Keep motivated

Exercise in groups!

IF YOU frequent the Taman Rekreasi Tasek Lama on Saturday afternoons, you might catch sight of a group of people from the "Klinik Cara Hidup Sehat" ("Healthy Lifestyle Clinic"). In their neon bright t-shirts and even brighter group cheers, they are pretty hard to miss.

While ending our usual Tasek hike recently, I heard a massive cheer from afar, and being the nosy journalist that I am, went to snoop around. Over 30 (yes, I even counted) Health Promotion Centre's Healthy Lifestyle Clinic members were gathered near the reservoir, cheering each other on as they finished an exercise routine.

"We come here once a week. There are usually 50 members in each cohort, with a total of 4 cohorts a year," an officer from the Health Promotion Centre informs.

The officer, who only wishes to be known as Yan, says that each group will meet up four times a week. "This includes exercising, talking to our (Health Promotion Clinic) officers, and even discussing among themselves," she says.

Sometimes, not all members of the group could make it for their exercise and meet-up sessions, so the programme facilitators try to encourage them to exercise on their own initiative when time is limited.

If you do happen to witness the group exercise, it is hard not to feel motivated to do more exercising as well.

I also took the chance to speak with one of the Healthy Lifestyle Clinic members, Hjh Satia. The housewife tells me that she has only just recently joined the programme on January 3, 2012.

"So far, it has been very informative and fun. We get to learn about nutrition, exercising and how to keep healthy in general. Every Saturdays, my group meet up for a lecture first and to discuss with each other before proceeding to come here (Taman Rekreasi Tasek Lama) for exercise."

She added that she has lost a little over one kilogramme since she joined a month ago. The weight loss has kept her motivated, "slowly but surely", she laughs.

While many have enrolled themselves in the programme to ultimately lose a few pounds, Hjh Satia says that the programme takes a holistic approach to health and will benefit her and her group members in other aspects aside from just weight loss.

After seeing the group finish up their exercise routines, it occurred to me that many of us (onlookers) were staying put to watch because group exercises are fun!

In fact, a few of the onlookers jumped in to join the Healthy Lifestyle Clinic members during their winding down stretching exercises.

I looked over to my exercise partner and suggested that we should exercise in a bigger group to motivate ourselves more and reap lengthier, more intense workout sessions.

Aside from having plenty of exercise buddies, here are a few other ways which could help you keep motivated:

Change locations.

If you're always jogging, you might want to give it a break and join a Zumba class or a Spinning class or even swimming. You don't have to completely forgo jogging, just substitute one jogging day for something else. Remember to try other forms of exercise with a trusted exercise partner and it will be fun!

Otherwise, just change venues. Instead of jogging on the tracks, you might want to try and jog along the beach.

Sign up for a 10k run, or a half-marathon.

Heck, go ahead and join a full marathon if you'd like. Just make sure you have enough time to train.

Training for a set goal, is perhaps, the single most motivating factor for most people. It would be embarrassing and a personal let down if you could not meet a target you set yourself up for.

It also takes time to train for marathons, usually months of training! And that's a few months which will turn you into a regular exerciser.

You deserve it, reward yourself.

Have you always wanted that new watch? Not sure if you should be wasting your money on it?

Well, if you exercise on a reward system, you might just feel that you've earned yourself a new watch.

Tell yourself that you only deserve a reward after "x" amount of hours spent exercising every week for five weeks.

A friend of mine has a soft spot for cakes and all things sweet. To ensure that she does not go overboard with her sweet treats, she counts how many calories she has burned during each exercise session. For every 1,200 calories burned (which can take up to a week), she will reward herself with one treat. The Brunei Times