Sweat is good! Sweat is proof that you’re working hard and achieving your goals. And if you’re sweating every day, that means you’re moving closer towards your goals every single day of the week! As Napolean Hill once wrote, “Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.”

BUT…Who’s to say you can’t LOVE what you do every day?

You might have heard that “the best exercise in the world is the one that you’ll do forever.” This basically means that finding an exercise you enjoy and want to keep on doing is the best way to stay healthy. In other words there’s no need to force yourself to do activities you don’t like to in an effort to improve your health. Instead, try a whole bunch of things and see what you enjoy! Everyone is different:

• For some people that means getting outdoors, hiking, biking and swimming
• For others enjoyment might mean finding a local dance class
• And for you that might mean football, or kayaking, or jumping on a trampoline!

What really matters is that you find an activity that you enjoy doing; because when you enjoy doing something you’re immensely more likely to keep on doing it! 

Why not use an activity tracker to keep you active?

The Human Activity Tracker app aims to get you moving for 30 minutes a day, then 60 minutes and 90 minutes. When it’s running in the background, it will automatically pick up movement as either walking, running, cycling or a miscellaneous activity. The app then stores your activities each day in a history that you can view. There are totals at the top and even a breakdown of activities showing what you did when and for how long. You can choose to view the activities in minutes, calories or kilometres depending on your goal. Human Activity Tracker (iOS)  http://human.co/

Your Exercise Choice Cheat Sheet

Struggling for ideas on what exercise or activity to try next? Here are a few ideas to help you get started: Individual activities:

• Running
• Sprinting
• Cycling
• Swimming
• Skipping
• Climbing
• Skiing

Partner Activities:

• Tennis
• Boxing
• MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)
• Badminton
• Volleyball

Team activities:

• Football (Soccer)
• American Football
• Cricket
• Rugby
• Hockey
• Ice hockey
• Water Polo

The 7 Minute Workout for Weight Loss and Fitness

Not sure which activity to try first, well we’ve got you covered! And with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) the rewards are worth the hard work! HIIT helps you burn fat, improve your fitness and burn way more calories than a lower-intensity workout alone. In fact, a study  by the American College of Sports Medicine found that a just 7 minutes of training at almost your max can accomplish everything that a traditional longer workout could. The workout the study suggests consists of 12 exercises performed in a circuit at an intensity of 8 on a scale of 10. Each exercise lasts 30 seconds, with a 10-second rest in between exercises. The aim of the game is to keep the intensity as high as possible and rest as little as possible.

Ready to give it a go?

Also, if you have a smartphone you can download the '7 minute workout' app and get exercise instructions as well as an interval timer: http://au.wahoofitness.com/tickrx#seven-min-app

Want To Make Your Own 7 Minute Workout?

One of the great things about HIIT based circuit training is that you can create your own workout completely from scratch. This way you’ll never get bored again. Literally all it takes is 5 minutes to put together a brand new workout; meaning that you can design and then perform your own full workout in less than fifteen minutes, amazing!

Here’s a quick guide

Look at the table below and pick 4 exercises. (One from each group) You’ll then perform all four exercises for 30 seconds, with only 10 seconds rest in between them. Once you’ve done all 4 exercises, go back to the first one and do another round, for a total of 3 rounds, or 6 minutes work.

Group 1: Legs	Group 2: Core	Group 3: Upper Body	Group 4: Cardio
Lunges	Sit-ups	Press ups	Skipping
Squats	V-sits	Renegade Rows	Mountain climbers
Step Ups	Plank	Pull ups	Burpees
Jumping lunges*	Side Plank	Dorsal raises	Star Jumps
Jumping Squats*	Crunches

*These exercises can be tough on your knees – not recommended for beginners

Want An Extra challenge?

As soon as you’re done with your first 3 rounds (6 minutes work) choose another 4 exercises and repeat the process. (You’ll do 12 minutes work in total) You can even repeat the process for a third time (18 minutes work in total) Good Luck!

Richard Taylor Weight Loss Consultant and Personal Trainer

Richard specialises in exercise for weight loss. He is available for 1-on-1 Personal Training, Small Group Training and Corporate Personal Training in the Lower North Shore area. Book a FREE fat loss consultation to discover what he can do for your health. Find out more about Richard here   http://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/Fulltext/2013/05000/HIGH_INTENSITY_CIRCUIT_TRAINING_USING_BODY_WEIGHT_.5.aspx