a priority this week. Keep going to the gym, keep working out at home, take that usual walk, run, bike ride, or spin class. And if that's impossible because you're away from home or for other circumstances, find new and creative ways to stay active. Walks can be done almost everywhere.
And if you're new to MFP and don't yet have an established exercise routine, now is a great time to start! I think the best exercises are the ones that we enjoy and will want to keep doing.
Wednesday Check-in: Look for the updates post this Wednesday. Please post any frustrations, suggestions, or questions you may have for our group. We can all learn from each other!
Make it a great week!
...............................................................................................
Suggested Resources:
8 keystone habits that can transform your life
http://www.businessinsider.com/keystone-habits-that-transform-your-life-2015-8/
Keystone Habits: The Simple Way to Improve All Aspects of Your Life
http://jamesclear.com/keystone-habits
This book is on my Top 10 list of books that have made a profoundly positive impact on my life. If you are curious why habits are so important, what habits can do for you, or how marketers use what they know about our personal habits to get us to buy more of their products, this is the book to read. Fascinating reading!
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
http://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/
..................................................................................................
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Replies
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I already have my week’s workouts planned. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, I will meet my sister at Curves. We both look forward to our workouts (and gab fests), and bailing is not an option. This week because I’m starting up classes, so we’ll have to meet earlier. My lunches are prepped. The trick this week will be getting in those yoga workouts I’ve added to my routine this summer. I’ll let you know how it is going.6
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Great plan @77tes You've got this!!
I agree. Having a plan does make it work for me. I plan to stick to my daily walks with one rest day. 3 times a week I do some sort of strength and challenges.
I am going through a mild depression caused by my menopause. When I get like that I do not want to do anything. Yesterday, after I had finished my workout, I went and walked 8 more miles with my husband. I did not want to do it. I just did not feel like it but exercise is so important when you are going thru this. I am proud of myself. Sticking to my plan!!4 -
This is a great challenge! I desperately need to establish an exercise routine. I've never been an exerciser per se, but I do like to take walks. This week I plan to try a different activity each day. I want to try a few different things and try to find something I like and could see myself making into a habit. For example, I would like to try Leslie Sansone walking DVD's, yoga, Tai Chi, circuit at the gym (like Curves), light weights and maybe exploring the area for nature trails. The issue I always run into, however, is that I have a really bad knee and hip. So, I start out strong and end up on the couch in pain for 2 days. So, if I can find a way around that, I'll be thrilled!2
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@OConnell5483 , physical limitations can make exercise difficult. Is there a YMCA nearby where you could swim or do water aerobics? I'd recommend not starting out strong, rather start slow with whatever you do. If it is Leslie Sansone, don't try to do the whole DVD, maybe just 15 minutes. I have been doing 30 days of Yoga on YouTube. Leslie Fightmaster has a program of 30 days for beginners. I've done the first 15 days 3 times now. After day 15 it gets too hard for me. I'm almost to day 15, so I think this time I'll try doing 2 days on each day, but if that is still too hard, I'll go back to day 1 again. I figure doing a little is better than nothing.4
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@77tes We do have a YMCA nearby that I have often thought about joining. I actually belonged to it while I was on chemo some years ago because of how swollen I got from the steroids they were giving me, and I would go there and water walk. I loved it! It is my favorite form of exercise. Great idea. That is a really good whole body workout when you just swim laps. Thank you for the suggestion! (I am also going to look at the Leslie Fightmaster yoga program. I'm very uncoordinated and it might help strengthen my core if I can make myself stick with it!)
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I was at the state fair Monday and Tuesday this week so my "workout" included lots of walking. Over 8000 steps Monday and 10,000 yesterday. My feet are recovering so I will do my Classical Stretch DVD today. I'll stick to that and my weights DVD this week and get in a hike or two once I can handle it again. 77tes, I like the phrase "doing a little is better than nothing". I think it's important to do what we can and congratulate ourselves for doing that.3
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I was at the state fair Monday and Tuesday this week so my "workout" included lots of walking. Over 8000 steps Monday and 10,000 yesterday. My feet are recovering so I will do my Classical Stretch DVD today. I'll stick to that and my weights DVD this week and get in a hike or two once I can handle it again. 77tes, I like the phrase "doing a little is better than nothing". I think it's important to do what we can and congratulate ourselves for doing that.
I completely agree! Doing something, even a little something, beats doing nothing. All the little somethings add up!
@OConnell5483, if your YMCA has an elliptical that might also be an option for you. The elliptical is a low impact machine. A week or so before my hip replacement surgery, when I could only walk with a cane, I would still go to the gym to use the elliptical. As walking became progressively harder to the point of being almost impossible, I could still use the elliptical and I still got a good aerobic workout. I just love that machine!
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