Save your workout program by walking for exercise when you feel lazy
One of the biggest complaints I hear from women is that they can’t maintain their fitness program for the long run. I see so many women get into a fitness routine at the gym using the exercise equipment, only to flake out on their exercise routine six to nine months later. In order to effectively combat aging, seniors need to maintain their exercise habits over the long run (years) and not allow themselves to fall out of the work out groove. Working out only sporadically is not going to promote healthy aging and in fact can lead to injuries stemming from the constant rebounding between being in shape and being really out of shape. If you can at the very least walk for exercise when you don’t feel like doing much else, it will go a long way towards maintaining your long term health and fitness workouts.
The desire for a woman to exercise goes in cycles (yes we operate in cycles haha), and many life factors influence whether she wants to work out and lose weight or not. Divorce, pregnancy, motherhood and career stress can all contribute to a woman feeling as though she can’t exercise because she has no time or motivation. Another factor is depression because if you aren’t feeling good about life you tend to get unmotivated and discouraged. If you are one of these women who started an exercise routine but feels yourself falling out of it for one reason or another, here is my biggest beauty tip that I can give you. Instead of quitting your workout, downgrade to a very easy walking workout instead. Walking is the perfect downgrade workout!.
I like other women find myself in down cycles where I am dreading going to the gym and using the gym machines. I just don’t want to go for whatever reason. Some months I get to the gym several times a week and some months I just don’t feel like it. When I get into one of those moods where I don’t feel like exercising or going to the gym at all, I usually downgrade to getting out and taking a short walk every day or 4-5 times per week. I just put on my walking shoes and head out my front door. Depending how I feel I will walk anywhere from 10 minutes to as long as 2 hours sometimes. I do not walk fast. I just walk for enjoyment and deep down I know that I am at least doing something to exercise. I think this has been a key to my maintaining a healthy figure for so long even after having had four children. I never really quit exercising. I downgrade to walking and then when my mood and motivation spikes back up I start going back to the gym I belong to.
Not only is walking great exercise for seniors, it is a great “downgrade” exercise for when you get too complacent to do your weight training, strength training, and cardio/aerobic machine workouts at the gym. In and of itself, aerobic walking is one of the best possible exercises for osteoporosis prevention. Walking is a weight bearing exercise and it requires balance. It is one of the activities you can easily do to build and maintain strong healthy bones in your body that are going to be less prone to osteoporosis related fractures. Walking is great for your heart, body and bones. But more important than that, is that walking is the best exercise to stick with when you feel yourself falling out of your workout routine. It will get you outside and help you maintain some semblance of fitness and keep you in shape until you are ready to ramp up your workout again. Whether you walk for days or months, you’ll be helping preserve the fitness, bone density and muscles that you have painstakingly worked on at the gym.
Walking is an easy way to maintain a positive exercise and fitness outlook. Best of all, walking is free!
You can walk for exercise from home, you don’t have to dress up, and you just go out your front door and walk. Walking is free. Even if you walk around the block or up to the local store, it’s better than not exercising at all. If walking sounds boring you can always bring along an ipod loaded with good music or one of those books on tape. You could also bring a friend along with you (a beloved pet works too) if you need company on your walk. Mentally speaking, the internal concept that you are doing at least something has enormous benefits. You never want to get that feeling of exercise failure because it can lead to weight gain and discouragement. If you do at least a little bit of walking you will know that you are taking a break but not out of the game completely. I believe this is a key emotional concept for women – they need to stay in the game in order to feel happy and motivated. Never get down on yourself if you have down graded your workout – only be happy that at least you haven’t quit completely!
Walking will help preserve the hard work you’ve put into your body at the gym
Finally, if you manage to get yourself out of the house and onto that short walk, you may find yourself willing to walk further than you thought you would! If you live in a neighborhood with some hilly areas you can gradually work out to walking in the hills. This won’t replace weight training and strength training at the gym. If you want a really tight hard body, you will eventually have to do more than walk and add strength and resistance training (the nautilus machines) to your workouts. But in the meantime, walking during time periods where your motivation is out the window will help you maintain a positive attitude and preserve any work you have done at the gym on your hot body. You’ll keep your body in shape by walking and stay in the fitness game until you are ready to go back to something more substantial. Good luck and write me some comments to Mature Beauty when you’ve gotten that little bit of walking exercise in for the day.
If you are waning on your fitness workout routine, down grade to walking to maintain at least some exercise and fitness level until your gym motivation returns. Go take a walk :-)!
