10 Easy Ways to Make Exercise a Habit

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Try these tricks to become one of the fitness faithful.

想成为忠实的健身爱好者吗？那就来试试以下方法吧。

Let’s face it: it’s not all that difficult to start a fitness routine. After all,most of us have done it more than once.

The trouble, of course, comes with sticking with it. All too often, our initial enthusiasm and energy wanes, we get distracted by other things going on in our lives, or we don’t think we’re seeing results quickly enough—and we throw in the towel1throw in the towel 认输，承认失败。.

Yet many people do manage to hang in2hang in 坚持。there, and would no sooner skip their regular workout than3would sooner do sth than sthelse 宁愿做某事（而不另一件）。their morning shower. What’s their secret?

A recent study by researcher Diane Klein, PhD, shed some light on4shed light on sth 使清楚，使了解。the subject. Long-term exercisers (who had been working out for an average of 13 years) were asked to rank what motivat-ed them to keep up with5keep up with 齐头并进，不落后。their regimes6= regimen生活规则，养生之道。.

承认吧，开始一项健身计划并不是太难。毕竟，我们大多数人都做过不止一次计划了。

当然，真正的问题在于如何坚持锻炼。通常的情况是，我们最初的热情和精力会逐渐消退，往往被生活中的其他事情分散了注意力。或者有时我们觉得锻炼见效太慢，于是就此放弃了努力。

但是还是有许多人坚持下来了。和每天早起都要淋浴一样，他们也不会略过日常锻炼。那么他们成功的秘诀是什么呢？

研究人员黛安娜·克莱因博士最近的一项研究给出了答案。研究要求长期健身者（平均每人坚持健身长达13年）将激励他们坚持锻炼的因素按影响大小进行排序。

他们的回答可能会令你感到惊讶。这些健身者对强壮的胸肌和超赞的腹肌没什么执念，心情愉悦和身体健康才是他们关注的重点。

参与研究的健身者是这样对他们锻炼的动力进行排序的：

1.身体健壮

2.心情愉悦

3.精力充沛

4.享受锻炼带来的愉悦

5.把锻炼作为优先事项

6.提高睡眠质量

7.反应机敏

8.身心放松

9.控制体重

10.外貌

那么，对这些动因进行排序之后，怎样才能成为一名忠实的健身爱好者呢？

WebMD网站收集了10条建议，来帮助你在生活中养成健身的好习惯。列这10条建议的时候，我们咨询了克莱因博士，以及长期健身爱好者罗伊·史蒂文斯和他的妻子万达，后者正在努力改变她三天打鱼两天晒网的健身日程，希望养成日常健身的好习惯。这十条建议如下：

Their answers might surprise you.The exercisers were not as concerned with powerful pecs7= pectoralmuscle 胸肌。and awesome abs8=abdominal muscle 腹肌。as they were with feeling good and being healthy.

Here’s how the study participants ranked their motivators:

1. Fitness

2. Feelings of well-being

3. Pep and energy

4. Enjoyment of the exercise

5. Making exercise a priority

6. Sleeping better

7. Feeling alert

8. Being relaxed

9美国的一家医疗健康服务网站。. Weight management

10. Appearance

So, once you have your priorities in the right place, how can you become one of the fitness faithful?

WebMD9美国的一家医疗健康服务网站。has compiled 10 tips for making fitness a habit in your life. To create the list, we sought the help of Klein, along with long-term fitness buff10buff 爱好者，行家里手。Roy Stevens and his wife, Wanda,who is transforming her hit-and-miss11hit-and-miss 时好时坏的，碰运气的。exercise schedule into an almost-daily habit.

1. Do a variety of activities you enjoy.And remember, there’s no rule that says you have to go to a gym or buy equipment.

“We’ve shifted our perceptions from regimented12regimented 非常严格的，死板。exercise to physical activity,” says Klein, assistant professor of exercise, sports and leisure studies, and director of gerontology13gerontology 老年学。at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Having a variety of activities—weight lifting, walking, running, tennis,cycling, aerobics classes—will ensure that you can dosomethingregardless of14regardless of不管，不顾。the weather or time of day.

2. Commit to15commit to sb 忠于某人。another person.“The social aspect of exercise is important for me,” says Wanda Stevens, a stay-athome16stay-at-home 全职照顾家庭的。mom in Austin, Texas. “I’ll let myself off, but if I’ve agreed to walk with a friend after dinner, I won’t let them down.”

She is six weeks into an exercise program, thanks in part to her husband’s support. Roy Stevens, who works as a management consultant, has become her“in-house personal trainer.” They work out together every morning, doing a combination of aerobics, strength training, Tae Bo17跆搏集跆拳道、空手道、拳击、自由搏击、舞蹈韵律操为一体，是一种具有减肥、娱乐、健美、强身作用的新型有氧操。, and stretching. If he’s out of town, he gives her a wake-up call,and she takes the dog for a walk.

