We all know the game of rewarding ourselves with a treat for doing our exercising. Maybe you say: For an hour of fast waking I get to have a half scoop of ice cream. Or I can have one of those donuts at the office that Betty brings in every Friday if I workout on my Cross-Trainer three times this week. I even have a friend who pays herself, sets aside two bucks for every hour she spends on her fitness program, then buys herself a treat at the end of the month. It makes sense to reward yourself if that helps you get it done, but maybe not sense to reward yourself with food. And in the case of my friend, well she would end up spending that money on herself anyway.

So here’s a flip on the idea: if rewarding yourself makes you want to do your exercise more often because it gives you that bit of motivation, how about upping the ante, making it worth something so special that you really want to make sure you do it. How about making yourself feel better, and someone else feel a whole lot better. What if my friend, instead of paying herself, were to give that money to a really great non-profit organization? What if, every time I do my hour workout I put a buck or two into a jar and then at the end of the month, or two months, donate it to some very worthy cause.

I’m going to suggest two, so you get my point.

The International Campaign to Ban Land Mines is a wonderful organization. To quote their webpage: By giving to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) you can be part of the Nobel Peace Prizewinning global movement to bring a full stop to the devastating damage landmines continue to cause all over the world. Antipersonnel landmines claim victims in every corner of the globe each day. Lying in wait for their victims, they do not discriminate between the footfall of a soldier or that of a child, and remain a threat long after conflict ends.

Now, my words again. The International Campaign to Ban Land Mines help to build prosthetics for people who have lost limbs, such as children who can’t walk because they’re missing a foot. Wouldn’t it make you feel good to be helping a child who lost a foot to a landmine? Don’t for a minute think that this doesn’t happen anymore. Go to their webpage. It’s frightening, yes, but important.

Another great organization is Heifer International. They donate farm animals to people in third world countries, and teach them how to raise the animals. Heifer International was voted #12 in Global Journal’s Top 100 NGOs. An NGO stands for Global Nongovernmental Organizations.

I know this is kind of a heavy post for an exercise blog, but I was just blogging last week about how we need to keep our promises to ourselves. Think how much more weight that promise would have if you take a pledge to put a buck or two into a jar each time you exercise, and then donate it to some worthy cause, whatever your cause may be. As you pedal that bike, walk that treadmill, push yourself to a sweat on the Cross-trainer, you can be thinking about what a good thing you are doing for yourself and someone who could so use your help.

Thanks for letting me go on here. I’m passionate about it, and it shows, I guess. Passion can get you to do almost anything. I’m off to do my half hour on the upright bike, then lift light weights.

What I’m really looking for is a fitness machine that does more than one thing, but doesn’t strain anything in my back. As I’ve mentioned in past blogs, I like the elliptical and the stationary bike and the recumbent elliptical, but I’m still trying them out—and I think I may have found the perfect machine, the recumbent cross trainer.

I like the seats on the recumbent. I don’t get sore or slide off, and there’s less stress to my back, and yet I do need to hold in my stomach muscles—my core—to use them. And the recumbent cross trainer has handles that I can pull and push, so I can strengthen my arms at the same time as I work my legs. It’s easy to adjust the seat so it fits my small frame, and to adjust the workout I get. And it is a workout, even though as I watched someone else use it, it looks awfully easy. My legs disagreed with that assessment after my first five minutes, but still I could keep up with the pace after ten minutes. I was able to keep going on the recumbent cross trainer for a full thirty minutes without feeling as if my butt had gone numb.

It’s amazingly quiet, too, quieter than a stationary bike, though those don’t make a lot of noise. I think it’s the quietest machine I’ve used so far. The test will be trying it when my back is bad, which is unfortunately, this week. I just turned around to get something from the back seat of my car and ding, there it went. You may know exactly what I mean. Or you may have a strong core already. But I aim to strengthen my core so this never happens again, which means I have to work out even when I’m aching. So I’m off to test the recumbent cross trainer again. I’ll let you know.

Heartless individuals will never see the light of day. Men and Women that can use mental strength in order to make sure they remain physically active, are those that will persevere and remain in good health. It is necessary to remain confident and aggressive in your approach towards physical fitness. Even if you are the most overweight you have ever been, you can still get back to the shape that you desire. Come back and win! Your body deserves the best you have to offer, so don’t let yourself down! If you are overweight, one way to get a physical fitness campaign started would be to buy some home fitness equipment.

With the expandiny variety of national health club facilities, all of which have the best treadmills, ellipticals and other gym equipment, it has become easier than ever to exercise. It’s hard to come up with excuses to not exercise. Even if you are extremely busy, do you really not have the time to run on a treadmill at home, get some strides in on the elliptical?