Each one of us should find our own activity path. Our exercises need to be tailored to ourselves. Because everyone has a different activity level, and this level can be shown in childhood and would continue to adulthood. If one is an inactive person who does not find exercising interesting, he or she will not consider the time spent on exercising well spent. When one is exercising purely for the sake of improving health, the result might not be as expected.
And it is mentioned that a person’s activity level will not be constant throughout the lifespan. Some people were active kids, but they become more fond of quiet activities like playing chess when they grow up. I was a very active kid when in elementary school, but I become less and less active after I was in middle school. I feel this fluctuation in active level is largely related to the environment. In middle school our workload was heavy and the athletic field in the school was constantly used by people in the school teams so I have less time and opportunity to do sports.
Besides activity level, we should be careful in believing other generalizations as well. It is important to not follow health instructions blindly. The same medicine can have very different result on different people.
It is a beneficial advice at the end of the chapter that taking a look at your own past history when you are more active is going to help you to stick with activities that fit well with your personality and lifestyle. Never force yourself to do exercises. It is better to find out who you are, what you like first, and develop a pattern, finally, follow that pattern.
Can’t agree more that it is better to find out who you are, what you like first, and develop a pattern so that we can benefit from the lifestyle in the long run. And a good strategy that could help us is to reflect back to find what are the factors (type of exercise, time, environment, people, etc) make you enjoy exercising. Good luck on stay active, stay healthy and stay happy!
It is interesting that you point out that ones activity level can change based on the environment. I definitely feel this is true, as I tend to be more active when I have more time to make the decision to be active, such as during winter break. When we are caught up in daily life, it is difficult to find the motivation to exercise, especially when we are busy with so many other things. For me, when I have a heavy work load during the semester, exercise is not a priority for me (although it should be). Contrastingly, my sophomore year I remember having a lax schedule, and since I had gaps in my schedule, I was able to find the time to go to the gym and not feel guilty about wasting study and homework time. I love that the book emphasizes the importance of finding a physical activity that you love, because most of the advice we hear is that everyone should exercise for half an hour everyday because that is what is expected.