Richard Clarke

The first few steps from a sedentary lifestyle to exercise are the hardest. For many people activities such as walking to the shop can be seen as daunting and difficult, unless its the chip shop for some, then they are motivated like hell!

So to change that attitude from lounging round the house watching TV  - mixed in with a bad diet of fast food  – to an improved diet and healthy snacks along with actually going out and exercising, may seem unlikely to many.

How do you make the change? 

I will touch upon a model known as the Behaviour change model, this is made up of 5 distinct phases in most cases:

1. Pre-contemplation
2. Contemplation
3. Preparation
4. Action
5. Maintenance

I will discuss the first few stages as we are only in month 1 and you don’t want to be swamped with information! For many of you say a few months ago you were in the pre-contemplation phase, you were inactive and there was no intention to change.

In order to move from the pre contemplation phase into the contemplation phase something must happen.

The change in attitude could have come from putting on weight, struggling to get into your clothes, noticing you have trouble breathing after a simple activity. Or it could have come from an external factor such as someone making a comment about your weight.

Little things like this lead to a change in psychology, and moves you into the pre contemplation phase where there is an intention and ambition to start exercising.

In the early phases the cons will outweigh the pros, this is where you have to be mentally strong to overcome this and exercise, if achieved you can move from the pre contemplation phase.

The preparation phase can last around 6 months from the pre contemplation phase. Many people experiment in this phase, try and find the right activity for you, it is very important that there is some level of enjoyment in your exercise.

Maybe going for a long walk, joining a gym (gyms don’t really work in my opinion, or should i say people don’t work in gyms..another article there I think!) or even becoming a member of our Fit Body Academy(group exercise programme)… all of these are positive steps in becoming more active.

In order to succeed and make a successful change in your behaviour, motivation is essential, as you move through the phases motivation increases.

Negative influences become easier to overcome, enjoyment levels increase and you will notice a change mentally and physically. So you are on the right track.   If you are struggling things will get easier and the benefits are great.

For some of you depending on how the preparation phase went you could well be into the exciting – action phase.

The action phase means you are regularly active and have been for a few weeks or kore.

Finally the holy grail of behavioural chage is the maintenance stage where motivation to exercise is great and there are many noticeable improvements, you can start to forget your previous sedentary lifestyle and look forward to a much more positive future.

Confidence is key, believe in yourself and you can continue making great changes.

Oh yes and the worst stage – the enemy – is lapse and re-lapses, im sure you are familiar with these terms it’s the slippery slope back to pre-contemplation.

What stage are you at?  Take some action and move yourself forwards where ever you are.

If you need any help or support you know we are only a phone call or an email away.

Take care,

Richard