Finding the Right Exercise Program

This is not a post about a miracle, one size fits all exercise program.  It is also not a post about a great exercise that will make your stomach flat in a day or make you lose 10lbs in a day.  This is instead a post about realizing that there are many different forms of exercise and different exercises work for different people.  Similar to the fact that not one way of eating is right for everyone.  As a dietitian a major pet peeve of mine is the one-size fits all diets, people are different and different ways of eating and even different foods work better for different people.  It seems like every week there is another book written stating that everyone needs to eat this or that to be healthy, or that this food is bad and this food is the best.  It drives me nuts.  But anyone, that's a whole other topic and I could go on and on about that.

There are lots of people that LOVE going to the gym, they may enjoy being around healthy, like minded people, or they may like the social atmosphere, or they may have even found an amazing instructor that really gets them motivated and excited to exercise.  Unfortunately, when I have joined gyms in the past, none of these worked for me. When I joined gyms in the past, I always seemed to have to force myself to go and I would find once I was there I loathed every minute of my time there. 

Since we have moved to the country I have finally found an exercise program that works for me, that I am able to follow and most days really enjoy!  Gardening, farm chores, tending to animals, exploring our property, are all things that I really LOVE doing.  To be honest, I have NEVER worked so hard as I have since we moved here.

My husband said the other day, "wouldn't it be easier if I chopped all of the wood?".  Of course it would be easier for him to do it all, Brian is 6'2" and I'm only 5ft tall, plus he is a LOT stronger than I am, but I requested he leave some wood for me to chop since it's such a great workout.  

This summer we also planted lots of fruit trees and other trees.  It's hard to see all of them in this picture, but digging all of those holes was hard work.  

We have another large area where we are planning the garden, but we still need to get the ground prepared.  When we bought this property last December, it had not been kept up and the blackberries had taken over a lot of land.

Brian also worked hard this summer improving the paths and making new paths on our land.  This is great so we can go for walks or jogs around our own property.  Hopefully in the future we will have even more paths.

I don't think everyone needs to move to the country to be able to get exercise and stay healthy, but it is important to find exercise that you enjoy doing.  If you find some activity you enjoy it will be more likely that you will do it and not dread your daily workout.