For my entire life, I've never been a consistent exerciser. I worked at the Y and wasn't a regular exerciser, I told people how to become healthier and wasn't a regular exerciser. I played sports and wasn't a regular exerciser. The reason for this is because I didn't have the routine down. I wanted the benefits but didn't want to put in the work. What I think helped me the most was getting a friend that helped me find my own routine. I have been pretty consistent with it even when she's not around. I've been working out on my lunch break... something I used to think was something only crazy people did. Now I work out in hotels when I am on vacation. All of these things seem natural to me now; I think I have to get my mile in really quickly then I can go enjoy lunch or vacation. I believe it is all due to finding a normal routine I could stick with. If you do it long enough, it becomes easier to exercise. It is so hard in the beginning... so hard! You really need to hook up with someone who already exercises consistently. I have tried to get a workout buddy in the past but neither one of us had a routine already established. I think you really need to hook up with someone who already has an established routine. I think there are so many things that can go wrong if both don't have a routine; someone usually ends up pulling the other one down as opposed to each other helping to develop a routine. Getting a partner that already has an established routine really works!

I think getting a workout buddy really helps too. But if for some reason it is just absolutely impossible for you to find a workout buddy, I think establishing a workout routine for you to do is key. I used to workout alone and have no routine. I wasn't very successful. Finally, I figured out that if I plan out each of the exercises that I want to do each day of the week and write it down, I'll be holding myself more accountable. Before I figured this out, I would just walk in the gym pick one or two things to do and leave. Now, since I know what to do on each day, I know exactly what to do and I know once I get those exercises done, I get to leave. It really helps, and it really helps to write down what each day should consist of!

How did you pick out what you wanted to do on each day, Tammy?

I schedule events using Mozilla Sunbird and drop whatever I'm doing when it pops up a reminder on the screen for things like "Feed hamster", "take out trash", etc.

I have a problem with adding exercise to that thing though. With the exception of riding my bike around the track at the park in the AM I usually just put exercise off because I'm in middle of something and don't want to have to quit to take a shower/etc.

I'm definately going to have to find a workout buddy.

Pretty much I just decided to alternate lower body days with upper body days with what I wanted to lift. I used to play basketball in college, so I already had a whole bunch of exercises that I knew worked for me and that I liked. I just wrote down my favorite exercises and assigned them to a certain day. I found that if I didn't write down, which exercise belonged to a certain day, then I would draw a blank on what to do when I got to the gym and could only think of something that I had already done that week. With aerobic exercises, I just tried to rotate running, biking, and elliptical type machines so I wouldn't get bored too often!


Do you like the Mozilla Sunbird better than Microsoft Outlook or the Google Calendar? I've never heard of the Mozilla Sunbird until now, but I really do love Mozilla FireFox, it's my favorite web browser!

I never used Outlook even when I did have a Windows computer so I don't know. I just remember thinking it was too complicated just for sending emails. I haven't really gotten into Google Calendar because of it being web-based (as far as I know) which wouldn't work for me, I can't have my schedule vanish if my internet dies.

Sunbird works. I can schedule events to popup reminders daily, every week-day, monthly, etc at any time of the day, and have them repeated.
That's all I can really say about it.
I'd be happy with a terminal window where I could type "remind me to feed my hamster every day" and it would do that.

I recently just got a workout buddy, and I have to tell you... it makes a world of difference! I was doing good by myself, but having a buddy makes it even better. They make you accountable, especially when you make plans with them for the next workout. If gives you a date and time to go to the gym, rather than ponder with the idea of whether or not to go. I love my workout buddy!

A support system is so important. If you are a self-motivated person it is good to have a person to help you push yourself to the next level; if you're not self motivated, it is good to have a person to help keep you on track. I think there should be a mandatory buddy system put into place in health clubs an gyms for all new beginners until they get connected into the place. I truely believe that you are highly more successful when you workout with a partner, than if you were to try the same workout on your own!