How many Monday mornings have you started a new workout routine, only to find yourself hitting the snooze button by Friday? If the answer is "too many," we're right there with you, along with millions of others. The truth is, the only thing tougher than starting an exercise program is sticking with it.
Fact: Most new exercisers quit within three to six months, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.
Why: One reason so many people drop out is they're trying to do too much before they're psychologically prepared, says Shane Murphy, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at Western Connecticut State University and author of "The Sports Psychology Handbook" (Human Kinetics, 2005).
What people don't realize is that getting into healthful habits involves more than going for a run tonight or popping in an exercise DVD before work in the morning. According to Murphy, deciding to make a change in your life starts a multistage psychological chain of events. "It's hard to jump from an early stage of change to a later stage before you're ready," Murphy says.
And even if you are ready, progressing is still a challenge. Expect to bounce back and forth between the stages, says Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D., psychologist and author of "A Happy You: Your Ultimate Prescription for Happiness" (Morgan- James, 2009). "A 'relapse' back to an earlier stage doesn't mean you failed," Lombardo says. "It's simply data to help you figure out what you can do to succeed."
Before making a change, here's how to overcome the most common mental roadblocks.
Continued on page 2: Think it out
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