We all know (or at least we should!) about the benefits of fitness. But for some of us, actually getting fit is incredibly challenging! Why? Usually, it's because we're just not in the habit of doing those things which ultimately make us fit.

And what sort of things are those? Exercise of course! We're told time and time again to get more exercise, whether it's walking regularly, playing outdoors with our kids, playing sports or attending a gym or fitness classes. Many of us start out with fantastic intentions! We decide we're going to go walking every day, or we take out a gym membership. But what usually happens is that our good intentions go the way of most habits we try and set ourselves. Why is this and how can we prevent it? I think that part of the problem is that we start out thinking too big! By this, I mean we want to be regular exercisers all at once. We decide, "right that's it! I'm going to the gym to work out for an hour and a half every day!". Of course, while our good intentions are thinking this, and maybe even hyping us up to believe it, somewhere hidden in our subconscious are the words, "yeah, right...that'll last a week, if that..."

Yeah, we may start off well, we may go to the gym, but eventually (maybe in a couple of days, maybe in a week) something comes up and we think, "I'll just miss today's session and make it up tomorrow". Of course, when tomorrow comes around something else gets in the way...for many of us, eventually all our good intentions vanish and we haven't gone to the gym for weeks!

So what can we do to help ourselves? I think what we should start off doing is taking our new fitness regimen in small bites. Decide you'll go to the gym three times a week for a half hour session. Or decide to take a ten minute walk a couple of times a week. It's much easier to do something when it's broken up into small bits, and it's easier to make our exercise regime become a new habit.