It will infuse your energy and boost your mood. It will help you lose weight and decrease your risk of disease. It is a miracle! But 80% of Americans don’t take it, even at its lowest dosage. Why? Because it’s exercise.
Exercising will give you the energy you need, because it speeds up blood flow and your breathing rate, which brings more oxygen to your heart, lungs, brain, and muscles — and when it comes to high energy, oxygen is your friend. Here’s what you can do to bring on the O2:
1. Do something for thirty minutes. Any type of aerobic exercise strengthens your heart and lungs and improves blood flow. It also releases endorphins (nature’s painkillers), improves your mood, and fortifies you against minor viral illnesses.
2. Stop relying on your car so much. Walking is an excellent form of aerobic exercise, and it’s surprisingly effective at boosting your energy level. For best results, buy a pedometer and make sure you walk 6,000-10,000 steps a day.
3. Include weights in your fitness routine. Lifting weights is the most effective way to build up strong muscles, which leads to stronger bones and a reduced risk of injury. It also speeds up oxygen flow, which will help perk you up.
4. Sneak fitness into your routine. Instead of complaining that you don’t have time to exercise, try sneaking in a little while you’re doing something else. Park farther away from the store while shopping, for instance, or do squats while reading.
5. Shake up your workout. If your exercise routine has you bored out of your skull, try something different. Change your level of effort, shuffle your workout into a new order, or experiment with a new kind of workout altogether.
6. Work out when you travel. Have you ever decided it’s too much trouble to bother with your normal fitness routine when traveling? Instead of rationalizing yourself out of exercising, create a travel workout plan and stick to it.
7. Get a workout buddy. If you lack the discipline to exercise regularly on your own, work out with someone else: a family member, a friend, even a paid trainer. That way you’ll have someone to lean on, who’ll guilt you into exercising when you don’t want to.
8. Bribe yourself. Offer yourself a little reward for completing a workout. It could be anything that makes you happy: a new outfit, a round of golf with your buddies, or a favorite TV show you only to watch while exercising.
The less active you are, the less energy you’ll have: it’s that simple. A sedentary lifestyle contributes greatly to fatigue — so fight that fatigue with the oxygen burst that regular exercise will contribute. Figure out how to move, and move daily.
© 2008 Laura Stack. Laura Stack is a personal productivity expert, author, and professional speaker who helps busy workers Leave the Office Earlier® with Maximum Results in Minimum Time™. She is the president of The Productivity Pro®, Inc., a time management training firm specializing in productivity improvement in high-stress organizations. Since 1992, Laura has presented keynotes and seminars on improving output, lowering stress, and saving time in today’s workplaces. She is the bestselling author of three works published by Broadway Books: The Exhaustion Cure (2008), Find More Time (2006) and Leave the Office Earlier (2004). Laura is a spokesperson for Microsoft, 3M, and Day-Timers®, Inc and has been featured on the CBS Early Show, CNN, and the New York Times. Her clients include Cisco Systems, Sunoco, KPMG, Nationwide, and 3M. To have Laura speak at your next event, call 303-471-7401. Visit www.TheProductivityPro.com to sign up for her free monthly productivity newsletter.
