OK, do we really need to go over this? EXERCISE IS GOOD FOR YOU! You know that already, right? But still, estimates are that only 15% of adults exercise regularly? That means that 85% of us are constantly in need of an excuse to avoid exercise.
I can help. Let me give you a list of excuses not to exercise. There may be some you haven’t thought of yet that will be useful to you in your quest to avoid exercise:
- I’m too tired
- I don’t have time
- I don’t have any convenient and safe place to exercise
- I’m too old
- I don’t know how
- Exercise is boring
- It’s too cold
- It’s too hot
- I don’t want to get all sweaty
- I’m stressed out
- I can’t afford to join a health club
- My dog ate my running shoes
- I’m too out of shape to get in shape
It would take several pages for me to debunk each of the foregoing lame excuses. Let’s instead just substitute the one excuse that is actually a fact:
- I lack the self-discipline to do what I know I should do!
That’s tough love, I know, but doesn’t it really come down to that? Here’s the thing. What if I could show you a way to exercise that doesn’t require “self-discipline?” Here goes:
- If exercise were fun, you would enjoy it.
- If you enjoyed it, you would look forward to it.
- If you looked forward to it, no self-discipline would be required.
- If no self-discipline were required, you would do it (and regularly)!
- If you do it, you won’t need the excuses.
You know what we say here at IDF, “If you dig it, you’ll do it.” So the solution is simple and self-evident: make it fun. It’s easy. Don’t make working out or exercise another “chore” you have to cram into an already full day. Make it recreation to relax and de-stress at the end (or beginning) of your day. Hmmmm. Can life-long fitness really be that simple? Methinks so!
