I want to examine our attitudes towards exercise. In astrology, there is no House of Exercise, but we normally associate the planet of Mars with action and exercise.
So let’s look at Mars in your natal chart, the first house (Ascendant), and the house of your chart where Aries is.
I have a friend who loves to run, weight lifting, and exercises. He’s done marathons, biathlons, and triathlons. He’s an outdoors-man who camps and hikes and fishes. He rides a motorcycle and enjoys chopping wood. My friend has Aries on his Ascendant (the cusp of his first house). This is the natural home of Aries and makes Aries quite strong in his chart, as is shown by his interest in so many physical pursuits. Ilia also has Mars in Sagittarius in the 9th house, highly elevated and trine his Aries Ascendant. Mars is also quite strong in his chart. He has chosen a life full of physical activity, and it suits him. He is a man of radiant health and physicality.
As a Pisces, he might have been encouraged to swim and to do yoga and other meditative forms of exercise. He does enjoy swimming and fishing, but his exercise style is much better described by looking at the Aries, Mars, and 1st house of his chart.
Is my friend a model for the rest of us? Not unless our charts have a lot of similarity to his. Mine doesn’t. I have always dislike exercise and have avoided it whenever possible. With Cancer on the Ascendant, I am inclined to retain fluid and to have trouble sticking with exercise beyond one cycle of the Moon. I love food, cooking and making parties. My Sun is in Gemini, I like to work with my hands and my brain, so playing racquetball or badminton is real fun, with partner again.
Fortunately, I have Jupiter in the first house, he rules my house of health, work, daily routine and exercise. I love being in the nature, having fresh air and travel. I love walking and used to run out side, not in the gym ( the noise bothers me so mush and the closed room, doesn’t mater how specious it is). I love nature and the best way to lose weight, exercise and stay healthy is to work outside or do any activity outside.
Aries is in my 11th house, house of friends and I love to play and exercise with friends. I can’t look to my Ascendant or to Aries in my chart for a lot of help when it comes to exercise. It is suggests that if I could find friend who likes the same activity, as I do, which incorporated a certain amount of physical activity, that this would be benefits to my health and daily routine.
For me, my best hope for success in exercise is my 7th house Mars in Capricorn. Mars placed in Capricorn, the business oriented sign makes me more disciplined and workaholic than one who likes exercising. When I was young, for more than 25 years, I used to go to the mountain every weekend, climbing the forest as a goat. Mars in Capricorn is in my seventh house of partnership and I really enjoy doing exercise and other activity with a partner in order to burn my energy. Going to mountain, working together in the house, playing, dancing, walking together with a partner, you named, all a real joy for me.
Where is the action in your chart? What inspires you to exercise? What types of exercise are most compatible for you? How can you motivate yourself to exercise more?
Remember, you’ll need your birth chart– it is going to lead you and find how to exercise and stay healthy.
Also, look at the ephemeris to find out when Mars, the red planet of exercise, high activity and sexual energy enters your first house and conjunct your ascendant. This happen once in two years and this is the best time to join the gym, start new health regimen or diet, even new project or new relationship.