Roll up your sleeves and prepare to perspire.
Now you are ready for action strenuous, stimulating, sweating, sensible, safe action.
Having chosen a sport either from the vantage point of an armchair or from the experience of past and present preferences, you are now ready to train for fitness workout -not for competition.
The pointers which follow bear the stamp of approval of time, experience, and medical research.
But they are intended only as aids to attain and maintain fitness and good shape.
Training for fitness differs radically from training for competition.
Always Plan a definite time for the fitness workout and stick to it! Frame of mind determines the approach to each workout.
Some days you will scarcely be able to wait for routine chores to pass until the athletic appointment you have made in your busy schedule arrives.
Participation on those days is easy.
Other days you will dread the oncoming date and will think up a dozen excuses to justify the inopportunity of the hour.
If it has been a hard day at the office and a belt of Old Bushmill on the rocks sounds inviting, if the boss wants a report on some godforsaken uranium stock before the market opens tomorrow, or if you really should drive your partner downtown to do their important shopping, it is easy to rationalize away the workout.
Frankly, while all these excuses are valid, there still is time for exercise.
Perhaps the workout will be earlier or later or a bit abbreviated, but time is available.
Another plausible dodge (one we have all used) is that the weather is cold, hot, rainy, dark, threatening, windy, etc.
, and anybody in his right mind would stay home.
Except for fog or an actual snowstorm where visibility is seriously reduced, it is not dangerous to exercise sensibly under any weather conditions.
And remember that other people in their ' 'right minds" get out of breath winding a wristwatch or turn purple from the mere exertion of bending over to tie their shoes.
The experienced fitness enthusiast has learned that his most profitable and enjoyable workouts often occur on his "bad" days-precisely those days when everything has gone wrong and when he can dream up all sorts of pleasurable inactivities which exclude physical exercise.
Recent studies on college students give quantitative proof.
A group of track candidates were given daily time trials under the relentless eye of the stop watch.
On days when the boys arrived in good spirits (received a B+ in mid-terms, the girl friend said "yes," or an unexpected bonus arrived from good old Dad) times were poor.
When the boys appeared for practice irritated, depressed, sullen, or tense, the times improved.
They could not wait to "get out there and bust a gut.
" Another good tip is to leave the details of a workout to the way you feel.
Some workouts will be most gratifying and many will be only average.
An excellent way to encourage dissatisfaction and discouragement for a given session is to set a predetermined goal.
Perhaps today you had planned on three snappy games of squash, but you are more tired than you had realized after last night's late meeting.
You begin to wilt before you have completed two games.
Or you had scheduled an exhilarating five-mile cycle around town.
However, your left knee begins to ache or a blizzard engulfs you.
You may be forced sensibly to abbreviate your plans and cut short the workout.
This may be disappointing if your physical activities have not been taxing enough to afford exuberant satisfaction.
To avert this uneasiness, do not plan the details of a workout-plan only the workout.
Then you can look forward to excitement and pleasure, you can see how you feel, and you can lengthen or, without chagrin, shorten a workout as your common sense dictates.
Having dressed appropriately and having arrived at a designated arena of battle, you are at last ready to go.
Before flexing a single muscle, remember that endurance is the goal.
Now you are ready for action strenuous, stimulating, sweating, sensible, safe action.
Having chosen a sport either from the vantage point of an armchair or from the experience of past and present preferences, you are now ready to train for fitness workout -not for competition.
The pointers which follow bear the stamp of approval of time, experience, and medical research.
But they are intended only as aids to attain and maintain fitness and good shape.
Training for fitness differs radically from training for competition.
Always Plan a definite time for the fitness workout and stick to it! Frame of mind determines the approach to each workout.
Some days you will scarcely be able to wait for routine chores to pass until the athletic appointment you have made in your busy schedule arrives.
Participation on those days is easy.
Other days you will dread the oncoming date and will think up a dozen excuses to justify the inopportunity of the hour.
If it has been a hard day at the office and a belt of Old Bushmill on the rocks sounds inviting, if the boss wants a report on some godforsaken uranium stock before the market opens tomorrow, or if you really should drive your partner downtown to do their important shopping, it is easy to rationalize away the workout.
Frankly, while all these excuses are valid, there still is time for exercise.
Perhaps the workout will be earlier or later or a bit abbreviated, but time is available.
Another plausible dodge (one we have all used) is that the weather is cold, hot, rainy, dark, threatening, windy, etc.
, and anybody in his right mind would stay home.
Except for fog or an actual snowstorm where visibility is seriously reduced, it is not dangerous to exercise sensibly under any weather conditions.
And remember that other people in their ' 'right minds" get out of breath winding a wristwatch or turn purple from the mere exertion of bending over to tie their shoes.
The experienced fitness enthusiast has learned that his most profitable and enjoyable workouts often occur on his "bad" days-precisely those days when everything has gone wrong and when he can dream up all sorts of pleasurable inactivities which exclude physical exercise.
Recent studies on college students give quantitative proof.
A group of track candidates were given daily time trials under the relentless eye of the stop watch.
On days when the boys arrived in good spirits (received a B+ in mid-terms, the girl friend said "yes," or an unexpected bonus arrived from good old Dad) times were poor.
When the boys appeared for practice irritated, depressed, sullen, or tense, the times improved.
They could not wait to "get out there and bust a gut.
" Another good tip is to leave the details of a workout to the way you feel.
Some workouts will be most gratifying and many will be only average.
An excellent way to encourage dissatisfaction and discouragement for a given session is to set a predetermined goal.
Perhaps today you had planned on three snappy games of squash, but you are more tired than you had realized after last night's late meeting.
You begin to wilt before you have completed two games.
Or you had scheduled an exhilarating five-mile cycle around town.
However, your left knee begins to ache or a blizzard engulfs you.
You may be forced sensibly to abbreviate your plans and cut short the workout.
This may be disappointing if your physical activities have not been taxing enough to afford exuberant satisfaction.
To avert this uneasiness, do not plan the details of a workout-plan only the workout.
Then you can look forward to excitement and pleasure, you can see how you feel, and you can lengthen or, without chagrin, shorten a workout as your common sense dictates.
Having dressed appropriately and having arrived at a designated arena of battle, you are at last ready to go.
Before flexing a single muscle, remember that endurance is the goal.