Making Progress

woman in purple running suit wearing headband stretching
Okay, you’ve made it this far. Do you remember your very first step your journey to a healthier you? I am sure you’ve been able to recognize little changes in yourself and realize you’ve changed your everyday habits. Good for you! Now, hopefully we can help you keep momentum going.

You don’t need a doctor to tell you that exercise is essential for a healthy life. But if starting a new exercise routine, your health care provider may need to advise you if it’s safe to start.

It takes 12 weeks to create a new habit. If consistency hasn’t been easy for you, try using a fitness tracking app. Aetna Virgin Pulse is a free tool for any of The Arc WC’s employees to use whether or not you are enrolled in our healthcare plan. You can track your activity level year-round and not just in our quarterly challenges. Healthy Washington County is also a free tool for Washington County residences to track their health. Not techy? Grab a calendar or notebook and a pen and start writing it down for yourself.

Often, our excitement fades away when our exercise routines seem like work. Do a self-evaluation. Is your exercise person-centered for you? TOPS remind members to consider their own personality when choosing how to exercise. Some types of questions to ask yourself are:

  1. Do you like group activities or do you prefer to work independently? Someone who is social and relies on interaction with others may find walking on their treadmill at home boring. That person may do better in a group activity such as our FitPro Fitness Bootcamp where you interact with a trainer and others in the class.
  2. Do you like to spend more times outdoors or indoors? A person who normally choses activities that are outdoors in their spare time would probably benefit from selecting an activity that would also need to be outside so strike bowling at the local arcade off their list and replace it with lawn bowling at Pangborn Park.
  3. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Getting a nocturnal being to actually get up at 5:30 a.m. to go swimming before work would probably never work. Is the pool open later?
  4. What are some of your favorite hobbies? If you love to dance, a square dance class at Hagerstown’s Fit Room would probably not feel like exercise. Maybe you like video games, so why not try an exercise app like Couch to 5k?