A little bit, every day, goes a long way

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: OPINION: ALL IT TAKES IS THE FIRST STEP AND YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MIND TO.
EMILY STEWART

It’s that time of year again, when people begin making up their resolution lists for the New Year.

We are charged by a need for transformation that can help to enhance our lives and bring us closer to new and long-held dreams that have been long collecting dust on the shelf. The easy part is the declaration that you will take the steps necessary to get you from point A to Z, but often many of us fall short of our goals, running out of gas around C or D.

Life is busy and when you try to incorporate new things the thought alone can be daunting. Trying to manage time with work, school and family requires strategy and adaptation, even if at first glance it doesn’t look that way. So how can you envision the success of your exercise goals when you can’t even see how you can free up time to begin? Like anything in life, you have to take the first step.

Navigator. Londons student lifestyles magazine.

Take advantage of your mornings. If you’re of the type that requires a bit more time to “wake up” before getting ready to begin your day, then you have your opportunity. A little goes a long way over an extended period of time. What this means is that in the beginning it is less about the intensity of the exercises that you are doing and more about your commitment to “doing” it.

Stay vigilant in your pursuit of your end goal. You can begin with 10-minute-long exercises that target an area you really want to transform. Stay committed to that goal, maintain your promise to yourself and when all else fails recite the popular Nike slogan, ‘Just do it’. You would be amazed at how that short phrase can motivate you to put your excuses aside so that you can do what you really want to do.

Do the things that will compliment and assist your exercising efforts. This is the area which can often turn people off of their regimen. More vegetables and fruits, the elimination of sugars, starches and fats, is in other words the removal of the comfort foods that we love to consume. Much like with exercise, in the beginning it is less about the complete overhaul of your nutritional intake and more about the consistent efforts to limit your poor nutritional habits.

This can be done with meal replacements, portion control and supplemental foods and liquids that can introduce certain vitamins and minerals into your daily intake. The war for a healthier lifestyle was not won in a day; staying the course will be your greatest weapon.

Make it about feeling better over looking better from the starting line. If your expectations are directed towards feeling healthier, stronger or more flexible, that will go much further for you than the solely aesthetic drive to look better. You can begin to feel stronger and healthier almost instantaneously compared to that of the aesthetic.

Once you start feeling good, how you look becomes a by-product of that feeling. Your physical goals will begin to take form, so long as you stay the course, put in some time and consistently work at it. Although intensity is magnificent for more seasoned workout warriors, for the beginner, frequency is the foundation upon which your health aspirations can ascend.

If your fear circles around the anxiety of starting to exercise at gyms, in front of others who look as though they live there, there are ways around it. There is nothing wrong with doing your workouts in the privacy of your own home. You can work at your own pace without the fear that your ‘less than perfect form’ is being ostracized and judged by others.

If the end goal is to incorporate the gym life into your routine, you can work towards that end. There are no rules when it comes to how you go about getting your exercise and it is no more valuable doing it in a gym facility over a more comfortable environment.

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.