So, you have finally done it. You have decided that you are sick and tired of being overweight or simply out of shape. When was the last time you went running or took a walk for a few miles and did this on a regular basis?

If it has been a while, or possibly never, there may be some issues that you will want to address before you lace up your sneakers. The better you prepare yourself for your upcoming exercise routine, the less likely it is that your efforts will be sabotaged.

Tackle Your Medical Problems

If you have an addiction to drugs, either illegal or the prescription kind, alcohol, or cigarettes, you will want to make sure that you are taking the time to address those concerns. For severe problems, you will want to consider finding a quality residential drug treatment facility that can help you.

You can talk with your primary care doctor about medications, gums, or patches that can help you stop smoking. This is vital because such addictions can have a serious impact on how well you are able to physically and mentally carry out your fitness goals.

Another major-medical problem that you will need to focus on is that of allergies. If you have outdoor or seasonal allergies, you will want to make sure that you are getting yourself the best possible medication for them. This way, you will be able to take those runs and walks outside without the allergies getting in the way.

Even if you have indoor allergies, you will need to have those properly controlled as well because if they aren’t, you could find yourself with many days where you are unable to exercise because of your allergies and that is simply not going to work for you.

Get Stretched

Sure, stretching is a great thing to do right before you head out for a walk or run. However, you might not want to only stretch then. In order to reduce your chances of a serious and painful injury, you will want to try to stretch a little bit every single day – even if you are not heading out for a walk around the neighborhood or to run a few laps around the track.

This will help get you nice and flexible, which will not only prevent injury when you are exercising, but when you are doing everyday things like playing with the kids, bringing groceries into the house, and cleaning up the garage. Should you decide to not worry about stretching, you may find yourself in bed with horrible injuries that prevent you from doing just about anything – especially getting in shape.

Lessen Your Anxiety

If you deal with clinical anxiety, that is something that you are going to want to get under control as soon as possible. Otherwise, you may find that the anxiety can get so bad some days that it will ruin your chance for that to be the day for exercise.

Will you still experience a little anxiety, even if you are receiving treatment? Sure, because a little bit of anxiety is a natural thing for people to experience. You will find that regular exercise can put that little bit of leftover anxiety to rest on a lot of days.

Now that you have a better idea of the things that you need to do in order to get yourself into an exercise routine that you can stick with, it is time to take action. The sooner you address any underlying issues that you may be struggling with, the sooner you will be able to get up, get out, and get in shape!