You Can’t Exercise Every Day of the Year Unless You Start on January 1
Julie Bitely
| 2 min read
Is it realistic to fit in a heart-pounding, hour-long workout every day?
Probably not. However, it is completely doable to move in a way that’s beneficial to your health, every day.
If your New Year’s resolutions tend to border on the extreme, which then leads to fast failure followed by lost motivation and zero progress toward your goals, we’re challenging you to take a new approach this year.
Vow to move every day, for at least 30 minutes. Walking counts. Breaking up those 30 minutes counts. There will be days when you want to do more and you should, but committing to a bare minimum threshold of 30 minutes every day will keep you motivated to keep going, even if you can’t fit in a daily gym session.
Now, not everyone belongs to a fitness facility and we do live in Michigan, which tends to be on the frosty side come January, so what should you do to overcome this challenge? Embrace the cold.
Finding an outdoor activity you love doing in the winter is another great way to keep your momentum moving forward. We all feel like hibernating, but strapping on some snowshoes or learning to ski could be just the nudge you need to make exercise an everyday habit this year.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, mParks and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan are partnering again this year to bring all Michiganders Shoe Year’s Day. There are special events scheduled at many state parks designed to get you outside and moving.
Find an event near you and start moving toward better health this year! Here are some dates and locations to get you started:
- Maybury State Park on Dec. 31 (10 a.m.)
- Island Lake Recreation Area on Jan. 1 (1 p.m.)
- Waterloo Recreation Area on Jan. 1 (11:30 a.m.)
- Yankee Springs Recreation Area on Jan. 1 (1 p.m.)
- Ludington State Park on Jan. 7 (6 p.m.)
- Rockport Recreation Area on Jan. 7 (noon)
- Sleeper State Park on Jan. 7 (6 p.m.)
- Straits State Park on Jan. 7 (5 p.m.)
- Mitchell State Park on Jan. 8 (1 p.m.).
You can also search for other events on the DNR’s website.
If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:
Photo credit: Howard Kang