How to motivate yourself to follow through with exercise

To potential users and those who have already purchased the Back-care-cise™ videos

            When working with my patients with the Back-care-cise™ videos I always give them the following recommendations and want to share this with you as well. Though I will be referring to these videos there will be principals that will apply to any form of exercise.
It is a rare person who will follow along with a video for the rest of their life (though, a woman did call me because her videos had worn out after 8 years of daily use by her and her husband.).  But this is unreasonable to expect from most people.  It is not even necessary to use the videos for an extended period to get the great results that Back-care-cise™ has to offer.  What is necessary however is consistency and regularity over an extended period, of even just a few of the exercises.  You know the old adage – quality vs. quantity.

            These are my recommendations to accomplish that goal.  Use the videos as a learning tool and to find the absolute best exercises for your particular body and situation.  It is optimal to work your way through three or more videos so that you can have the maximum variety from which to choose the right exercises for you. But if you only want to start with one, that will be fine as well.  If you do choose to work with more than one it is best to work in progression  i.e. A,B &C or if a neck or upper back specific problem then it could be A, Neck and B  or A, Neck and C.  I will describe the best way to do this working with three but if you are only working with one,  you can adapt what I say here for that.

Make photo copies of the Patient Progress Report so that you always have a clean copy for a new week. Starting with the first video follow it on a daily basis for 5 days in a week or at least every other day.  Don’t bother watching it first.  It is only worthwhile if you follow along with the exercises as they are being done and pay attention to the personal recommendations being made to the other class participants as they will more than likely  apply to you as well.  While you are following along take a few moments to check off on the Progress Report how each exercise is effecting you.  Now here is the key.  When you do an exercise that feels really “right” to you, that is, you know it is working that special place, or “hurts so good” or maybe is hard but your instincts say, “yes, I know this is exactly what I need”,  put a big star next to that one on the Progress Report.  This is one you will commit to memory.  There are way too many exercises to commit them all to memory and it is not necessary to do them all forever anyway.  However it is necessary that you do a few of them.

The goal is to work your way through each video,  choosing and then memorizing a few from each.  On the off days between video sessions you can do your short routine that you have come up with so far. After working your way through all three videos  (or two or one), you will have a short personalized routine that consists of exactly the right exercises for you.   After following a video for a number of weeks it will be quite easy to stick with your short routine.  And that is the goal – to get in the habit of doing at least a few of these powerful exercises on a daily basis. If after all three videos you have more than a short routine, you can then break it into two routines, that you can alternate.

 Why all this you might ask?  Because it is human nature not to stick with anything that is over ambitious. These exercises can work miracles in your life and health if you do them regularly for the rest of your life. And lets face it, you are not going to follow a 30 or so minute video for the rest of your life. But a short 5 minute routine is not met with resistance by that part of you that doesn’t want to exercise, in the way an entire video would. So by telling yourself ahead of time that doing these videos is a temporary activity, you will not be met by the resistance that you would be normally.  So again look at it as a learning tool and that you will work more intensively with the videos for only approximately a month.

By that time you will have established a habit they say it takes 21 days to make a new habit (of exercise) and with only a short routine it will be easy to maintain it.  The bottom line is that a few exercises done consistently is worth far more than a long routine that you stop and start.  So understanding the psychology of how to make a new healthy habit ahead of time will help you create an exercise plan that you can stick with the rest of your life.  I know because I am one of those people who resists exercise.  But when I make the effort of exercise far less than the great benefits I receive, then the resistance melts away. 

This same concept can be applied to aerobic exercise.  Keep it simple, doable and enjoyable and you WILL do it.  As Americans we are taught more is better.  But it has been proven in numerous studies that even a mild amount of exercise done regularly brings greater results in decreasing health risk percentages than much higher levels of exercise.  So do your daily few minutes of stretching and strengthening exercise and take your walks.  That is proven to be enough, especially over starting ambitious routines that you never stick with. 

I have been living by these principals for many years now, especially making sure that I get some of the Back-care-cise™ exercises in regularly.  I am now close to 50 and no one can believe it, especially me.  I feel as though I have more vitality and health than I did even years ago.  I believe that the flexibility in both my body, from the Back-care-cise™  exercises and my mind, from the principals and attitudes expressed in my book Express Yourself  have helped me to maintain a freedom that will stay with me the rest of my life.

Thank you for taking an interest in the Back-care-cise™  home exercise program and I welcome your comments.

Sincerely,

Dr.  Joy L, Freeman  (aka Nelson)

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