When you start a new fitness routine, learning how to use the equipment and practicing proper form can be difficult—but keeping yourself motivated can be even more challenging.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that adults perform at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (or a combination of the two) per week. Keep in mind, if you can get closer to 300 minutes of week of moderate exercise or 150 minutes of more strenuous activity, it’s even better. In fact, the more exercise you get, the greater the health benefits, experts advise. Adults should also do muscle-strengthening activities at least two days per week. These physical activity goals will help you:
- Control your weight
- Improve balance and coordination
- Reduce stress, boost your mood and improve cognitive function
- Decrease your risk of obesity, heart disease and even some cancers
- Live longer
Older people are also advised to add balance training to their weekly aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities to help reduce their risk for falls and fall-related injuries.
The benefits of exercise are clear—and working a regimen into your daily routine may be easier than you think. Whether you're just starting out, trying to get back into an exercise routine or looking for new ways to motivate yourself, start here:
- Pick an exercise you love. If you hate spinning, skip it! Find the activity that suits your activity level and interests. Some fun (and low-impact) ways to get fit include swimming, walking, tai chi and yoga. Shoveling, gardening, taking your dog for a walk and low-impact activities all count as exercise that will work toward reducing your risk for a slew of chronic health issues, like heart disease and diabetes.
- Commit to moving more. Even if it’s just a walk around the neighborhood or taking the stairs instead of the elevator, there are easy ways to move more throughout the day. Every bit of exercise counts towards your weekly goal—even a two-minute walk offers health benefits.
- Find a workout buddy. You probably won’t flake out on exercising if you’re meeting up with a friend. Keep yourself accountable by buddying up.
- Get new gear. Although there’s no hard, scientific evidence to show that new workout clothes will increase your likelihood of working out, it can't hurt! Find some new gear you love wearing and it might just motivate you to work out a little bit more.
The effortless way to keep up with your workouts
So, once you start a routine, how can you ensure you’ll stick with it? One simple way is to keep a log of your activities using your smartphone. Consider tracking your exercise with your smartphone to:
- Make exercise part of your everyday schedule. If it’s on your calendar, you’ll do it.
- See that you’re progressing towards your goals with actual data—not just how you feel
- Reassess and reset your goals when you reach milestones
- Understand when you’re not seeing progress and identify what needs to change to continue moving forward
Using Sharecare, available for iOS and Android, to track your daily exercise is a quick, simple and no-pressure way to log your activities, monitor your progress and hold yourself accountable—do you really want to miss out on a Green Day, after all? Here's how to get started.
For Android and iOS users:
- Fitness is tracked manually via the Tracker.
For desktop users:
- If you don’t have a mobile device, you can manually tack your fitness via the desktop Tracker.
