How to become Passionate about Exercise

What’s the most important thing to you as you age?

I imagine typical answers will be things like financial freedom, family, and having experiences which enrich your life. While all of these are important, there’s one that stands out to me – your health.

You can have all the things in the world but if you don’t have your health, your life is going to be limited in so many ways. A massive part of being healthy is being regularly active, and while many people have great habits around exercise, there are also many who have lost or given up on it.

If you are someone who isn’t exercising or struggles with it, I imagine you have many barriers preventing you from having it in your life. It could be you find it hard, your body has limitations, you have mental blocks around exercise, you don’t think you enjoy it, or you have a history where you have failed in this area.

Unfortunately, a lot of people in this position have given up on exercise which results in their health and wellbeing quickly heading in the wrong direction. This doesn’t have to be the case. These people need a plan that allows them to introduce an exercise habit into their weekly routine in a way that is achievable, wise and enjoyable.

When we look at people who love and maintain regular exercise, they tend to share a few traits. They have a movement they enjoy, they have connections/community with that movement, they have leaders who guide them, they have experiences which grow and enrich them with their movement, and they self-identify as an ‘exerciser’ which makes them prioritise it. These people understand the value of exercise and what it brings to their lives, they know it’s intrinsic to a healthy life and it’s essential for them, it’s just part of who they are.

The problem for people who aren’t exercising is when they make the decision to start, they do everything wrong. They tend to do too much too quickly, start at a level too hard, and set plans in place that almost guarantees failure. This leads to unenjoyable experiences which makes them quit and reinforces they can never be successful with exercise.

In my book ‘I Will Make You Passionate About Exercise’ I give non-exercisers a weekly step-by-step plan, a practical guide which introduces exercise into their life in the right way. I teach the right lessons at the right time and they will get to a point where they not only have an exercise habit in place, the will actually love it.

How to actually get started

The most important focus in the first part of any exercise journey is developing the habit of practically fitting exercise into your life in the easiest way possible. Nothing is ever going to change if you can’t put time into your week for it. What I’ve learnt in helping thousands of people go from nothing to learning to love exercise is they get this first step so wrong.

The first goal is to learn how to put exercise into your week and what strategies you can use to give you the highest chance of success, these strategies include:

1. Planning when you can easily fit your exercise session in

If you were to guarantee you could do three exercise sessions this week, when would you practically schedule them in based on what you know about yourself and what’s happening in your life this week.

2. Choosing a movement and at a level that seems extremely easy

Could you easily do a 10 minute walk? Or jump on a stationary bike for 5 minutes? That’s the level I’m talking about here. This is important because it helps remove the fear it will be hard. Making it achievable both mentally and physically makes it easier for you to start.

3. Focus on learning what you do before you start exercising

In this first stage we are teaching you how to fit exercise into your life and create a habit, so you need to learn the practicalities and behaviours which enable you to succeed with this. People who love and prioritise exercise have learnt the practical and mental skills they do before they even start moving. This is your main learning at this stage.

4. Reward the habit-building behaviours

Following on from the previous strategy, reward yourself for identifying and practicing these behaviours that enable you to get you started. Tell yourself you are doing great when you get your walking gear ready for the morning before you go to bed the night before.

5. Don’t focus on the physical results

If you build a fitness habit you will experience amazing physical benefits, but in this early stage of your journey, this is not your focus and could throw you off course if you find yourself focussing on it. We are working on building the habit and doing exercise at a very easy level so you may not see huge physical change at the start, remind yourself this will come once you have your habit in place.

When you think about these tips, do they seem achievable? Could you do 3 x 10 minute walks each week for the next month? Could you focus on learning the habits that get you out the door and moving? This is the level the first step of your fitness journey needs to be at. Once you have developed this side of yourself you’ll be ready for the next step and you’ll be on your way to building a healthier, fitter you, able to get the most out of the years you have in front of you.

If you want to make change, don’t just think ‘I should do this’, make a commitment to yourself and get started.

The best way to do this is with my book, I Will Make You Passionate About Exercise. It will guide you every step of the way to becoming a healthier you.

Bevan James Eyles is an award-winning, world-leading fitness professional who has helped thousands of non-exercisers go from doing nothing to being fitter, healthier and loving exercise.

Go to www.passionaboutexercise.com to get his book.