When Ali read the journal articles touting the benefits of short duration / high intensity exercise, she wondered if her own workout might benefit from sprints. Now she spends twenty seconds out of each minute on her stationary bike pedaling as fast as she can. She's noticed an increase in her stamina as well as a side benefit: The varied pace makes her workouts fly by.
9. Mix it up.
Remember how we said in the stress chapter that variability in your heart rate is good for you? We believe that's true for your entire body – and your mind as well. So if you started a walking plan six months ago because you couldn't dream of getting your reluctant body to run . . . well, maybe now you're fit enough to try a walk-run mix. Or you can go hiking. Or swimming. Change thwarts boredom, which is the great enemy of good habits.
10. We've noticed that a lot of you forget to choose an activity you enjoy.
Give yourself the time to try out a few things and discover what's truly fun. Start with the activities you liked when you were younger. Ali knows a woman who hated to exercise until she remembered that she loved to roller-skate when she was little. Now she goes in-line skating at the park on her lunch break. But don't be afraid to try something completely new. Maybe you felt slow and pokey when you ran laps in gym class . . . and maybe now you are still slow and pokey but very, very persistent, which makes you a perfect candidate for a marathon. There are plenty of team sports for adults, including softball, volleyball, and even dodgeball. If you enjoy competition, there are masters clubs for people over thirty-five who want to swim, row, do track and field, and many other activities. And the great news is that the competition starts getting scarcer in middle age, so you have a better chance of winning!
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Excerpted from Live a Little! by Susan M. Love, M.D., Alice D. Domar, Ph.D., with Leigh Ann Hirschman, Foreword by Nancy L. Snyderman, M.D. Copyright © 2009 by Susan M. Love MD. Excerpted by permission of Crown, a division of Random House of Canada Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
