Becoming more fit
is easy, free and healthy

Part 2 of a 5-part series
on beginning a fitness program

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By Claudio R. Nigg and Bradley J. Cardinal
Special to the Star-Bulletin

In this article we'll describe simple strategies for building physical activity into your day. The intent is to demonstrate how easy it is to make your life more active. Who knows? You might be just a few minutes away from your first two-minute walk. In fact, by the end of today, you might easily accumulate five or 10 minutes of walking and climb two or three flights of stairs. Don't take our word for it. See for yourself.

List a few activities that you'd like to try out -- things that don't require expensive equipment, fancy clothes or spending money. In the box below, we offer a few of our own thoughts to help get you started. Before we begin though, stop reading, stand up and take a two-minute walk.

Wasn't that refreshing? "Every U.S. adult should accumulate 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days of the week," the surgeon general of the United States suggests.

For those of you who took that short walk -- congratulations! You have just become a more physically active person. If you didn't, it's not too late. Go ahead, we'll wait.

Wasn't that easy? What could keep you from sticking to the physical activity program you have just begun?

Take the time to complete the list in the box below. Your list will be very powerful and will help move you toward the next step in the behavior change process. Why not follow your own advice? Congratulations. You can do it!

Next: Further steps toward becoming physically active

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Claudio R. Nigg is with the Department of Public Health Sciences & Epidemiology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Bradley J. Cardinal is with the Sport and Exercise Psychology Program at Oregon State University. This series will continue on Wednesdays through Feb. 5.

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