You are the one responsible for establishing and maintaining your own fitness program.  If your goal is to exercise three to four times a week, and you’re absent more than you attend those classes, you might want to ask yourself the following question: Can I go to a gym consistently, week after week, with my current lifestyle?

• Can you break away from your caregiving responsibilities long enough to attend a fitness class?
• Do you travel?
• Do you have children to tend to at the end of your workday?
• Do you work long hours?
• Do you have a lengthy commute to and from work every day?
• Do you have certain orthopedic constraints or a certain medical condition that would prevent you from working out on a regular basis?

One of the biggest misconceptions about exercising at home is that you need a lot of space and a lot of expensive machinery to get fit.  All you really need, however, are some basic pieces of athletic equipment.  If you have a home gym, you can always fit exercise into your schedule.  You will be able to avoid most interruptions and you won’t have to wait for a machine.

Another big advantage of exercising at home is that you can hire a trainer, who will design a workout program for you that is safe, efficient, and effective.  Most people exercise incorrectly or tend to overdo it a bit (especially in the beginning) and, as a result, injure themselves.  According to the most up-to-date data on fitness and injuries, nearly half of the people who take exercise classes will suffer a chronic, lifelong injury.

Many people do not exercise at home because they lack one important ingredient: motivation.  How can you build up enough motivation to exercise on your own?  The first thing you need to do is to get some knowledgeable advice from someone in the fitness field, someone who teaches exercise for a living.  But even that is not enough.  This expert should teach with a philosophy that will properly educate and motivate you, one that will eventually allow you to exercise on your own, while he or she is not there with you.

Let’s face it, if you have only 30 to 40 minutes, three or four times a week to devote to fitness, you need to get the most out of that limited time, and you must make it a habit to be consistent with your workouts.  If you don’t, you will never become truly fit and you’ll always be playing catch-up with your fitness regimens.

Have a question on weight loss and/or exercise?  Please email: edward@thecaregiverspace.org or visit: http://www.exude.com“