Here's my take:<p>Remove any mindset that exercise is something you <i>do</i> 30 minutes three times a week....that's bulldust. You live in your body 24/7. Any moment is a moment to exercise. Sitting at the pc? pay attention to your body - are your shoulders relaxed? are your forearms relaxed? are you breathing easily? Standing at the bus stop or in a bar by yourself with nothing to do? about to pull out your iphone to check HN? NO - check your posture - feel where your hips are, feel where your head is, drop your shoulders, lift your head gently.....any moment, any time, anywhere you can do some work on your body. How small can you make a movement....can you rotate your hips in such small circles that nobody else notices? Play, explore.<p>Learn some basic anatomy - the body is to a certain extent, just a set of levers and pulleys - muscles, tendons, bones....those three interact to create movement. Learn the various joints in the body and how they should move. Knowing this alone, you can probably check any exercise you do to make sure you aren't damaging yourself :)<p>Posture
Good posture will not only make you "look" better, but make you feel better - hunching over a desk blahblahblah you know the rest....the best 2 exercises that I've picked up (especially good for people who spend a lot of time sitting)
1) stand with your back against the wall, heels and head touching the wall as well. Gently try to flatten your spine and raise your head. Do this a few times a day for about a minute.
2) find a corner or door frame - position yourself so your spine is on the corner - your shoulders and scapula should be in fresh air. Pull the scapula towards the spine as if you are trying to pinch the corner or doorframe between the two long muscles on either side of your spine (the erector spinae).<p>Movement
Basically movement is fun - if you approach it as fun rather than something you have to do, you'll enjoy exercising....I like to explore how we can move...breaking it down to up, down, left, right, forwards, backwards....then combining them...so do up and backwards together or left and forwards.<p>Figure out how your joints move. Rotate them, one at a time and all at once. Move slowly and keep awareness on what you are using to move...are you using the minimal amount of effort? are you relaxing muscles that you don't really need to engage to do the movement? play with that it is infinitely entertaining.<p>Now you want to pick up something heavy and swing it around? Sure why not. Keep the same in mind - minimal amount of effort to accomplish the movement, keep it fun. Do something functional, dig a hole, shovel snow, pitch some hay. Or try <a href="http://www.shovelglove.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.shovelglove.com/</a>
:)