Studies have shown that exercising for at least 30 minutes 5 days a week produces the most beneficial results. The thing is, exercise can cover a wide variety of activities as long as your heart rate rises to an age-appropriate level and stays at that level for most of the exercise period.

So what kind of cardiovascular exercise should I do?

Here’s the fun part: pretty much anything as long as it’s safe and follows the criteria for getting your heart rate up. I like to mix things up, one day I alternate brisk walking with jogging in the park, another I attend a folkloric dance class and so on. The simplest routine is one that is also highly effective: simply going for a brisk walk, pumping your arms at a sufficient rate will provide a low-impact route to shedding excess fat from your body. It’s crucial to keep boredom at bay and constantly push yourself a little harder. For these reasons, I advocate a class or new hobby that is both physical and fun. Some ideas include:

Tennis
Cycling
Soccer
Volleyball
Hiking
dances of all kinds
Boxing
Rafting
Rowing
skiing
Water skiing
windsurfing
Surf

The possibilities are literally endless and half the joy comes from mastering a new skill which, in turn, boosts your new found confidence. Ideally, he would break his exercise routine into four or five sessions with one or two dedicated to his new hobby or sport per week. Create a fitness plan for 4 weeks of exercise in a journal. That’s about how long it takes our bodies to really absorb and start to feel the benefits of new healthy habits.

Create a comments section to record your observations about how your exercise session went. This is where you can really work on increasing your motivation by praising yourself when necessary and paying close attention to how YOU felt about your session.

It was fun? Easier than last time? A little more than you expected? Write it all down and you will begin to see how you progress in the coming weeks. You can also create a space to suggest modifications for yourself or just write down which particular exercises really worked for you.

Remember, it’s all about taking responsibility for your own body and the more you do it, the stronger your motivation to do what’s right for you.