How to...GET BACK INTO IT

Psychologist, exercise scientist, educator, speaker and author DR GORDON SPENCE, shares his top five expert tips on returning to physical activity after you’ve had a lengthy time out...

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So, you're keen to get back into it? You've been living busy for while now and you're moving less than you'd like. You know physical activity is important but those healthy movement patterns of your youth seem like a lifetime ago. This is the paradox of exercise: we know physical activity and exercise is good for us, but we don't do as much as we should. We fail to act in our own best interests.

Twenty years of teaching, researching, and facilitating behaviour change has convinced me people do best with health goals the more ownership they feel over them or, to put it differently, the less pressured and freely chosen they seem. Goals that are taken on because they line up with a person's core values and/or developing interests. Consider these five tips for owning your physical activity goals...

1 CHOOSE SOMETHING YOU'RE GOING TO ENJOY

What better way of motivating a physical pursuit than choosing something that interests or excites you? Whilst that might be the gym, it might not be! Perhaps the gym just seems most convenient and doable for you? Given we've a life to live, that's not nothing. But is it the option that'll help keep you moving? How much does it excite you? Is there something else that might excite you more? Try brainstorming this with others and look around. Our communities are jam packed with interesting physical activity options. You might discover dragon boating, or fencing, or something else you'd never ever considered before. Then you just need to be brave and give something a go.

2 HELP SOMEONE ELSE "OWN" THEIR GOALS