It’s pretty common to think that if you’re going to start a fitness plan, you need to do the ‘perfect’ amount of exercise in order to see results. How much time does it take per week for the perfect plan to improve your health and fitness, and how do you stick with it once you have it?
Truth is, you don’t need to put hours aside every day to see an improvement in your health and fitness. The time you need for fitness is directly related to the results you desire and the lifestyle you lead.
The best rule of thumb is that something is always better than nothing. Even squeezing in just 30 minutes a day could be enough to start seeing improvements. Or even fitting in a short walk at lunch time, and taking the stairs, is still better than doing nothing at all.
Sport Australia’s “Find Your 30” campaign, for example, looks at finding 30 minutes of activity per day. This is a wonderful campaign, but if you’re currently exercising 0 minutes per day, that goal can look like tackling Mt Everest.
If you want to see results, you need to stop trying to find the ‘perfect plan’ for everyone, and instead find the plan you will do. Review this plan and revise until you reach the perfect plan for you.
So, the answer for the time it takes per week for you to get in shape comes from you. This makes it easier for you to achieve your goals and makes you more accountable to those goals. It comes down to finding your reason for change.
What does health and fitness mean to you?
This is a fantastic question and one which I encourage my people to ask themselves whenever beginning to plan a new program or reviewing an existing one.
The meaning of health is unique to each person. When asking this question, we tend to answer and think from a purely medical perspective including aspects such as weight matters, blood pressure, mental health, cholesterol – the list goes on.
While these parts of health are very important, are they the things that stop you from hitting the snooze button at 5:30am to get up for a morning exercise session?
So, what does health mean to me?
Health to me is being able to do the things I enjoy, with the people closest to me. Health is being able to get the most from myself in each aspect of my life.
Health means being able to walk to the park with my wife and daughter; health means being able to strive for my business goals with boundless energy and drive; health is reaching my sporting goals and being the best version of me that I can be.
If I plan and move towards my ideal of health, the other parameters of health – the medical ones – will look after themselves. I find the true meaning of health to me is the one that keeps me focused on why I’m not hitting that snooze button every morning.
So, look at what health means to you and find your own reasons to help motivate you to improve your fitness. You will see improvements in more than just how you look and feel. Being more active can also help you perform better at work, improve your social relationships and improve your mental health (just to name a few).
