Welcome and hello. If you’ve been busy in life–school, work, family–it’s entirely possible you may have gotten out of the habit of regular exercise. You put it off until you “have the time,” and the next thing you know, you’re not quite in the physical shape you’d like to be in. 

So you decide to get back on track, and what do you find? Trainers abusing clients on TV. Various forms of Boot Camp. Infomercial workouts that take a mere hour-and-a-half each day. Globo-mega-big box gyms, with mirrors and viewing areas and more options than you know what to do with. The Shake Weight. And you decide, well, if that’s what I have to do to get in shape, maybe I can just buy bigger clothes.

Then of course, with age, come some things we didn’t notice when we were 20: a back twinge here, a knee pain there, achy shoulders. The next thought that occurs: if I try all that extreme fitness stuff, I’m going to hurt something. Regardless of what the program promises, with family/work obligations, who can really afford to get injured and be put out of action for an extended time?

Yet…you know that a lot of good can come from regular exercise. You know you’ll feel better, move better, and look better. Not to mention all the health conditions that regular exercise “can positively affect,” including low back pain, obesity, arthritis, osteoporosis, and so on. So the issue really is: how can you get all the benefits of exercise, without disrupting your weekly schedule too much, and without the exercise itself creating new injuries?

That’s what this blog is about: getting in shape, with a limited amount of time each week, in a way that won’t cause new physical problems. 

I have some experience with this; take a quick click over to the Profile. I myself am in my mid-50s and most of my clients range in age between 35 and 65. No one is accusing us of being fanatical about fitness, and most of us run our own businesses and have families and other things to do with our time. Most of the clients exercise about an hour each week, usually broken up into 2, half-hour appointments. Exactly how they exercise, and why, is what I’ll write about. 

Here’s a quick peek:  http://tinyurl.com/studiosample

Why start this blog now? October. Getting yourself started in October is key. At the end of October: Halloween candy. Weeks later, Thanksgiving. The December holidays. New Year’s. If you miss October, 3 months will pass before you even think about exercise again, plus all the festive food and drink in the meantime.  But if you get on track in October, you’re already becoming more fit by the holidays.

So start thinking about where you can find a half hour, twice in your week; get your gym clothes and sneakers together, and among all your other priorities, move “taking care of myself” higher up on the list.