WRITTEN By SCOTT YOUNG
If you’ve decided to start exercising more regularly
this year, congratulations. You’ve made a choice that will give you more
energy, add years to your life and get you ready for going to the beach in the
summer. The only problem is how can you ensure that this commitment to exercise
lasts?
For the past two years I’ve been exercising 5-6 days
per week with few exceptions. But this wasn’t always the case. It took me four
tries to start exercising out of nothing, with the first three sliding back
into old habits after a month or two of concentrated effort. Making the switch
between willing myself to work out and having it happen automatically wasn’t
easy, but I’d like to share some of my experiences with you.
Exercise is a Habit
The first step to ensuring a commitment
to exercise lasts is recognizing it as a habit. Exercise just like the foods
you eat, clothes you wear and how you wake up each morning are all programmed
into your subconscious. If you aren’t exercising without effort it is because
going to the gym isn’t habitual.
The best method I’ve encountered to make something
into a habit is the 30-Day Trial method popularized by Steve Pavlina. The basic idea is that you exercise every day, for the next
thirty days. After this month-long conditioning period, exercise should be a
habit.
Enjoying Exercise
Unfortunately, if sticking to
exercise for a month were the only answer to keeping the exercise commitment,
there wouldn’t be any resolutions broken in February. Other factors influence
whether your habits stick and one of the most important is how much you enjoy
exercising.
If you hate going to the gym, you
aren’t going to go without a lot of force. If you are in this situation, you
have two options:
1.
Enjoy your chosen form of
exercise more.
2.
Pick a different form of exercise
you enjoy more.
Oddly enough accomplishing these
two aims isn’t that difficult. Except most people get so caught up in having
enough “willpower” that they neglect to structure their workout in a way that
they actually enjoy it. I enjoy going to the gym, listening to music and trying
to increase the amount I can lift or distance I can run. This enjoyment wasn’t
immediate, but from a slow process of structuring exercise to work for me.
Find the Time
The next major killer of exercise
commitments is a lack of time. I hear this excuse all the time from people who
claim to be to busy to head to the gym. As someone who is running a business
part-time, attending school full-time, running a Toastmasters club and writing
a book, I still manage to squeeze in my 40-60 minutes each day.
The problem usually isn’t time.
Feeling to busy to go to the gym is usually a consequence of either:
1.
Not enjoying exercising enough.
2.
Not having exercise conditioned
strongly as a habit.
The best way to make sure that
busyness doesn’t end your resolution is to ensure time doesn’t become an
excuse. Here are some ways you can make sure time doesn’t become a stumbling
block on the road to fitness:
§ Exercise at home. Fancy exercise equipment isn’t necessary for doing a few
sit-ups, push-ups, crunches and stretches. A short twenty minute workout with
no commute is still better than nothing.
§ Schedule it first. Place exercise as a priority. If you believe exercise is
important not only for your health, but your energy levels for working, then
you will place it before other activities of the day crowd it out.
Watch Out for the Curse of the Scale
Another reason for quitting is a
lack of motivation. If you’ve been at the gym for three weeks and still aren’t
seeing much in the way of improvement, you might feel tempted to ditch exercise
entirely. Although exercise doesn’t suffer as much from the plateau effect that
dieting can create, your body will often stall at specific weight points, even
if you are becoming healthier.
Woody Allen once said that, “Half
of life is just showing up.” Focusing on your health and showing up to exercise
is more important than whether the weight is immediately melting away. Habits
first, results later.
Once you build a habit, try measuring your fitness as this is more likely to improve steadily once you start going to the gym regularly. How long can you run for? How much can you lift? How many sit-ups, push-ups or chin-ups can you do?
Once you build a habit, try measuring your fitness as this is more likely to improve steadily once you start going to the gym regularly. How long can you run for? How much can you lift? How many sit-ups, push-ups or chin-ups can you do?
Put Your Signature on It
The final step to a lasting
commitment is to put it in writing and add your signature to it. Committing for
thirty days in writing and adding your autograph will make it far harder to turn
back if things get more difficult. If you want even more leverage, tell a
friend about your commitment and give them a hundred dollars on the expectation
that they will pay you back only if you make it thirty days.
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