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It's time for the excuses to stop!
Excuse number one for not getting that energy and fitness you're after? Time. The real answer to this is, make the most of the time you can dedicate. Even if you can only afford five minutes, that's enough to get a sweat going and start building up your cardiovascular capacity. Many of the top athletes rely on interval training, trying to push themselves to their limits with a quick, short burst of speed. Even if you're just starting out, five minutes of jogging up and down the stairs will build your strength, and give you more energy. (Genuinely... it'll come after that collapsing at the bottom of the stairs part...) Chances are, bit by bit, you'll find you want to find ten minutes, then fifteen minutes...

Excuse number two? Lack of willpower. Note, very often excuse number one is substituted for this more accurate answer. Particularly if it's pouring with icy rain - am I the only one who starts finding excuses not to exercise when it's dark and stormy, even if I was going to exercise indoors?! It's not easy, but it will be worth it. Give yourself a reward - preferably not take out from Pizza Hut - and as much as you can, make it fun. A lot of the time, it feels like the only way to get fit is to pay exorbitant fees to go to the gym, or trudge through puddles in leaky trainers. The surest way of sticking to your exercise plans is to make sure they're enjoyable. Whether it's as many press-ups as you can do in a minute, or mountain-biking through the hills, if it's fun, you're going to want to go back. Maybe learn to tango, pick up a skipping rope... in the end, anything that gets you moving is going to wake up your metabolism and keep you going for longer.
Then excuse number three, the one I find myself caving into sometimes, is resting on my laurels - went for a run last week, so I've done so well, no need to go out and knacker myself today. And then the next day... and the next... until that run on some misty March morning in 2007 starts to take on an air of legend. I always try to tell myself - just get moving, even if only for a couple of minutes; if you're really not up to it, you'll soon know, but the key thing to remember is, you're always capable of more than you think you are. Once you start believing you really can do it, you can start setting yourself targets and have the satisfaction of achieving them. The only investment needed? A bit of self-belief. Whether you're running up a fell, or sprinting for the bus, there's a lot of satisfaction from proving yourself you had more reserves than you might have given yourself credit for.

Learn more about this author, Gordon Woodhead.
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