Whether it’s a news headline from the latest research study or the philosophy espoused by your elementary school gym teacher, the message is the same: engaging in physical activity on a regular basis is key to maintaining your health and vitality. Thirty minutes of regular exercise a day not only substantially reduces the risk of coronary heart disease, which claims more lives in the United States than the next seven leading causes of death combined, but it also makes us feel better and improves our quality of life. Sounds easy enough, but putting it into practice can be another story.Here are five strategies for putting your fitness first, and changing your lifestyle one step at a time.

1. Break it up

The idea of finding 30 minutes a day for anything can be daunting in today’s fast-paced, over-scheduled society. Whether you are a busy professional or a stay-at-home parent, your days are likely booked from sun up to sun down, and it’s hard to imagine where to find more time. In the case of physical activity, however, it is not an all or nothing proposition.

In the words of the 1995 report from the Centers for Disease Control and American College of Sports Medicine (CDC/ACSM), “every US adult should accumulate 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days of the week.” The key word here is accumulate. It’s quite all right to break up your activity into smaller chunks of time; the goal is to become more active all day long, not necessarily to just spend 30 minutes a day at the gym. This might look like a fifteen-minute jog in the morning combined with taking the stairs at the office all day long. Or, it might be 20 minutes of weeding the garden every evening along with a 10-minute walk at lunch time. Even professional athletes use this strategy in their training. If your life doesn’t allow the time for the full workout at once, break it up and you’ll still see results.

Whatever your schedule looks like, don’t let the time commitment of regular exercise intimidate you. Find all of the wasted minutes in your day and make them count. While it might be difficult to find a free half hour, most of us can find 10-15 minutes a few times a day. It’s just knowing what to do with them.

2. Change it up

While many of us are creatures of habit, anyone can get bored with doing the same thing the same way all of the time. What’s more, it doesn’t produce the best results. Riding a stationary bike for 30 minutes on the same program five days per week is certainly a great start, but if that’s all you ever do, you’ll eventually reach a fitness plateau if you don’t quit from sheer boredom first.

During the week, it is important to incorporate cardiovascular exercise of varying intensities. It’s too hard on your body to demand high intensities at every workout because you don’t give yourself time to recover and adapt. On the other hand, always opting for low intensities will not get you the best effect for your training effort. It’s good practice to have at least one high intensity, one low intensity and several moderate intensity days during the week. Intensity can be increased by either increasing load (such as running faster or cycling up hill) or by increasing duration of the exercise. Different types of aerobic exercise can also be combined on different days. Mixing up the workouts not only keeps it interesting, it also trains your body to become fitter and stronger.

In addition to cardiovascular activities, you should incorporate resistance training and flexibility exercises at least twice per week. These will complement the aerobic work and help develop muscular strength, endurance, and preservation of muscle function.

3. Write it down

After you initiate a new exercise routine, one of the best ways to keep up the momentum is to maintain a training log of your progress. How much detail you include is up to you, but the act of recording what you’re doing in your workouts will benefit your fitness goals in many ways.

From a psychological perspective, keeping a training log can go a long way towards validating the commitment you have made to your fitness. Many training log tools are available online and in print, or you can create something for yourself. It can be as simple as keeping a spiral notebook with the date, duration and activity recorded for every workout. Flipping back through the pages is a tangible way to see what you have accomplished and affirm the positive steps you have taken. For the more techno-savvy among us, keeping a spreadsheet that tallies up the minutes spent exercising can be a rewarding technique as well.

If you take the journaling a step further and record more detail about each activity – such as how you felt during the workout, what your week was like, how well you ate or slept before and after – you can learn a lot about what works for you in your exercise routine. You might be able to identify factors that either inhibit or contribute to a positive workout experience, and you might also realize unexpected benefits from your new activities. If at some point you experience a drop in motivation, you might be able to look back through your journal to vividly remember all of the positive effects you have seen during the previous sessions and find new energy for your fitness program.

4. Take it to heart

Another useful tool for both motivation and refinement of your fitness program is a heart rate monitor. It is the perfect biofeedback device for both assessing your effort and measuring your success. The more familiar you become with your own heart rate numbers, the more powerful this tool will become.Wear a heart rate monitor for 24 hours and take note of the various numbers you see:

• What is your heart rate first thing after waking up (your resting heart rate)?
  
• What is a typical heart rate during sedentary activities (your ambient heart rate)?
  
• Does your heart rate increase during periods of stress?
  
• Does it increase after eating?
  
• How quickly does your heart rate increase during exercise?
  
• How quickly does it recover when you are done?

All of these can provide insight into both your fitness level and your state of wellness. Once you know what is “normal” for you, it is easier to identify periods where you are “off” or times when you are at your best. For example, if you have been stressed and not sleeping well, you will notice a higher than normal ambient heart rate. This is a signal to take a break and recharge yourself. If you find that your heart rate is escalating more quickly than normal during exercise and not recovering well, you might be doing too much and need to back off. On the other hand, if you are seeing that your resting and ambient heart rates are lower than before, it is confirmation that your fitness is improving and you are seeing tangible health benefits. You may also find that you can soon achieve a given intensity level during your workout at a lower heart rate than previously required. This is concrete evidence that your heart is able to do more work with less effort – the very definition of fitness. For some, this instant feedback on your progress can be very rewarding and motivational.

The heart rate monitor can also provide a means to finely tune your training to achieve specific fitness goals. Athletes in many sports regularly use heart rate zones to train at exact intensity levels in order to enhance endurance, speed or economy. There are a variety of books and materials published to help you understand how to train in this way, but beware of any mathematical formulas used to derive your training heart rate zones. The best approach is to find your training heart rates through testing and evaluation.

5. Keep it going

After you have begun a new fitness program, you may find that you need to continue setting new goals and challenges in order to keep your motivation going. For many, this motivation comes in the form of a specific race or event. For others, it might involve joining a group or finding a network of people with similar goals. It’s important that you know what gives you the most energy and you continue to fuel it.

If you shy away from races because you think they are for “other” people, think again. There are events of all sizes, distances, and challenges and you will most certainly find one that sparks your interest. Whether it’s walking a 5k to raise funds for breast cancer, completing a marathon or triathlon, kayaking down a river, or doing an obstacle course trail run with your buddy, your event it not far from home. Excellent calendars are found online and race flyers are often posted in specialty sports retail stores. Be sure to ask around and find out what events are popular – it’s a good bet that those are well-run and enjoyable.

For people that are motivated by having someone to meet and someplace to be at a given time, there are many types of groups that can help you continue on your path to fitness. Most gyms have regular classes, and you can also find formal training groups for all types of events. Visit a local run or bike shop to see what is available. There are also virtual training groups online that provide you with training schedules and interaction with other athletes in order to help you achieve your goals. An added benefit to joining a training group is that you can begin to develop your own network of friends that can provide new inspiration and challenges throughout your life.

The most important factor in any fitness program is unquestionably your attitude towards making it happen. Try different approaches and find what works best for you. As quoted by Zen masters and leadership gurus alike, “All things change when we do.” So they do.

Ashley Rosilier is co-owner of Run Gear Run in San Antonio, Texas, and has a Masters in Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a certified coach with USA Triathlon and Road Runners Clubs of America and coaches with national programs from USA Fit and Heart Zones Team Danskin Training. She is the proud mother of four children and enjoys running, swimming, and cycling. For more information on training programs visit www.RGRTraining.com and check out www.RunSanAntonio.com for local event listings.