Do You Make These Mistakes Starting a New Exercise Program?

September 26th, 2007 | Exercise with friends, Exergaming, Fun, Injuries, Motivation, Overcoming fears

The perfect body and fantastic health could be yours if only you knew how not to start an exercise program. Think about how many times you’ve started an exercise program only to stop shortly after. People start exercise programs every day, but can you stick with it?

If you want to beat off members of the opposite sex like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s baby will have to, a few key principles will stop you bailing out like an overweight skydiver, keen to plummet to earth to devour a box of sweet, tasty donuts.

If you want to fail, make the following mistakes:

Always exercise alone
Keep your weight loss goals a big secret
Follow every starvation diet plan you read about
Stay away from fresh fruit and vegetables, they give you gas anyway. And we’d rather never get gas than be skinny, right?
Run run for hours on the treadmill alongside all the skinny 18 year old girls who’s metabolisms haven’t caught up with them yet (guys, maybe forget this point).
Choose an exercise plan, and
- change that plan every week to something completely different (you can’t track your progress)
- don’t tweak the plan sufficiently to keep you interested
Choose an exercise plan that you have no interest in; for me, thats the “treadmill only” plan
Choose an exercise plan written by a body building magazine, even though you’re a total beginner
Choose an exercise plan that you can’t have fun with. I.e. you love exercising with your dog, but you choose to workout in a commercial gym- and your dog isn’t for your blindness
Start a new program and give it 1000% You’ll get injured, and then you’ll gain weight. Why did you start this exercise program in the first place…?
Start a new program and be scared to try new things, and don’t give it your best shot. Just read my 1000% percent comment again though, please?
Do exactly what you did last time you started, and then gave up on, an exercise program. Learn from your mistakes, okay?
Start exercising without even considering seeing your doctor. From www.fitness.gov:

If you’re under 35 and in good health, you don’t need to see a doctor before beginning an exercise program. But if you are over 35 and have been inactive for several years, you should consult your physician.

Plan, and plan, and plan, and then research… and research some more, and then forget you need to start some day. Its called the, “Ready, aim, aim, aim… aim… now your old and fat” approach. Summon the courage to start, then build upon your experience. This plan is called the “Ready, Fire, Aim” approach. It’s my favorite. Again, remember my doctor point, above.
Take crazy full on weight loss products that do terrible things to your body. Forget stuff that’s good for you and helps you look good- you know; like fish oil, green tea, and multivitamins. Unless you’re a painter at heart, I’d stay away from drugs that stop your body absorbing fat. You get the picture.
Never record or measure anything. Just because “some guy your friend knows” is ripped (read low body fat) from going to the gym twice a week, or as I alluded to earlier, just because the 18 year old skinny girls at the gym are only ever on the treadmill, doesn’t mean those methods are the best for you. Make meaningful long term efforts and record your progress.
Don’t make yourself accountable by using social networking sites like my friend at “The Fit Blog” suggests. Failing to keep up with your promises to those new friends is a great motivator.
Forget the latest weight loss craze of using video games to lose weight. Think of it this way: it’s a bit like getting into a car crash in that you don’t really see it coming, and then BAM! You’re losing weight and enjoying yourself. Plenty of people around the world are losing weight (or at least slowing the speed of weight gain) accidentally every time they play games. Why not use that? Fun while you exercise is key for motivation.
Never think of starting a new sport, or getting back into the old sports you played in school, you’d suck now and make a total fool of yourself. Wrong. Look for social sport listings in the paper, or in local take-aways and laundromats everywhere- there’s sports available for all skill levels.