From Inactive to Active!

     I have recently read some frightening news: in North America, most adults sit for about 9 hours each day. To put it lightly, this is terrible for your health. A sedentary lifestyle will cause your circulation to constrict, slows down your metabolism, your muscles shut off as they are not being used, and your connective tissue tightens. Over the long haul this could lead to more serious health conditions and in my opinion, should be viewed as a heart disease risk factor. This is a major issue, and could be the primary cause, for the fitness level (or lack thereof) of people in North America. All this needs to change!

     The possibility for change, great change, is born through positive thought processes. This is shifting your mind from thinking “what you don’t want” to “what you do want”. In order to do this there are a few steps you should follow:

1. Create a vision for what you’d like to create. Put it on a board, write it down, visualize where you want to go. 
2. Write a list of 5-10 inspirational books, stories, quotes, etc to help you learn more about the journey you are about to embark on and let you know that others have been in the same place that you are in.
3. Start a journal. List the areas you’d like to improve and begin tracking your diet, activity level, moods, etc. If you feel like crap one day or lack motivation, you will be able to reference your journal to understand why.
4. Take some time to sit quietly and be totally honest with yourself about where you are and where you’d like to go.
5. Make a commitment to yourself to put aside time each day to nourish yourself. Your loved ones should understand that this is important for your overall health. 

     Once you have gotten your mind right it is now time to organize a workout/activity plan. The following is for those who are currently living a sedentary lifestyle. A great first step is to do some work standing up. When compared to sitting, standing burns 1.36 kcal more per minute. Multiply that by the number of work hours in a day, say 8 hours, and you have burned an additional 500 calories. That is not a bad work day! If you can't stand at work, take regular movement breaks, have some walking meetings, run more errands, take the stairs, and just do something that involves movement. Remember that lack of movement will lead to disease and you need to use this motivation along the way. In addition, it is important to partake in some type of cardiovascular training. This could be as simple as walking your dog around the block five times throughout the day or using a treadmill. In a few short weeks you will be able to elongate those walks and before you know it you are walking 30-40 minutes with no problem! Then finally, the most important step, resistance training. Join in on group exercise, (on top of the workout, the social aspect is good for your overall well-being), buy a workout video, employ a trainer, or get some assistance elsewhere. Surround yourself with supportive people to help you along the way. Change is never easy, and it is especially hard when you do not have that support system to lean on. And when you lose focus or motivation, go back to those five steps previously outlined and evaluate your current progress. Great change begins in your mind. Be honest with yourself and create a vision for success!

Best of luck!

Chris Fluck