February 25, 2012

Your alarm goes off. You snooze. You could go work out. But, you snooze. When you finally get out of bed you clunk your way to the restroom. “I’ll work out later,” your inside voice says. You go through your daily routine: got to work, suffer work stress headache, take a few quick breaks, sigh, then its quitting time—oh, happy hour… “I need a drink more than I need the gym! I’ll work out tomorrow!” you say. Then, the next day repeats the one before.

All it takes is one morning, when you break that pattern. On that morning, you say “screw snoozing,” you wake up, brush your teeth, pull your hair back, throw on your sporty t-shirt and shorts, lace up the sneaks, and head out the door for your workout—even if it’s only for 30 minutes.
 
A quickie workout you could squeeze in is this full-body interval workout. Warm up with brisk walking for five minutes. In the last two minutes of your warm-up, throw in some intermittent high knee marching, leg extensions (like a toy soldier), walking on your tip toes—forward and backward, side steps on both sides. After your warm-up, add in some strength exercises: walking lunges, push-ups to side planks (do a push-up, modified if you need to, turn your body to one side while engaging your abs and glutes, and stretch the non-supporting arm to the sky; repeat the push-up and rotate to the other side; do as many as you are able to with good form), power walk for five minutes, repeat the strength exercises, repeat this cycle as your time allows you, and walk it off to cool-down.

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Trust me, you’ll feel better for doing it. And, you’ll be more motivated to do it again in the days to come. Are you skeptical? Let me list the side effects of exercise that might just get you feeling so good you’ll have to do it every day: greater mental sharpness, more energy, strengthened immune system, more pronounced feelings of accomplishment, fewer junk food cravings, brighter skin, lowered blood pressure, improved cholesterol panel (lowered bad—LDL & VLDL, and elevated good—HDL), and greater ability to cope with stress. Oh yeah, and your clothes look better on you because you’ll be leaner and fitter.

Hmmm…still not convinced that all of this could happen? Well, I dare you to try it for at least a day, and let me know how you feel after that one day. If you feel good after that one day, then try doing it again, at least, four times per week (they don’t all have to be before work; active weekends are great, too), then let me know if you end up “suffering” from the other side effects I listed for you. Happy exercising!


This article was part of our series "30 Days of Made: Love Yourself". Each day we released updates of videos, poetry, images, and original content, all based on the theme of loving yourself. Click the link to read more!