Staying thin and in shape is critical for most people -- which is why developing an exercise regimen is so important. However, you might be surprised to discover that not just any kind of exercise will do - in fact, scientific studies consistently show that there are two basic kinds of exercise that are highly efficient and successful.

Due to the fact that so many people struggle to deal with exercise motivation, choosing the most efficient kinds of exercise is imperative, because the less time you spend exercising - and the less time you throw away on low efficiency exercise - the more likely it is that you will be persistent with exercising and therefore reach your personal weight and strength target.

Our initial kind of exercise that has been consistently demonstrated to aid people to lose some weight and get trim is progressive resistance. In brief, progressive resistance is a particular kind of strength training. It works by progressively ramping up the pounds lifted, the number of sets, and number of reps performed. As a result, muscles cannot be put under strain or subjected to damage - instead, they undergo slow and steady strengthening without any setbacks or interruptions.

The second kind of exercise that was studied thoroughly is cardiovascular training. Cardiovascular training is any kind of exercise that gets the heart rate up to 60 - 85 percent of its maximum. Examples of cardio training could consist of jogging, jump rope, aerobics, or running on a treadmill, as well as other types, but you may choose any type you like.

Although progressive resistance and cardio training by themselves have been determined to be very efficient types of exercise, scientists now know that performing both of these types of exercise is the best bet for being successful. If you combine both progressive resistance and cardio training, you will improve the strength of your muscles and develop overall endurance. According to a recent scientific study, exercisers who used both cardio and progressive resistance over a two-month period lost 45 percent more weight than those doing cardio training or progressive resistance alone.

As critical as the kind of exercise you perform is, the manner in which you exercise is also critical. It likely will come as no surprise that consistency is what you should seek. Exercising inconsistently may strain your muscles and will probably not assist you to build strength and endurance. At the same time, it will not improve your overall health. According to most researchers, the best regimen is to exercise for 40 minutes to an hour three, four, or five times every week.

Unfortunately, it turns out that for a significantly sized percentage of people, getting enough exercise is not as simple as showing up at the gym 3-5 times every week or listening to what scientists say. For these people, exercise motivation is the major problem - this group of people simply doesn't want to go to the gym. Actually, they might resist any and all exercise, to the point of problematic anxiety.

It is not known what percentage of the populace has to deal with problems with exercise motivation, but researchers say that approximately twenty to forty percent of people say that they "hate" or "dread" exercise. An even larger group of people might have more minor problems with exercise motivation, claiming that even though it is relatively easy to commit themselves to an exercise regimen for one or two weeks, motivation eventually lessens, leaving them where they started - out of shape and overweight.

If you're one of these people who struggles with exercise motivation, the good news is that there are some simple strategies to overcome the struggle. In a recent study, volunteers who desired to start an exercise program received a brief educational program that aided them to select the right kinds of exercise, were matched with a motivational therapist, and were given a brief series of sessions with a hypnotist. After 6 months, they were asked to evaluate their progress. It turned out that over 85 percent of the subjects had adhered to an exercise program during the entire 6 months. Better yet, they generally lost an average of fifteen more pounds than people who were not given hypnotherapy.

If you have an interest in the findings of this study, it might make sense to investigate the possibility of locating a motivational therapist, habit control therapist, or therapist who deals with hypnotherapy. These types of therapists are given special training in aiding people to overcome anxieties, increase exercise motivation, and reinforce good habit development. One more option for exercise motivation is self-hypnosis - which is a simple and inexpensive practice that can help individuals develop control over their own internal abilities to be motivated.

Hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis are risk-free methods to increase motivation that are proven to offer success in the case of the motivation to exercise. Hypnotherapy works by the use of hypnotic relaxation to elicit the abilities of our minds to influence the modification of behavior and habit formation. Hypnotherapy is a good choice for the adverse to exercise due to the fact that it can help the development of the drive to get trim and lose weight simply and effectively.