This is a part of the Hot Topic podcast series from the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center on Exercise and Fitness After Spinal Cord Injury. Michael Boninger M.D, researcher, discusses Any Exercise Is Better Than No Exercise.

The literature right now says that any exercise is better than no exercise. So if you’re a person who doesn’t like sports or doesn’t particularly like exercise, the way to start is maybe just wheeling around the block. Maybe it’s just getting on an exercise cycle for a period of time. People listen to podcasts, and they get engrossed in the podcast, and they, you know, and that makes the time go by, so I’m a big fan of that.

I personally have my laptop hooked up to my exercise machine (don’t tell anybody that); and if I’m not reading an article or writing while I’m exercising, I find it hard to have the time go by. The other thing that really helps is going around the block with somebody else, so make that a social time, make exercise part of what you do socially. It does not have to be that you’re exercising so hard that you can’t breathe.

Hit the level that will enable you to exercise. If you make exercise miserable, you’re less likely to keep exercising; so find something you enjoy. Figure out a way to enjoy exercise as much as you can. I find it hard to figure out a way to enjoy weight lifting, but you gotta do that, too, and so make it part of a routine.

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