Your Physical Activity

[EmptyHead]

Hello there,

I am trying to figure out how I can add more physical activity to my lifestyle.

I am a busy guy. I'm at work from 7:30am to 4:30pm with a 1 hour commute. Aside from that, I have family commitments which consume me evening (have to take daughter home from school) and weekends (chores, gardening, shopping).

So, yes, I do get exercise around the house and garden, but not really much. Probably not much more than an hour per week. I do take my daughter swimming once a week after school, but since she's still a toddler, I'm just monitoring her - not actually exercising myself.

I tried some exercises at home before (skipping, push ups etc etc), but find I can't stick at them. I don't like exercising for the sake of exercising - it's boring.

I could perhaps allow one time a week (e.g Saturday morning) to go and do some exercise, like swimming, yoga, maybe maybe the gym. (in addition to trying to do more gardening).

Anyway, I will get to the point. I don't really know what I should do and would like to steal a few ideas from the guys on here who have worked in exercise to their routine.

P.S I used to do a lot of walking in BKK and found it very very beneficial, but out in Isaan I grow tired of being abused by the village people's dogs. Cycling is a little better than walking in this regard, but not abuse free. lol.

[singa-traz]

It's not complicated:

1. Find some activities that you like
2. Find Make the time
3. Build and keep the motivation up

I started running less than 3 years ago (3 times a week), lost 10 kg and now run marathons.

I went running as it was more convenient to me than swimming or biking.

• Swimming is nice, but ... you need a swimming pool nearby. If it's too far, it's harder to get into the routine.
• Biking is OK, but in Bangkok, I don't consider it really safe.
• Running? You put the shoes on, leave the house and you are ready.

For motivation, find what is driving your need for "more" exercises?

For me, it was in this order:

1. Losing a few KG
2. The endorphin rush
3. The challenges (from 10, 21, 42KM)
4. Meeting new people
5. etc ...

When you have the activity you like and the motivation, making the time, within the boundary of your external constraints, is an easy decision. You just allocate it.

I tried adding skipping, push-up, but same, I can't find the motivation for this, and haven't managed to stick with it for more than 2 weeks.

You have a young daughter, so I'm sure you can find some motivations to any exercise.

Don't have just one motivation, build a portfolio of reasons why you need to exercise ... there will always be one of them that will drive you.

Ice creams are valid and approved motivation tools!

3 years ago, I did not even really like running. So, find your motivation and the rest will fall in place.

Good luck!

[tominbkk]

If you can find a safe route, walking is great. I actually do HIIT - about 15-20 minutes walking, then bursts of "sprinting" for 30 seconds followed by walking for a minute, I do about 8-10 rounds of that. When I say sprint, I'm not talking olympics, but something to get me out of breath a bit ('sprint' as fast as you can within your limit and that is safe). Believe me, after about the fifth round of this, you start feeling it. I finish up with another 15-20 minutes of walking. So I'm done in 45-60 minutes. You can do it faster, just decrease your warm up and warm down. But be sure to include those, don't just do the HIIT part - you want to limber up. This is said to be the best way for fat loss, as it shakes up your metabolism, confuses it. Just look up HIIT and learn for yourself. If you do this 3 times a week it will be a good start for you.

I used to put long hours into running but started developing ankle problems. Then I noticed every older runner at the park I go to had ace bandages on both knees. Not what I wanted for myself, despite them being very thin. HIIT is great, can actually be done in 30 minutes or less and you get a great workout. I do the same when I bike in my village...easy ride through most parts but on the main stretch I push it hard.