The Blackboard
(June 2002)

“Exercise--Just Get Movin'!”
By Ron Jones, MS 

        Exercise.  Ugh…No, exercise is not a communist plot!  Exercise is good for everyone—not just jocks or young people.  Getting a little regular exercise is now recommended for young children all the way through seniors.  Fit or unfit.  Normal weight or overweight.  We should all be doing some type of exercise to maintain and improve our health.  Exercise is really not that bad and it doesn’t take expensive equipment or a fancy gym membership to do it.  Still don’t think exercise is that important?  Not according to our US Department of Health Services and the US Surgeon General.  In fact, physical activity is now the TOP health concern in our country with overweight and obesity being the second major health concern and smoking number three. 

        So now what you ask?  Let’s get movin’!  “Moving” with some kind of exercise is the bottom line.  Don’t freak out and make exercise too complicated.  Just go for a walk.  Do some gardening.  Wash your car.  Take the stairs instead of the elevator.  All of these functional activities add up to calories burned at the end of the day.  Basic exercise is free—just go out and do it!  Getting some exercise along with a healthier diet is even better.  Good nutritious food is cheap!  Fast food might seem cheap, but it’s expensive compared to buying a bunch of beans and vegetables at Food Maxx or to having a heart bypass surgery or Type II diabetes. 

Here’s some quick exercise tips to keep you moving so you don’t quit:

• Do it right.  Performing an exercise properly and “feeling” one’s self do the exercise well is called “performance mastery.”  Performance Mastery is the most important thing you can do to keep yourself exercising.  Walking is pretty simple and easy to start with.  If you can only do five minutes—that’s okay.  Just do a quality five minutes and feel good about it!  Walk five minutes and come home.  Walla!  You have performance mastery of a short walk!

• Watch someone else do it right.  If you don’t know how to do an exercise, try to find someone that does and watch her do it—then master it yourself.  This kind of modeling is called a “vicarious experience” and has been shown to help people keep exercising without quitting.

• Get a friend to pump you up!  Having “verbal persuasion” from a friend can really help a person keep exercising.  It feels good to get a compliment or encouragement once in a while.  If you don’t have a friend, find an exercise machine with fur (a dog) that will encourage you with a lick on the face and wagging tail.

• Get some learnin’.  Check out educational material on the benefits of exercise—you’d be amazed at all the benefits of regular exercise!  Learning about your body and exercise can make you wanna keep movin!

        Until next month—keep moving and be physically active!  Don’t worry about how long or how hard if you haven’t been doing anything.  Just start with something simple like a walk around the block.  Come on.  Try it.  Get pumped about your health—and get started!

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