so why don't people want to exercise?

[han-grrl]

The fact is, most people DON'T want to HAVE to exercise. Most of my clients, HATE exercise. They don't like sweating, they don't like HAVING to do it, they just don't like it. Most likely because of negative experiences as a kid, face it most high school "sport" experiences have often been less than positive (i know it wasn't great for me!)

I have a theory, it isn't for lack of MOTIVATION. Motivation is the reason to be motivated. I can give you PLENTY of reasons including reducing the risk of most diseases, being able to move more easily, reduce aches etc.

I think its because people lack COMMITMENT. That is much much harder to work on. Commitment is the PROMISE to do something. Most people just do not want to set aside time to move their bodies. It seems over whelming because of schedules, or a lot of them just don't know what to do.

That is why I have started two new programs with my clients - one is 30 minute workout sessions (ok, not something new to training in general but something new for me to offer clients), and a new workout "series" based on 3 ten minute workouts a day.

For strength, unless you are training for something very specific, really you don't NEED to spend that much time in the gym. My own strength workouts take 20 minutes. Many people spend more time, because they actually enjoy it, and that's ok! Also, for cardio, again, if clients are training for mtb, or a 5 km run or the MS Bike Tour, then they need to be able to do those things for that length of time. But the person who hates exercise, will likely not be signing upfor the next charity run soon. So short bouts throughout the day are well, short, and really very very effective. In fact I have found several studies for example http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract
that show this.

The other thing to consider is the viscious circle. We feel too tired to exercise, but then we don't exercise, so we feel more tired. When we are able to break that cycle, we notice that we feel MORE energy when we exercise. In fact a recent Newsweek explained how exercise is like taking Ritalin and Prozac!

Then there is the whole concept of self talk. We can talk ourselves OUT of anything. Most of us don't realize how much we do it (myself included). So step 1 of this is to recognize it, then figure out how to deal with it (which can be as simple as committing to breaking the cycle and going for it!)

Anyway, this is getting long, which must mean my coffee is setting in nicely
Have a great and wonderful day!

Hannah

PS great topic! I love reading everyone's replies!