"In the early history of mankind regular exercise was simply how you needed to live your life to ensure your wellbeing and survival (e.g. avoid being eaten by a large wild animal!). For different reasons it is still essential but many people are uncertain about its importance and view it as optional. The real DEAL Fitness Conditioning System is part of a unique holistic approach to feeling and looking fantastic that can help you to blast away this uncertainty".

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the adult population of all European countries and the USA. Worse still, the problem of obesity in children is increasing even more rapidly. Obesity levels are already beginning to cause a health crisis and in the next 10 years, if no action is taken, the situation will get much worse and totally overwhelm existing health care systems ....

The only viable and sustainable solution is to address the main causes and provide alternative solutions to simply building more hospitals. The main clause is clear. Too many people choose to not exercise enough and choose to drink too many unhealthy drinks and too much unhealthy food. I covered healthy drinking and eating in an earlier part of this course but what does enough exercise mean?

First of all, let's destroy some myths! Healthy exercise does not mean you must:

• Join a gym and spend all your spare time there
• Buy expensive fitness clothing and equipment
• Be young and fit to start regular exercise
• Exercise so intensively that you cannot walk for a week afterwards
• Enjoy it! (OK, its better if you enjoy exercise but do you enjoy brushing your teeth?)

In the early history of mankind there were no gyms, no self proclaimed fitness "experts", no latest elliptical cardio machines and probably no word for exercise. People were simply active. They hunted for or grew their own food. They built their own shelters and young or old, when a large wild animal was checking them out as potential snack, they probably ran. Choosing to sit and wait for the animal to eat them was not a preferred solution even if they didn't like running ....

Our bodies have evolved over vast lengths of time to only function correctly when we lead active lifestyles. Evidence of this can be seen in anyone who is bed-ridden for even a few weeks. Another example is of an elderly person that gives up their daily walks. Within a relatively short period of time they will lose their ability to get around so well because they choose to confine themselves to a chair and their body deteriorates. Simply being active slows down ageing!

There are two types of regular activity needed. The first is carefully programmed exercise routines to ensure that your musculo-skeletal system is balanced (e.g. for posture and health) and the second is integrating a variety of fun activities into an active lifestyle.

You need to reserve two or three time slots every week for programmed exercise routines of 30 to 60 minutes duration and make them a high priority habit. This means that other activities should be arranged around them or in the worst case you reschedule one of the time slots so that you can still maintain your weekly commitment. There is a vast range of choices including, joining a gym, Yoga classes, Tai Chi or Aerobics classes, working with a personal trainer or exercising by yourself using a fitness methodology. You can read about my exercise routine methodology and obtain a free report on this website.

The best choice of programmed exercise routines depends on your personal situation and preferences and the particular advantages of each choice. For example, if you are just starting out there is no substitute for working one to one with a personal trainer but in the longer term you may prefer the social atmosphere of working out in an aerobic class. If your goal is to work on your body and soul you may prefer Yoga or Tai Chi. For the ultimate flexibility you may decide to teach yourself by using a fitness methodology and design your own exercise routines (like the one used in our DEAL Fitness Conditioning System).

Perhaps the best approach is to try out as many choices as possible until you find one that suits you best. This will also enable you to pick and mix activities at will as your personal situation and preferences change.

Whatever exercise routines you choose they should provide well balanced work outs that are very difficult or impossible to achieve by simply having an active lifestyle. Another benefit is that you can monitor your own performance and performance improvements compared to others or written standards. Measuring performance enables you to become fitter faster and increases your motivation for consistent results.

The number 1 challenge that my clients face in their journey to transform their lives is a lack of motivation to exercise; if there was simply an exercise pill to swallow they would be much happier to take it! However, this will never happen and there is no alternative! Therefore, exercise routines need to be as effective as possible (minimising time and maximising results) but at the same time appropriate for the ability level of the person training. Anyone can design intense exercise routines but the objective is to do this without encouraging a person to give up!

Two of the main differences between the DEAL Fitness Conditioning System and other Fitness Systems are that it takes a holistic approach and it is aimed at people that simply want to feel and look fantastic, without the (unadvertised) effort it really takes to look like a bodybuilder with 6 pack abs. A holistic approach makes exercising easier. For example, there are effective equipment suggestions, credible exercise guidelines, it addresses lifestyle changes, helps to boost your vitality and energy and makes you want to exercise! ....

Integrating fun activities into an active lifestyle is easy if you give them a high priority. Some of my tips include:

• In all your daily chores try to be more physically active e.g. walk to the shops or park the car a little further away, take the stairs instead of the lift, vigorously clean the house instead of watching the TV and play with your kids! The benefits of these small changes will add up.
• Every day reserve 30 minutes for doing activities that raise your heartbeat and you enjoy. This can be anything from a brisk walk in the park with your dog, doing the weekly shopping without a car, clearing the flower garden of weeds, to a hot romp in bed with the girlfriend or boyfriend!
• On the weekends try to do more active activities. For example, you may like music and start dance classes or perhaps you would like to spend more time in the countryside and could take up jogging or cycling. Why not combine your weekly pub lunch with a brisk countryside walk?
• Like eating and drinking healthily the important point is that you replace unhealthy activities with healthy ones that (preferably) you enjoy. It might also mean doing activities that you don't initially enjoy but over time they grow on you as they become part of your routine! (just like brushing your teeth felt when you were a child).

In all cases it is your responsibility to prioritise your time appropriately and communicate your priorities to everyone affected (e.g. the family). Ideally, you will be able to convince your family to make changes too but you must be able to walk before you run!