When we get busy, exercise is one of the first habits to drop off. We all know it’s important but how often the “important” gets overtaken by the “urgent”. Here’s 4 tips to creating a regular exercise routine.
1. Pick a day and time and stick to it
If you wait till you feel like it or until you are not so busy, it won’t happen. Our days will fill up, you won’t feel like, and it’ll be next week before you try again. The only way to start a habit is to pick a couple of times in the week, block it out in the diary and make it a priority. And trust me, something will always come up that seems more important, but if you lock it in and make it a non-negotiable, you’ll be happy you did it.
2. Do something you actually enjoy
So many people neglect exercise because “I hate the gym” or “I’m not very good at running”. Why not find something you don’t hate and try that! I enjoy surfing and so every Tuesday and Thursday morning, I meet a friend at 6am and we do some exercise. Those are the best days of my week. I start the day feeling great and by the time I’m in the office, I feel like I’ve already achieved something! For you it might be a bike ride; it could be a walk with the Mrs; it might be a tough mudder training course. If you find something you enjoy that makes you use muscle and energy, then you’ll be much more likely to make it a routine.
3. Don’t overdo the first session
Plenty of people muster up the will to start the new habit. We dust off the sandshoes, put on the headband, stretch the calf muscles and may even slap our own face in anticipation of doing a PB. We want to prove to ourselves that we haven’t lost it! And so we go hard at it. We sweat. We hurt. And the next 4 days, we pay. If you want to start a new habit that goes beyond the first session, ease into it. Walk for 10 mins, run for 5, and warm down with the walk again. Then the next 3 days won’t be a write off. If you’re dusting off the surfboard, don’t go out in 4-6ft.
4. A friend will lock it in
If I’ve ever turned a good idea into a habit, it has almost always been because I’ve teamed up with someone else. For 2-3 years, I trained in my garage with my neighbour every Monday-Wednesday-Friday. So many days I would wake up and wish I could just roll back to sleep. But I knew he would be there, so I got up. And everytime, I’m glad I did. Every Tuesday and Thursday I meet a friend at 6am for a surf. Every Friday evening, I play tennis with a friend. It’s locked in. Why? Because someone else is relying on me. Why not ask a friend to walk with you, to meet you at the gym twice a week, to play tennis or to take a bike ride before church on a Sunday?
What’s your routine and how do you keep it going?
