People
Issue No. 12 - August/September 2003
Exercise, Motivation and Measurement
There is now no doubt about the benefits of exercise in addressing the major health problems of cardiac risk factors – high blood pressure, excess weight, high cholesterol and stress. The impact of exercise on muscular and bone strength is obvious.
Yet, the statistics of heart disease in Australia (and other countries with similar cultural norms) continue to cause alarm.
Perhaps the more telling statistics come from studies which show that about 50% of people who start an exercise routine drop out within six months.
Clearly knowing that exercise is good for you is not enough to motivate people to get started or keep going. It may help—particularly if we wish to incorporate healthy exercise habits in the work place—if we begin to express the approach for motivation to exercise in the same way we do for motivation at work. The concept, and in fact the jargon, could be exactly the same. Words such as planning, rewards, team building, KPI’s (another word for measuring progress), goal setting, multi—skilling, accountability all apply in exercise motivation.
Planning Make a good, easy to follow plan which includes specific elements like Tuesday walk 30 minutes at a heart rate above 110 beats per minute (BPM), Thursday treadmill running at over 130 BPM, Friday recovery session.
Use your diary for exercise as well as work. Schedule your exercise sessions in and alter them if business commitments require you to miss a session. It might be worth knowing that research shows that early morning exercisers are more consistent with their routine.
Incremental growth Start slowly and work up to 3–5 times per week for 30 to 60 minutes. Exercise does not have to be a seven day a week commitment. Good effects can be gained with three to five times a week.
Set goals Establishing realistic and personal goals for your exercise and for each exercise session is important. For example if your goal is weight loss, your exercise rout...
