Tricks that help make exercise a habit

[DavideFitbit]

Hi everyone! 

Habits often happen automatically and the more we do them, the deeper they're embedded in our brains. Something things that I personally find very useful to make working out a habit are:

1. Writing down my workout plan and my short term goals.

2. Having a schedule and trying to stick to it as much as possible (while still being flexible). 

3. Being realistic and staying motivated are also important.

 What about you? Feel free to share any tricks that have worked out for you to make exercise a habit in your life. 

[SunsetRunner]

Most of my exercise is in the form of walking. Here is a trick I’ve learned … I listen to audio books during my walk … good mysteries … and I set up a rule that I can only listen if I am walking. With many books, I end up walking longer than planned in order to get to the end of a chapter. This helped turn walks into interesting habits. 

[NellyG]

@SunsetRunner @I'm not a very auditory person, but I love to read, so I really must try listening to a book while I walk. Great idea!

[t.parker]

Just a few tips from top of my head, nothing really new:

• Pick the form of exercise that you actually enjoy doing. If exercise is yet another chore then nothing will help.
• Find a goal to train for. For example, if you run why not sign up for a race?
• Find an exercise buddy (that wouldn't work for me though, I prefer to train alone but most people are social beings).
• Add more variety to the exercise, try new things from time to time, try new sports, different running/cycling routes. Repetitiveness can be boring.
• Don't force yourself. If you need to force yourself to run or visit the gym then probably you're doing it wrong but...
• ...sometimes you may give yourself a small push. Stepping through the gym door very often causes that something clicks in your head.
• Keep training calendar. It's easier to find time and do stuff when it's somehow written down.

[Argali]

"Pick the form of exercise that you actually enjoy doing." -- @t.parker

Agree. I like how bicycling  maintained my lower body all of these years (without giving it a whole lot of thought).

I thought I'd try "cranking" ⛮ [UBE] to see if I could achieve the same effect in my upper body.

A hand-trike would have been closer to that experience, but that is way out of my price range.

I call biking & cranking, collectively, cyclisthenics. 🤓

(Disc golf ₍⭖⁾ seems to be adjacent to that.)

[DavideFitbit]

Wow, so many great tips! Thank you for sharing all of those, @SunsetRunner @NellyG @t.parker @Argali! 

It seems that the key is to start doing something that we actually enjoy and to have some discipline and motivation to repeat it enough until it becomes a habit. 😀 

[emili]

Early on I adopted an attitude that unless it is physically impossible for me to work out - I am working out. We are so good at making excuses for not doing something, that if you take that out of the equation, it becomes easier to form commitments to yourself. 

[DavideFitbit]

Very true @emili, many times we're perfectly capable of working out, but decide not to, and we repeat it until it becomes habit or we end up procrastinating constantly. 

[MarioDings]

I made an appointment with myself to do something every day. That means also taking a walk with my wife or go to the zoo. On average I run 5 to 6 times a week. I used to go cycling to my work before. 

Important, make it interesting. Meet people, enjoy nature, have a good time with friends and family. 

One more thing. Don't make excuses. You're only fooling yourself, so don't bother.

[DavideFitbit]

Great tips, @MarioDings! We should all make a commitment with ourselves to do something every day. 😁

[Nkleszcz]

I have an android device with a Kindle App.  This is important; these devices allow one to be set up so you could change pages by the page-up/page-down key.  This, in turn, could be set up to be clicked when one links a bluetooth to a clicker.

Because of this, I can walk on a treadmill (on random hill mode), listen to a particular musical artist/group/genre, and... read a biography of this very musical artist/group/genre at the same time.  Talk about immersive!!  

[DavideFitbit]

That's an excellent idea, @Nkleszcz! Very immersive indeed. 😀