Great Question, and quite possibly the hardest one. So, where do you actually start? Whether your getting back into things or are brand new to all this, the answer is……..It doesn’t really matter! JUST START!!
My blog covers many aspects for being happy and healthy over 50, including:
- Improving mental health
- Fitness and exercise programs
- Nutrition & Supplements
- Improving sleep
- Toxins and heavy metal detoxing
- Lifestyle choices
- Breathing exercises
- Stress
- Cold shower therapy
- Water filtration
Firstly, I’m not now, and never will, suggest you embark on an expensive gym membership right away and throw yourself into a kamikaze health lifestyle. I don’t believe that’s the answer. Start small and slow. Just pick the first menu tab in my blog that takes your fancy, and start.
Being honest with you, if your new to this, I would certainly recommend getting your toxins minimised and diet improved before you dive right into any exercise programs. This also happens to be one of the quickest and easiest ways to start making improvements to the way you look and feel. So maybe that's a good way to kick things off??
Think about it logically: there is little point putting yourself through an exercise program if your body is full of toxins and your not feeding it the correct nutrients for health & recovery.
It really doesn’t matter what you do to get started, just DO SOMETHING!
Picking any of the menu tabs and making a start will pay dividends and have an almost immediate positive effect on your mental and physical health.
For example, a work colleague was having trouble getting off to sleep:
I suggested a certain hot drink concoction, some breathing exercises and a couple of additional quality supplements prior to hitting the sack and BINGO!! He has now moved onto stress and negativity reduction and is thriving. He might never indulge in an exercise programme, but he is far healthier and happier now than he has ever been. All he has done is make some small, subtle changes.
Before you start, maybe think about setting some goals. Again, it doesn’t matter what they are, however, they should be attainable and realistic.
I implement these healthy practices into me life because it makes me feel good, happy and fitter and I just enjoy that feeling and thrive off it.
You might want to set goals, and aim to hit targets. If that what tickles your fancy, then go for it. As I have said, please make them specific, achievable and realistic.
Goals/targets might involve:
- Getting into a smaller pair of jeans a shirt or a dress (if that’s what you enjoy wearing) im not here to judge!
- Getting into shape for an upcoming holiday
- Losing so many pounds in so many weeks
- Lowering your blood pressure to normal levels
- Get to a certain number of wide grip chins
- Yadder, Yadder, Yadder. The list goes on.
One very important point: out of all the topics I cover in my blog, exercising is 100% the hardest to keep motivated and maintain.
This is called HUMAN NATURE and must be accepted as a FACT OF LIFE! Don’t fight it, just accept that some days you will want to do it, and others you certainly wont.
The others are almost passive in nature i.e. once you have them set up, they become the norm and you don’t think about it. Take for example toxin removal: this is very easy to put in place, and once implemented, just becomes a normal part of your everyday routine, but a very important and beneficial one to boot.
Don’t worry about anything though, I will supply you with tools to enable you to motivate yourself to exercise. If I can do it, so can you.
I want to tell you a short story, about me. I was in my late forties, and although I had exercised and kept in reasonable shape all my life, I was having a blip. Due to work pressures and an old injury, my mental state wasn’t good, I had piled on the pounds and was feeling pretty miserable.
My diet was atrocious, all my clothes were a squeeze to get into and I was starting to dislike myself for spiralling into this condition. When people you know make comments about how you look, your weight and how miserable you are, you know its time to act.
Before I did make changes, I did ask myself the questions:
“Why Bother Anyway”? and “What’s the Point”?
As you know, these questions were excuses not to do anything and carry on with my downward spiralling, because it was the easiest thing to do. When your in this position, you will never get out of it if your not brutally and completely honest with yourself. So, I swapped the questions above for alternatives:
• What do I actually look like?
You need to strip off in front of a full length mirror for this one. Ouch!!!!
• What do I want to look like?
• What do I actually feel like?
• What do I want to feel like?
• What do I enjoy doing?
• What can I no longer do and miss doing?
Prior to this blip, I was probably at the fittest I had ever been. I was doing three sets of ten wide grip chins (well almost), I could easily do a full 30 minute HIIT workout and recover back to my normal breathing rate within 5 minutes, my diet was exceptional and I was feeling really happy, fit and healthy.
So, at this low point, I knew what I looked like and what I wanted to look like, the mirror told me everything I wanted to know in that respect. Lack of exercise and my awful diet was making me feel terrible.
I was taking two Cornish pasties, three cans of coke and 4 chocolate bars to work every day. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed eating and drinking them, however, the result was a feeling of tremendous guilt, lethargy and needing to be physically sick afterwards.
I struggled to get to ten push ups and could barely do one wide grip chin.
If you do find your self asking the “Why Bother” & “What’s the Point” questions, try replacing them like I did. If your brutally and completely honest with yourself, you will have it sorted and you can crack on!
SUMMARY!
Look at it like this. You’re here: your on my blog!!
YOU HAVE ALREADY STARTED!!!!
However, as you very well know, this is the easy part! All your doing right now is reading how to do it, not actually doing it! Here is my suggestion:
- Set some SMALL goals, however, they must be SMART goals:
S Specific
M Measurable
A Attainable
R Relevant
T Time Based
Commit yourself to some small actions (some examples):
- Get to ten press ups (no cheating, chest hits the deck every time)
- Create yourself a mini workout that takes no longer than 5 to 10 mins and do it every day
- Try deep breathing exercises (it takes 5 mins out of your day)
- Cut out snacks every other day of the week
- Substitute soft drinks for water or milk
- Buy a good water filter (one that removes fluoride)
- Buy an EMF blocker cloth and drape over your devices
- Educate yourself! Read something relevant to your goals EVERY DAY!
- Keep a log or diary and record how these small changes make you feel.
IF YOU’VE GOT THIS FAR, WELL DONE,
YOUR ACTUALLY “DOING IT”!!!
NOW YOUR DOING IT, BUT WHAT NEXT? HOW DO YOU “KEEP DOING IT”?
I will cover motivational techniques in further blogs, however,
here are some tips for building on your good start and continuing on your journey:
- Keep reminding yourself how much better you feel, especially following exercise.
- Refer back to your goals daily.
- Reinforce on a regular basis, WHY you started the journey.
- Use other people to motivate you.
- Having a bad day? Remember the motto;
IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER WHAT YOU DO,
JUST DO SOMETHING!!!!
Now onto the next blog
