How to Achieve Your Fitness Goals One Step at a Time

“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles, and less than perfect conditions. So what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident, and more and more successful.” — Mark Victor Hansen

I recall this incident that occurred about fifteen years ago. We were waiting for my daughter to finish her summer class. My mother asked me to join her on a quick stroll around the school grounds to kill some time.

It was a warm summer day in New England. I could barely walk twenty minutes without getting winded.

I had always been naturally slim, so I never felt the need to exercise. However, as a result, I lacked stamina and energy. My mother had more energy than me and was able to walk briskly without getting exhausted.

My Personal Experience

Now, after years of daily exercise, I can walk for long periods at a brisk pace. I usually walk around 10,000 steps or about 5 miles per day.

I also exercise regularly at the gym, doing a combination of cardio and strength training. I am so addicted to exercise that I will rarely take a day off.

I am a big believer in the power of walking. In my opinion, it is simply the best exercise for beginners.

It might be best to start with a ten-minute daily walk, perhaps early in the morning or later in the evening.

Walking is something that can be easily incorporated into any lifestyle. Do whatever works for you. As long as you move your body and get your heart rate up, you are exercising.

I started by walking about 40 minutes daily around the indoor track at my local gym. I gradually built up to walking about one hour most days of the week. Next, I added exercise classes followed by cardio machines and finally strength-training machines.

I tried every class available at my local YMCA, from step aerobics to Zumba to cardio-kickboxing. I finally settled on yoga and pilates because these are great for increasing strength, flexibility, and balance.

If I can do it, you can too. As with anything in life, stamina takes time and effort to build. With continued hard work and perseverance on our part, we can achieve our goals.

Takeaway

Do not underestimate yourself and think that you cannot do it. We tend to believe that we are incapable of doing many things, but we honestly can do almost anything we set our minds to do.

We have to believe in ourselves and have more faith in our abilities. Sometimes it seems as if other people have more confidence in us than we do.

Remember to take baby steps. Do a little at a time until you feel comfortable. You can then gradually add more to that.

Before you know it, you will be doing more than you ever thought was possible.

B.R. Shenoy is a married mother of two. She has a B.S. in biochemistry and an M.S. in chemical toxicology. She is a former expat in Brazil, France, and Japan. She is a regular writer for The Good Men Project. Her work has also appeared in Scary Mommy, Positively Positive and Idle Inks. She is a blogger on Medium and Vocal Media. You can follow her on Twitter.