In the study, scientists found that squats are an overall great exercise for act ivating the gluteus

maximus and the gluteus medius. While they weren't the numbe r one exercise for muscle activation, they still remain my personal favorite for overall lower body work. Squats are a great exercise for the glutes, hips and thighs and adding a ball to the move can add great support for the back while allowing you to get into perf ect squat position to protect the knees. How to do it: Stand with about hip or shoulder-width apart and place an exercise ball behind y our lower back and against a sturdy wall for support. If you choose to hold weights, you can keep them at your sides, hold them just o ver the shoulders or prop them on the upper thighs. Bend the knees and lower into a squat, keeping the knees in line with the toes. Lower down as far as you can (but no lower than 90 degrees) and push into the he els to go back to starting position. Do 1 to 3 sets of 10 to 16 reps. Tips: Keep your knees in line with your toes. Press through the heel of your foot as you push up from the squat. Avoid letting the knee bend over the toe.

I have to admit that I have my ups and downs with the exercise habit. So I know that it s not the easiest habit for most people, and most people s experie nces consist of starting and stopping and starting again. Which is fine don t beat yourself up about it. The important thing is starting again. I ve written before about how to build the exercise habit (and evenhave a guest po st on it), but today I thought I d revisit the topic for those who still have trou ble. The Main Problems So why do most people have trouble making exercise a regular habit? Well, there are probably a number of factors, but here are the main ones as I see it: Too difficult. People set out with a lot of ambition and enthusiasm, and start o ut with a big goal. I m going to go to the gym for an hour a day! or I m going to run 3 0 minutes every day! The problem is that the goal is too difficult to sustain for very long. You can do it for a few days, but you soon run out of energy, and it becomes a drag to do it. Too many goals. Often we set out to do too much. We want to run, and lift weight s, and eat healthy, and quit sweets, and stop drinking soda. Well, those are mul tiple goals, and you cannot focus on the exercise habit if you re trying to do all the others at the same time. Or we might start with one goal, but then get caug ht up in another goal (to stop procrastinating, for example), and lose our focus on the first one. Not enough motivation. It s not a lack of discipline, it s a lack of motivation. The most powerful motivators, in my experience, are logging your habit and public p ressure. There are many others that help as well. The 4 Simple Steps So how do we solve those problems? Keep it simple. Here are the 4 simple steps t o start the exercise habit (and keep it going). I should note that you can use t hese 4 steps to start any habit. Set one easy, specific, measurable goal. There are several keys to setting this crucial goal: Written: Write this down. Post it up. If you don t write it down, it s not important . Easy: Don t DO NOT set a difficult goal. Set one that is super, super easy. Five m inutes of exercise a day. You can do that. Work your way to 10 minutes after a m onth. Then go to 15 after 2 months. You can see what I mean: make it easy to sta rt with, so you can build your habit, then gradually increase. Specific: By specific, I mean what activity are you going to do, at what time of day, and where? Don t just say exercise or I m going to walk . You have to set a time a

d place. Make it an appointment you can t miss. Trigger: I recommend that you have a trigger right before you do your habit. For e xample, you might always brush your teeth right after you shower. The shower is the trigger for brushing your teeth, and because of that, you never forget to br ush your teeth. Well, what will you do right before you exercise? Is it right af ter you wake up? Right after your coffee? Right when you get home? As soon as yo u take off for lunch? A trigger that you do every single day is important. Measurable: By measurable, I mean that you should be able to say, definitely, wh ether you hit or miss your goal today. Examples: run for 10 minutes. Walk 1/2 a mile. Do 3 sets of 5 pushups. Each of those has a number that you can shoot for. One goal: Stick to this one goal for at least a month. Two months if you can bea r it. Don t start up a second goal during that 30-day period. If you do, you are s crapping this goal. Log it daily. This is the key habit. If you can log your workout, you will start to see your progress, and it will motivate you to keep going. And you have to m ake it a habit to log it right away. Don t put it off, and say you ll do it before y ou go to bed. As soon as you re done working out, log it. No exceptions. And don t m ake the log complicated that will only make you resist doing the log. Just the d ate, time, and what you did. Report to others. I think this is key. You can do it on your blog, on an online forum, with your spouse, or friends or family, or a workout partner, or a coach, or a group, or a class. However you set it up, make it part of the process that you have to report your daily workout to other people. It could be using an onl ine log, or on a forum, or through email, or the phone, or just by telling your co-workers what you did this morning. But be sure that they know your goal, and that you are going to report to them, and be sure that they are expecting it eve ry day. Add motivation as needed. The first three steps might be enough for you to get t he habit going. But if not, don t just give up. If you miss two consecutive workou ts, you need to look at why, and add a new motivation. Rewards, more public pres sure, inspiration, whatever it takes. Readthis article for more on this. You can add one additional motivator, and then see if it works. If you miss two more co nsecutive workouts at any time, add another motivator. And so on, until the exer cise habit sticks.