THE LIFE WITH GUSTO TRAINING METHOD
Step 1 – Start at home and make it the first thing you do in your day. All you need is a square of clean carpet or a yoga mat, or walk out the door and start walking, cycling or gardening. Don’t worry about purchasing gym memberships or expensive equipment. Exercise with what you’ve got and within your means. When you make 20 to 30 minutes of exercise the first thing you do in your day, you’ll find the sense of achievement and growing fitness will make the rest of the day seem a breeze.
Step 2 – Begin with relaxing and stretching. You get the most benefit from exercise when you do it in a state of relaxation, not tension. No matter what exercise you are about to undertake always begin with some relaxing breathing and stretching. I always begin my exercises with some simple yoga stretching exercises on a yoga mat (See the Exercise page ). If you’re about to walk, jog or cycle, stretch the hamstrings and calves and breathe easy.
Step 3 – Begin slow and easy and exercise every day. The exercises you choose, whether it’s walking, jogging, cycling, gardening, Pilates, yoga, push-ups or sit-ups, or a combination of all of these or more, you need to start from a low intensity. Make it fun and make it easy, at first. Begin and maintain your exercise at a level that enables you to breathe comfortably at all times. Build your exercises so that your heart rate and breathing increase to a level where your breathing is deep and hard and your heart rate is rapid. Remember you have the rest of your life to get fit, so don’t overdo it.
Step 4 – Build-up the intensity, slowly. If you make a commitment to exercise for the rest of your life then starting slowly makes sense. After all you’ve got the rest of your life to achieve what you need to achieve – fitness, well being or a great body. What’s the rush? So, challenge yourself to do one extra exercise per session. For example, if you’re doing ten sit-ups, the next day do eleven. If you’re doing ten push-ups, the next day add an extra one. If you’re walking 5 kms, add an extra 100 metres before your turn back, and so on. Over the weeks and months you will get to a point where your strength has improved, your intensity is quite high, and you level out. Your comfort zone will have been reached. That means to do any more exercise brings pain and a lot more time and commitment than you may have. You’ll know when this point is reached. When you do, stay with it, don’t increase the time or the intensity and enjoy it for the next few months or a year and marvel at your increasing strength and stamina. Start a journal, if you like, and observe the things you couldn’t do before you began The Life With Gusto On-Line Personal Trainer. Make note of the things you can do now that you couldn’t do before. Current scientific thinking is recommending that about half an hour a day of intense physical activity is all you need to improve your well being.
Step 5 – You are what you eat. All this physical exercise is going to mean increased energy and that energy is going to need to be fed. If you’ve had a battle with weight or constant tiredness try challenging yourself by looking at what you eat and the amount you eat. (See: You Are What You Eat)
Step 6 – Don’t worry and be happy. I know, it’s a corny mantra but you’ll find it’s true. At times you’re going to miss a day or a week for whatever reason – too busy, too tired, too buggered, hung-over, preoccupied, sick or injured. Whatever the reasons, don’t worry. Your increasing level of fitness will not go away in a day or a week. Just get back to it as soon as you can. Marvel at how easily you get back into your exercises and enjoy the zest and gusto it brings to the rest of your life.
Step 7 – Challenge yourself and keep it interesting & stimulating. Now, that you’ve been living by The Life With Gusto On-Line Personal Trainer for some time, make it interesting and stimulating for yourself by adding more exercises. Try exercising during the day as well, or taking up golf, swimming, mountain climbing, fencing, trekking, sail boarding or whatever it is that you’ve always wanted to but? felt you couldn’t. With your increased fitness the? world is at your feet. Enjoy it!