1.做自己喜欢的各类运动。记住，没有要求说你必须去健身房或者买健身器械才能锻炼。

克莱因表示：“我们已经将锻炼的定义由严格的健身运动扩展到了一般性的体育活动。”她是田纳西大学诺克斯维尔分校从事运动、体育和休闲研究的副教授，同时也担任该校老年学专业的系主任。

参加多种多样的体育活动，如举重、竞走、跑步、打网球、骑自行车、有氧运动等，能够使锻炼不受天气和时间的限制。

2.和别人结伴健身。“健身的社交功能对我来说是非常重要的。”万达·史蒂文斯这样说道。她是得克萨斯州奥斯汀市的一名全职母亲。“有时我会让自己休息一下，不去锻炼，但是如果我和朋友约好晚餐后一起散步的话，我就会说到做到，不会让他们失望。”

万达的健身计划已经坚持六周了，部分要归功于她丈夫的支持。罗伊·史蒂文斯是一名管理顾问，他是万达的“家庭私人教练”。他们每天清晨一起锻炼，做有氧运动、力量训练、跆搏健身操以及拉伸。如果罗伊不在家，他就会打电话叫万达起床，之后她就会带着狗狗出去散步。

3.把健身作为优先事项。罗伊·史蒂文斯说：“这是必须的，没有讨价还价的余地。”

20多年前，罗伊还在空军乐队，从那时起他就开始健身了，当时是为了控制体重。“我们四处演出，其他人下了车去吃鸡翅喝啤酒，我去跑步。”后来，他开了一家餐馆，每周要工作70个小时，他依然保持着健身的习惯。

把健身培养成为一项不容置喙的习惯还有另一个好处。你的朋友和家人会了解到健身已经成为你生活的一部分，他们就不会再说：“要不今天就算了吧？”

4.把健身作为早起的第一件事。万达·史蒂文斯有两个在上幼儿园的孩子，除非她碰巧有空，否则很少有时间锻炼。随便一件事情都可能打乱她晚餐后散步或者上普拉提课的计划。但是当她开始为了健身起得比孩子们早之后，这些都不是问题了。

3. Make exercise a priority.“It has to be a non-negotiable,” says Roy Stevens.

He began exercising to manage his weight when he was in the Air Force band some 20 years ago. “We’d travel,and other guys would get off the bus and go eat wings and drink beer. I’d go running.” He’s maintained the exercise habit even during his years working 70 hours a week as a restaurant owner.

There’s another advantage to making exercise non-negotiable. Friends and family members learn that it’s part of your identity, and give up saying things like, “Why don’t you take it easy18take it easy 放松，别过分劳累。today?”

4. Exercise first thing in the morning.With two preschool children,Wanda Stevens couldn’t find time to work out except on a hit-and-miss basis.Any number of things could sabotage her good intentions to walk or go to Pilatesclass after dinner. But all her excuses vanished once she started getting up before the kids so she could work out.

“I didn’t think I was a morning person,” she tells WebMD. “But it’s working for me.”

Experts agree that a morning schedule is best. “If you go to a gym, it should be located between your home and work,” says Klein. “Exercise, take a shower, and you’re energized for the day.”

5. Or, exercise on your way home from work.The next best thing to exercising first thing in the morning is to do it on your way home from work,Klein says.

“Don’t go home first,” she says. “I learned that the hard way. There aren’t a lot of people who are so motivated that after they go home and change clothes will go back out again and exercise.”

6. Exercise even when you’re “too tired.”Chances are, you’ll feel better after exercising.

“It energizes us,” says Klein. “You breathe deeply, and your body makes better use of the oxygen exchange.You’ll get an exercise-induced euphoria during the activity and for some time after.”

“我以前不是一个习惯早起的人，”她对WebMD说，“但事实证明，对我来说早起锻炼的确是个好办法。”

专家们也认同晨间锻炼是最好的。克莱因说：“如果你去健身房锻炼，那么最好选择一家位于家和办公室之间的健身房。锻炼之后洗个澡，接下来的一整天都会精神抖擞。”

5.或者在你下班回家途中健身。克莱因认为，仅次于晨间健身的就是在下班回家途中健身。

她说：“不要先回家，我就尝够了教训。没几个人回家之后还有动力再换衣服出去健身。”

6.再累也要健身。运动之后你很有可能会感觉好一些。

克莱因表示：“运动能使我们充满活力。（运动时）你会深呼吸，这时你的身体就会更充分利用氧气交换。在运动过程中和之后的一段时间，你都会感到运动带来的愉悦心情。”

如果万达觉得太累不想起床锻炼，罗伊不会体恤她。他说：“她当时会生气，但过一会儿就好了。”

If Wanda Stevens thinks she is too tired to get up and exercise, Roy shows her no sympathy. “She gets mad, but then she feels better afterwards,” he says.

