Top Ten Ways to
Inspire People to Get Fit

The excitement and maybe the resolutions of the New Year are beginning to fade. How are you doing with your fitness plans?

Are you struggling to come up with new ways to inspire yourself or friends and family members to become more active? You know that you need to exercise -- you just need to get started.

Here are the Top 10 ways you can inspire people to get fit from the American Council on Exercise (ACE)

1. Be a role model. Do others see you enjoying the benefits of being active? Set an example by inviting friends to walk with you or take an exercise class after work.
2. Make fitness fun. Some people prefer to play games rather than exercise. Make the idea of exercising a game in itself and offer rewards for participation or meeting certain goals.
3. Be both active and productive. Show friends and family that it's possible to be both active and productive by doing activities that accomplish a task while also using some energy, such as walking the dog to the store to buy a newspaper, mowing the lawn, biking to work or walking to school.
4. Make workouts short and sweet. Who says exercise has to take up a lot of time? Knock out this excuse by showing others how easy it is to exercise in short blocks of time spread throughout the day.
5. Extol the benefits. Research shows that people who exercise live longer, healthier lives than those who don't. In fact, exercise is the closest thing you'll find to the fountain of youth.
6. Train for a charity event together. Get fit and raise money for a good cause. For some, it's easier to be motivated to exercise if it's done for a larger cause.
7. Set short-term goals. Encourage friends to reward themselves by setting-and achieving-short-term fitness goals.
8. Offer to be a workout partner. If someone knows you're counting on them, they're more likely to show up for workouts.
9. Use inspirational music. Nothing perks up a workout faster than upbeat music. Research shows that listening to one's favorite music while exercising makes it easier to exercise longer and more intensely while making workouts more enjoyable.
10. Don't preach, lecture or nag. The worst thing you can do is shame someone into exercising. Instead, create opportunities to exercise and make it as fun and enjoyable as possible.

NOTE: You should always check with your own healthcare professionals in all matters concerning health, exercise and diet.

The American Council on Exercise (ACE), America's Authority on Fitness, is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the benefits of physical activity and protecting consumers against unsafe and ineffective fitness products and instruction.

As the nation's "workout watchdog," ACE sponsors university-based exercise science research and testing that targets fitness products and trends. ACE sets standards for fitness professionals and is the world's largest nonprofit fitness certifying organization.

For more information on ACE and its programs, call (800) 825-3636 or log onto the ACE Web site

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