Easing slowly into any new routine or change in your life usually has a higher success rate. I find from personal experience that this applies especially to work out routines and physical fitness routines. Though starting out full throttle into a fitness plan can have it merits, it is usually short lived. I think we have all made this observation at various times in our lives for attempts at change for this and that. Take for instance the New Years resolution. Does anyone ever stick to them? I think it is because of the sudden change and lack of easing into it.

I decided to take things a step further with the idea of easing into a fitness plan. I thought, what if I doubled or tripled the rate of how slowly I started. For example, if I was normally to start off  my first week with 12 sit ups and 12 pushups and 12 minutes on the treadmill I would reduce it by 3 times. So just 4 sit ups and 4 pushups and 4 minutes on the treadmill. Then increase by 4 each week until a desired level. I know this sounds a bit weak and you would hardly notice it but that is the whole point! Obviously this is not the sort of approach to take if you want to lose 10 pounds in a week, but if you want to lose 10 pounds, 20 pounds, 50 pounds and get in and stay in shape then I find the success rate it much higher. I even went so far as to do 1 pull up, 1 push up, 1 sit up, etc. and increase by 1 or 2 each week over time.

This extended approach into easing into a work out routine can also be applied to diet and weight control as well as a host of other things. Just though of starting into a fitness plan for a lot of us can be enough to put it off indefinitely! It’s not always the physical pain of or discomfort, it is often the time and re-arranging of our busy schedules. Just breaking habits and other routines can be the cause of failing to stick to our fitness routines.

For those of you who have trouble sticking to or starting a workout plan I would recommend giving this method a try. It may take a lot longer to get going and may even feel a little silly in the beginning but I think you will find your being able to build up and stick to the plan much more likely than starting out with guns a blazing.