If your physical body is the "vehicle" that your mind and spirit "drive" throughout life, then exercise is taking that vehicle out on the open road.  It's what you must do to keep your body in good mechanical working order and prevent it from "rusting out" or "freezing up" due to lack of use. 

Like a finely engineered machine, your body is designed to be used or "worked" on a consistent basis and if it is, it repays your efforts by getting stronger, faster, more flexible, and more resistant to disease and the effects of aging.  Isn't that amazing?  Instead of wearing out with use like all manmade machines eventually do, your body actually gets better, stronger, and more efficient.  It's a true miracle - but this miracle only works if you do.

There is no way around this.  There is no magic pill or surgery that will do it for you.  You must exercise in order to improve your physical health and improving your physical health is the first step towards overall balanced health and fitness.  What good are money and close relationships if you don't have the physical health to enjoy them?  You must exercise, you must exercise, you must exercise.  Get the message?  Good.

So how do you begin designing a fitness program for yourself, especially if the last time you did any kind of physical exercise was in High School gym class?  This section will show you how.

First and foremost, never, never, never start any kind of fitness program before getting a physical checkup and medical OK from your doctor - especially if it's been years since you last exercised.  Your doctor should also give you some direction on how much exercise you should start out with.  Many people actually injure themselves by trying to do too much, too fast.  Don't be one of them.  If your doctor says start out slow, then start out slow. 

Second, take some benchmark measurements so you can track your progress.  Some of the things you'll want to track on a regular basis include:

• Your Weight.  The best time to do this is in the morning, right after you've gotten up and gone to the bathroom.  If you can't measure it in the morning, then anytime is OK as long as you measure it at the same time, every time.

• Resting Heart Rate.  With your middle finger, find your pulse in either your neck or your wrist and count the number of beats in a 15 second interval.  Then multiply by 4 to get beats per minute.  It's best to check this after you've been sitting or laying down for 10-15 minutes.

• Circumference.  Use a tailor's measuring tape to measure yourself in 3 places:  the fullest part of your chest (men) or breasts (women), the fullest part of your waist or belly, the fullest part of your hips.

• Blood Pressure.  There are free blood pressure monitors at many pharmacies and drug stores.  You can also use a home monitor following the directions on the unit or you can have your doctor measure it for you.  Try to take this measurement at the same time of day every time.

• Strength.  Estimate the strength in your arms by seeing what the heaviest weight that you can lift is, or the maximum number of reps you can make at a set weight, etc. 

• Endurance.  This is another estimation and should be based on some type of activity. Examples are how long you can walk, run, or jog at a certain pace, how many stairs you can climb, etc.

• BMI.  Your Body Mass Index (BMI) is a calculation that takes into account your height as well as your weight.  The result is a number that will fall into one of 4 categories: underweight, normal, overweight, and obese.  Calculate your BMI using one of the many BMI calculators available on the Internet.  I recommend one from a reliable source like the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

I highly recommend writing your measurements along with the date into a Health Journal or diary in order to document your progress.  Yes, I know that your measurements probably paint a pretty depressing picture of your physical health but that's OK for now.  Take heart by understanding that these measurements represent the person you used to be, they're the "Before" picture of your physical health.