Making Exercise a Habit

Like reading, exercising is a habit that many people wish they had, but never get around to developing.

It goes without saying that exercise is important, not only for our general physical health, but for our mental well-being.

Regular exercise has been shown to combat stress and anxiety, as well as improve our focus, memory, and imagination. In addition, regular exercise lowers our chances of developing diseases ranging from the common cold to heart disease, to cognitive decline and dementia later in life.

I talked about the habit loop in a previous post, and how it can be applied to make reading a habit. Using that same idea, a habit of exercise can be created as well. For more on the habit loop, check out my post on Quora on how to make reading a habit.

Using the Habit Loop to Exercise More

Here is a strategy that uses the habit loop to build a habit of exercise:

1. The Keystone Habit: Track all of your workouts in a notebook or app on your phone (I personally use Evernote), set a reminder to weigh yourself at least once a week. and take a progress picture of your body every week.

2. The Cue: View your progress that you have tracked for yourself daily, put on your exercise gear, and walk out the door.

3. The Routine: Set aside time to exercise regularly, and pick a simple exercise routine to start with, something that you enjoy doing (see the end of this post for some good routines to start on).

4. The Reward: Within a few weeks, you should be seeing progress in your exercising, and feel more accomplished, happier, and confident.

It is important that you measure progress quantitatively, using numbers such as how many steps you take in a day, how far you are able to run without resting, or how much weight you are able to lift, rather than depending on the mirror to measure progress.

The reason for this is that changes in your body will take a least a few weeks before they become noticeable. During this time, it is easy to get discouraged, and feel that you are wasting your time. By tracking your exercise quantitatively, you can more easily see your progress over time, and are in a better position to adjust your routine to reach your goals. Focus less on trying to change your body, and more on improving your exercise regiment.

Don’t worry too much about how your body is going to change, if you exercise regularly, then you will make changes in your physique, you just have to be patient.

The progress that you see through your exercise logs will make you want to exercise more in order to make even more progress.

Ideally, when you are trying to form a habit you should focus only on one habit or commitment at a time. If you try to do too many things at a time, you will inevitably push one of them aside, usually exercise. I know this is true for me when I was in school and the workload began piling up

Schedule a time in to exercise, and stick to it. Set a reminder on your calendar or to-do list. Often, people will say that they will exercise more, but don’t actually make a plan on how to do this. If you make a mental note to hit the gym after work, you most likely won’t go to the gym, especially if you end up staying later than you anticipated. If you purposely set aside time in the morning to go to the gym, then you will be more likely to actually go.

Some workouts call for 3–4 sessions a week. In the beginning, try to make it a daily habit first in order to build up the habit. Once that is established, you can (and should) take more rest days for your body to recover, especially if you are weight training.

Here are some more tips that you can follow to help you start and maintain your exercise habit:

1. Pick a simple exercise routine. Lower your barrier to start, and make it so simple that you can’t avoid it. Going for a walk is a good start. Find a pedometer app on your phone, and track how many steps you take daily. Try to take more steps every day, even if it’s just one more step. A good resource for more serious routines can be found here.

2. Find something you enjoy. Exercise should not be a painful chore. The beset kind of exercise is one that you enjoy, such as playing a sport. A friend of mine once lost 60 pounds in a one year through dieting and playing squash.

3. Check out this Quora page for more tips: What are good hacks and tips for exercise, fitness and working out?

If you would like to read more, please follow my blog on Quora at Hungry Minds. You can also follow me on Twitter if you would like to continue the conversation there!

Originally published on Quora

Written on July 5th, 2016 by Paul Le