Making Exercise an Enjoyable Habit: What You Should Do

Let’s face it: Nobody wakes up at 6 in the morning eager to put on their sneakers and hit the gym. Work gets in the way, your family wants your attention, and you end up saving your workout for “the next day”.

The thing about exercising is that when you enjoy what you’re doing and do it consistently, you start falling in love with routines that bring you results. But being consistent is where most beginners fail.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how you can slowly make exercising an enjoyable habit so that you stay on track in reaching your fitness goals!

Be Flexible

I know you’re excited to start a new exercise routine, but this isn’t the time for you to go all-in. In the beginning, try out different forms of cardiovascular exercises. Most start with running, and that’s great! But if you’re going to run, invest in a pair of good shoes.

According to The Wired Runner, the best running shoes are those that provide plenty of foot support, particularly to avoid common problems such as heel spurs. Ultimately you want to keep all of your joints healthy and prevent any injuries.

Other popular cardio alternatives are swimming, skipping, cycling, and boxing. This way, you’ll find something you truly enjoy rather than copying what your friends are doing. Your first few weeks should be about exploring.

Set Achievable Goals

Everyone wants to achieve their dream body in an instant. But in the long-term, this just isn’t sustainable. Beginners underestimate the amount of effort it takes to lose just 10lbs of fat. When they get burnt out, they give up, and they’re back to square one.

The trick is to think long-term. Set a goal to lose between 1-2lbs a week. If your target is to gain weight, this range also reasonable even for those with high metabolisms.

If you want to lose weight, burn 500 more calories a day every week, or cut your daily calorie consumption by this much (a brownie square is 110 calories, just for perspective).

Do the opposite if you are bulking up. There are plenty of healthy 500-calorie meal recipes online that won’t cost an arm or a leg.

At the end of the week, when you step on the weighing scale and see progress, you’ll be motivated to continue next week, and you didn’t have to make drastic lifestyle changes.

Make it Hard to Miss a Workout

If you’ve found a workout routine you enjoy doing, that’s enough to push you on to your tippy toes and hit the gym. But if that still doesn’t get you going, then you need to develop a system that pushes you to go out and exercise.

For example, if you plan to go for a jog tomorrow morning before work, take your running shirt and shorts out of the drawer and lay them by the door before you sleep. Naturally, it would be easier for you to jump into your running gear and go for that run since everything’s already set.

When you’re not prepared, even the thought of having to take your running gear out of the drawer is enough of an obstacle that prevents you from doing what you need to.