You already know that you should exercise regularly. After all, exercise not only helps you stay fit and feel energized, but it also helps you live a long, healthy, and active life like Jim Wendler.
But if you’re like most people, you’re probably also very good at making excuses for not exercising. Because let’s face it: you’re busy. And even though you know that exercise should be a priority, life often gets in the way. So here are five tips for maintaining a consistent workout schedule, even when you’re really busy:
If the belief that you have to spend an hour or more in the gym to get fit is the reason you don’t work out regularly, here’s the good news: it doesn’t take that long.
All you really need is 10 or 15 minutes of intense exercise, such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT), to get in better shape than you ever thought possible. HIIT workouts take away all excuses for not having time to work out. Alternating periods of intense work with shorter periods of rest, this ultra-efficient style of training allows you to get more done in less time. The
HIIT is the perfect solution for anyone who has ever stayed away from the gym just because they didn’t have an hour to work out.
When trying to establish a new habit, never commit too much at once. Trying to work out five days a week, cook all your own meals at home, and go sugar-free can only lead to one thing: failure.
Trying to change too many things at once means that you will soon feel so exhausted from your workouts, so drained of energy, and so bitter about your new lifestyle that your efforts may backfire. function.
A better approach? Start small by building one healthy habit at a time. Start by committing to exercise two days a week. Once you’re comfortable with it, start cooking at home five days a week, ditch the daily soda to reduce your sugar intake and more. Small steps equate to lasting success.
Another way to create a lifelong exercise habit is to start by committing to just exercising regularly for 30 days. Pick a number of days you want to work out, then tell yourself you’ll stick with it for an entire month, allowing yourself that if you don’t enjoy it by the end of the month, you won’t have to continue.
Chances are by the end of the 30 days you’ll notice that you feel better, have more energy, and like the way your clothes fit better, and you won’t want to stop working out. If you’ve made it this far, congratulations, you’ve made it a habit to exercise.
When you have a ritual, like brushing your teeth and washing your face before bed or cooking oatmeal and coffee for breakfast every day, you don’t have to think about it. You just need to do it. At this point, the habit is so ingrained in your mind that you no longer have to make any decisions.
This is what you want to happen with your workouts. Because when you have to ask yourself if you’re exercising, your bright (and not always helpful) mind is more likely to come up with excuses. You’re too tired, too sore after yesterday’s workout, too busy, etc. But if your training is part of a ritual, then all thoughts are out of the equation. Your mind and body will expect activity, and you will instead procrastinate every day.
So, for example, if you decided to create a morning exercise routine five days a week, you could create a ritual of waking up, brushing your teeth, having breakfast, doing a quick HIIT, having a protein shake, and going. do. The same goes for if you want to create an afternoon or evening workout routine: just make it part of the ritual, and it’s easy to stay consistent in your workout. much more.
If you’re still having trouble exercising regularly, another tip is to fit exercise into your schedule. This will come naturally to you if you are already in the habit of scheduling meetings, soccer practice, dating and other activities.
So if, ideally, you want to work out three times a week, but life always seems to get in your way, just grab your calendar, your phone, or whatever you use to keep track of time and get up. workout schedule. Put it on a timeframe, then treat it like any other date: non-negotiable.
This will make you more likely to not let anything else get in the way of your workouts and ultimately help you form a lifelong workout routine.
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