Revive Your Fitness Routine For The New Year

Two out of every three Australians fail to meet the Australian Government’s recommended guidelines for exercise — a mere 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity for five days of the week. If that’s you, here are four ways to help you get moving out of the inactive group and into long-term health and fitness.

- Dr Nick Fuller

Each year, we set our New Year’s resolutions, and for many this includes the goal to kick the extra kilos. We incorporate our new exercise routine into our lives only to get disheartened when we don’t see any change on the scales.

Why do we give up so easily?

The overwhelming majority of us — a massive 70 percent — are not meeting the recommended level of activity, so when we do add in some exercise we are only getting to the recommended level for general ‘heart health’ guidelines. We need to be doing this 30 minutes on five days of the week as a bare minimum for ‘heart health’ and then adding a variety of exercises and intensities as part of a fitness plan on top of this to achieve weight loss.

To add to the frustration, we often start activities we don’t even enjoy or won’t stick to long-term — such as going to the gym or starting with a personal trainer. So what do we do? In frustration, we quit, having wasted our money, and go back to our old ways, as it is all too hard and no fun, especially if we don’t see the kilos shifting from the scales.

To break from this pattern, try reviving your exercise routine by following these four tips this summer!