7. Log your activity.Write down the things that are important to you. It could be how much time you exercise each day, how many steps you walked,how far you ran or cycled, what you weighed, etc.

Some people make a game of it. You may have heard of runners calculating the miles it would take to run from their homes to Boston (home of the famous marathon), figuring how far they run in an average week and setting a target date for “arriving” in Boston.

8. Be aware of all the indicators of progress.It’s great when your clothes fit better and you can lift heavier weights or work out longer without getting exhausted.

But there are a slew of19a slew of 许多，大量。other progress indicators, such as:

Getting a good night’s sleep.

Thinking more clearly.

Having more energy.

Realizing your muscles aren’t screaming after you’ve helped a friend move furniture.

Seeing your resting heart rate drop over time.

7.记录你的运动。将那些对你重要的事情记录下来。可以是你每天锻炼多长时间，走了多少步，也可以是你跑步或骑行了多远，又或者是你的体重，等等。

有些人乐在其中。你可能听说过，一些跑步爱好者会算出从家到波士顿的距离（波士顿是著名的马拉松比赛地），再计算他们平均每周跑多少英里，然后根据这个定下一个“抵达”波士顿的目标日期。

8.留意一切进步的信号。衣服更合身，能举更重的物体，锻炼更长时间而不会感觉精疲力尽，这些都是进步的表现。

但是也还有许多其他的信号，例如：

• 睡眠质量更好

• 思维更清晰

• 精力更充沛

• 帮朋友搬家具之后，肌肉不再感到酸痛

• 发现自己的静止心率逐渐变慢。

• 医生向你表达祝贺，因为你的胆固醇、血压、骨密度、甘油三酯、血糖的状况都有所改善。

Hearing your doctor congratulate you on improved cholesterol20cholesterol 胆固醇。, blood pressure, bone density, triglycerides21triglyceride甘油三酯，脂质的组成成分，主要功能是供给与储存能源，还可固定和保护内脏。,and blood sugars.

9. Walk—with a pedometer22pedometer 计步器，步程计。(or a dog).“If you enjoy walking and haven’t exercised for awhile, 10 minutes three times a day will give you 30 minutes,”says Klein.

Use a pedometer, and work up to at least 10,000 steps a day. “Nobody starts out with 10,000 steps,” Klein says. Find out what your daily average is, and,the next week, strive to walk 300 extra steps each day. Increase your steps each week.

“Better yet, walk the dog23walk thedog 遛狗。,” Klein says. That’s how she motivated her sister to exercise. “Twice a day she walks her dog, which is good for them both and provides companionship.”

Wanda Stevens also enjoys walking her border collie24border collie边境科利狗（毛色黑白相间，常作牧羊犬）。and finds there’s another benefit: “It relieves the guilt I felt over not giving her enough attention now that we have kids.”

10. Reward yourself.Are you telling yourself that you don’t deserve a reward for something you should be doing anyway—or that once you can zip your jeans without lying on the bed, that will be reward enough? Well, honestly, how inspiring is that?

9.带着计步器（或狗）散步。克莱因说：“如果你喜欢散步，但是又有一段时间没有锻炼了的话，可以每天运动3次，每次10分钟，这样加起来每天就运动了半小时。”

使用计步器计算步数，每天至少走10000步。克莱因表示：“没有人一开始就能走到10000步。”先算出自己平均每天走多少步，到下一周争取每天多走300步，然后再逐周增加步数。

克莱因还表示：“带着狗狗一起散步效果会更好。”她就是这么鼓励她妹妹锻炼的。“她每天遛两次狗，这对她和狗都有好处，也能让他们彼此做个伴儿。”

万达·史蒂文斯也喜欢和她的边境牧羊犬一起散步，她发现这么做还有一个好处：“有了孩子之后，我们对它的关注就少了，带狗狗一起散步能够减轻我对它的负疚感。”

10.自我奖励。你是否认为做自己应该做的事不应得到奖励？又或是认为一旦不用躺在床上才能拉上牛仔裤拉链，就该奖励自己？老实说，这有多激励人心？

Experts say that making behavior changes is hard, and rewards motivate.So decide on a goal and a reward, and work toward it. You might buy yourself a video you’ve wanted after you stick to your fitness plan for one month, or buy new walking shoes when you achieve 5,000 steps a day. Do whatever works for you. ■

专家们说改变行为习惯是非常困难的，而奖励则会鼓励你做出改变。定好一个目标和实现目标的奖励，然后努力去实现它。如果你能坚持健身计划一个月的话，你可以给自己买一直念念不忘的录像带。当你每天可以走到5000步的时候，你就可以奖励自己一双健步鞋。只要是对你有用的方法，都可以试一试。 □