Have you ever started an exercise program with great enthusiasm - bought a new pair of running shoes, or treated yourself to a gym subscription - only to find that several weeks later you give up? If so you’re not alone. Most people who take up a new form of exercise give it up again within a few weeks. Why? Everybody knows that exercise is supposed to be good for you. For many this knowledge alone provides the incentive to give it a try. So you buy the gear and dive into activity. You feel inspired an virtuous … at least for a while.

Then resistance raises its ugly head. Your body aches a bit one day, the weather is bad the next, you get out of the wrong side of bed, you notice how much better the other girls in the aerobics class look in their leotards . . . your enthusiasm wanes and you exercise less and less. Eventually, in spite of guilt pangs, you slip back into the ‘comfort’ of not exercising.

While this scenario is very common, it is also true that some women who begin to exercise stick at it. Why? Are they blessed with greater willpower? Do they not encounter resistance? Or are they just naturally more athletic? In my experience it is none of these. Anyone can develop willpower, everyone has their off days and anyone can become athletic. The real difference is that the consistent exerciser has been lucky enough to cross from the ’should’ camp of exercisers to the ‘I want to’ one.

In the beginning we are all in the ‘I should’ camp. We have to kick-start ourselves into action and it’s not easy. However, experiencing some of the benefits of exercising, such as having more energy or feeling good about yourself, can spur you on. If you con­tinue long enough (and ‘long enough’ is different for everyone), one magical day you find you are actually beginning to enjoy yourself. Instead of dreading the next exercise session and fighting the excuses not to do it, you look forward to it. Of course this does not make you immune to resistance or excuses. And you may still stop exercising for a period of time, but because you have experienced the fun of it, something will call you back. Returning to exercise will be easier each time.If you are afraid to even begin to get in shape, because you feel you are too old, too overweight or just too unfit, remember that the more impossible the challenge of becoming an exerciser seems, the more power for transformation exercise holds for you. Everyone has to begin somewhere.