What is the No. 1 New Year’s resolution?
It has to be to improve your well-being in 2014.
If God gave you $168, you would be pretty impressed. If he took away $5 or $6, you wouldn’t be too upset’ would you? Well he gave you something better than money. He gave you 168 hours in a week. How you choose to spend this gift is up to you.
I had a heart attack just over three years ago. I have had to alter my life to include an exercise component. That is how I choose to spend my five or six hours. I have joined a gym and hired a personal trainer.
A treadmill or exercycle in a spare room is not a gym. You will get bored quickly!
I did my research to find a gym that met my personal goals. There are gyms catering to body builders, women, running or the one that met my needs of general well-being. I chose a gym that has an extensive assortment of equipment and caters to my needs. I do have my favourite machines but they are varied enough I never have the same routine two days in a row. My personal trainer showed me how to properly use the equipment and that has been a real eye-opener. Each of the machines caters to a specific set of muscles.
The one common mistake new exercisers make is not realizing that muscle weighs more than fat. On a permanent weight loss program, you may not drop a lot of pounds initially. That is why these diet programs fail — because you do lose weight quickly but you also regain it just as quickly because you also need the exercise component. What really matters are inches and in my first month I lost three-plus inches overall on my body and my strength went up six per cent.
The journey to meeting your personal goal is not an easy one. In my case, I neglected my body over many years. My fitness and yours will not be resolved overnight. Is it hard? Yes. Does it get easier? Yes. Will our physical health improve? Absolutely yes.
Now that you have made a resolution, it is up to you to execute a plan and spend your hours wisely.
R. Dean Cowan
Red Deer