Articles


Exercise Motivation Hypnosis - Your Secret Weapon

by Alan B. Densky, CH

Remaining thin and in shape is crucial for many people -- which is why establishing an exercise plan is so critical. However, you may be surprised to discover that not just any style of exercise will do - in fact, research studies regularly show that there are two basic types of exercise that are successful and efficient.

Due to the fact that so many people have trouble dealing with exercise motivation, selecting the most efficient types of exercise is critical, since the less time it takes you to exercise - and the less time you throw away on low efficiency exercise - the more likely it is that you will continue to exercise and therefore to reach your personal weight and strength target.

Our first kind of exercise that has been routinely shown to help people lose some weight and get healthful is progressive resistance. In brief, progressive resistance is one kind of strength training. How it works is that it is over time ramping up the amount of weight that you lift, the number of sets, and number of repetitions performed. As a result, muscles are not strained or subjected to damage - instead, they are slowly and steadily allowed to strengthen without any setbacks or interruptions.

The second kind of exercise that was scientifically studied is cardiovascular training. This name is given to any kind of exercise that results in the heart beating at 60 - 85 percent of its highest rate. Some kinds of cardio training may include jogging, jump rope, aerobic exercise, or treadmill, as well as others, but the choice is up to you.

Even though progressive resistance and cardio training alone have been determined to be extremely efficient forms of exercise, it turns out that combining them is the best bet for being successful. If you combine both progressive resistance and cardio training, you will improve the strength of your muscles and improve whole-body endurance. In a recent study, exercisers who performed both cardio and progressive resistance over a two-month period lost 45 percent more weight than those doing cardio or progressive resistance alone.

Just as crucial as the kind of exercise you choose is, the way in which you exercise is also critical. It probably will not surprise you that being consistent is the ideal. Exercising inconsistently may enact strain on your muscles and will likely not help you to increase strength and endurance. In addition, it is unlikely to improve your whole-body health. According to most experts, the best routine is to exercise for 40 minutes to an hour three, four, or five times each week.

Unfortunately, it turns out that for a significant subset of the American population, getting sufficient exercise is not as simple as dropping in at the health club several times every week or being attentive to what scientists claim. For this subset of people, exercise motivation is the big problem - this group of people simply doesn't want to go to the gym. In fact, they might dread any and all exercise, which can lead to problematic anxiety.

Nobody knows what percentage of the American population has to deal with problems with exercise motivation, but experts say that about 20 to 40 percent of people say that they "hate" or "dread" exercise. Even more people might have less severe problems with the motivation to exercise, finding that even though it is relatively simple to commit to an exercise routine for a week or two, motivation eventually lessens, leaving them back where they started - out of shape and overweight.

If you're a person who struggles with exercise motivation, fortunately, there are some easy ways to deal with the struggle. In a recent research study, volunteers who wanted to start an exercise program were provided with a brief educational program that assisted them to select the right types of exercise, were matched with a motivational therapist, and were given a brief series of sessions with a hypnotist. After six months, they were re-examined. Surprisingly, it turned out that over 85 percent of the subjects had stuck to an exercise program for the whole six months. Better yet, they generally lost an average of fifteen more pounds than people who were not given hypnotherapy.

If you are interested in this study, it might make sense to investigate the possibility of locating a motivational therapist, habit control therapist, or counselor who specializes in hypnotherapy. These kinds of therapists are provided with special training in aiding people to transcend anxieties, increase exercise motivation, and reinforce good habit development. Another option for exercise motivation is self-hypnosis - which is a simple and inexpensive process that can help people take control of their own innate powers of motivation.

Hypnosis therapy and self-hypnosis are risk-free ways of increasing motivation that are proven to provide success in the case of the motivation to exercise. Hypnosis works by making use of hypnotic relaxation to evoke the powers of the unconscious to influence behavior modification and habit formation. Hypnosis therapy is a wonderful choice for the adverse to exercise because it can help the development of the motivation to get healthful and lose the weight easily and effectively.

Alan B. Densky, CH has specialized in all aspects of weight loss hypnosis CD recordings, including hypnosis motivation CDs since 1978. Visit his Neuro-VISION hypnotherapy website and benefit from Free hypnosis videos, articles, and newsletters.

Published November 12th, 2007

Filed in Fitness, Health, Motivational, Weight Loss