Idea #3 – Enjoy Exercise
I have two tricks for successful exercise habits.
It is common knowledge that in order to obtain health benefits and physical results from exercise, a person needs to do two things -develop/tone muscle mass (conventionally known as weight training) and burn fat (cardio or aerobic exercise).
The first trick is to find something you like such as ballet, salsa, yoga, pilates, tennis, karate – maybe even lifting weights. Exercising is so much easier if it’s fun!
The second trick is for cardio. I pretty much dislike anything cardio. The only way I have managed to get around this is by tricking myself into doing it. I know that sounds really silly, but this is what I do:
I leave my sneakers, t-shirt & shorts out at night before going to bed, planning to get up and run in the morning. I don’t like running, but have found it to be the most time and cost effective approach! When I wake up I usually just want to curl back up and go to sleep – so, here’s the trick. I tell myself “You don’t have to run a mile and a half – just put your shoes on and get outside. If you still don’t feel like doing anything, it’s ok. If you start and feel like you want to come back, it’s ok.”
Get it? Running shoe!
Usually I get out there and begin a light jog – before I know it, I’m at the end of the block, the end of the street. Sometimes I don’t feel like running, so I just walk. Sometimes I just walk ten steps and go back home for coffee. =) I know this doesn’t sound like the usual hard-core, no pain no gain approach, but it has really worked wonders for me.
I recently read a book called “The Kaizen Way” and the whole point of the book is to inform people that sometimes the reason we don’t do something is actually physiological. The brain transmits a signal of “I’m overwhelmed” and we curl back up and go to bed. The way to by-pass this biological reaction is to think and act in small steps.
Apparently this is the latest breakthrough in Japanese business development and company productivity.
If you read Susie’s post about the antidote to procrastination (the 3 Ps), she touches on a similar idea.
Ok, now I am starting to ramble….
To read tips 1 & 2, click here.
Blogging is addictive, what can I say.