CONTRIBUTED BY JANAE BURGER
Gone are the ornaments, the tree, the decorations, the lights, the holiday gatherings and the constant flow of delicious foods. Too bad everything about the holidays isn’t gone, namely that holiday weight.
With losing weight and increasing exercise being two of the top 10 most common New Years Resolutions, many of you are thinking about this right now.
Did you know that those people who work out alone are only half as likely to succeed as those who have a work out buddy or someone to encourage them and to be accountable to? Half! But that’s okay. Because many of us have also resolved to spend more time with family and friends or make new acquaintances and friends. How great is it that by combining two of your resolutions you are practically guaranteed better success with both! Really, when you live on our beautiful island, you don’t have an excuse. Even in the worst of weather you can still exercise. There are many different kinds of free ways to exercise and some great resources if you want to seek professional assistance.
Whether you are looking for a workout buddy, simply wanting to be more active and fit, or wanting to be more social, may we suggest:
- Start regularly attending specific classes at Risner gym, Foster Fieldhouse, Kinser Gym, or the gym nearest you.
- Try out for the Dolphins Swim Team.
- Find an online support group. Many are free. Some offer extensive services. Sparkpeople.com is a free and interactive website which allows you to input exercise time to calculate your calories burned, foods for calories consumed. If you go to groups there is one specifically for Okinawa where you can discuss foods, exercise or diet questions or find out what others are doing around the island to stay fit. There are plenty of other online information and support groups for those of us who live on Okinawa such as OkinawaHai Fitness Fanatics.
- How about a bowling league?
- Join a 12-week Reebok Boot Camp program. We’ll be doing a post specifically on this later on. Simply put, you go every day to work out with the group, you receive dietary help, and you workout with the same group of people so you have that support built in. Plus, all the growling, hard work you do together often leads to great friendships. There are several programs out there, the one linked above is just one of them.
- Begin Karate classes. As Okinawa is considered by many to be the home of karate, living here provides a great opportunity to learn a new sport while working out.
I know that I just named a few of the things which are available and there are tons of other resources and activities to help us all. So I’m calling on all of you, for your fellow readers benefit please let us know of other ways that you know of to stay active around our island.
Remember, you are more likely to succeed if you have someone you are working out with. You’d be surprised at just how many people would like a workout buddy, so go mingle!