In my experience helping hundreds of people with their health and fitness goals, I noticed that there’s one thing that separates the successful from the unsuccessful–consistency. Having the greatest exercise program, a stable of brand new equipment, and the greatest personal trainer in the world won’t make any difference if you only exercise a couple times a month.
However, a person with hardly any equipment, no trainer, and a very simple exercise program can see amazing benefits if they exercise consistently. By consistently, I mean three or more times a week, every week, for years on end.
Unfortunately, many people never achieve this life-changing consistency. They may start exercising with high hopes, and really go at it for a couple weeks or even a couple months. But then something happens. It could be any of these things:
- Moving
- Visitors from out of town
- Health problems
- Weather
- Home remodeling
- Appointments
- Vacation
Some of these are legitimate reasons not to exercise, and some are just excuses. Regardless, it seems that after one of these things happens, even after the event is over, people have really hard time getting back into the habit again. They exercise once a week, then once a month, then just once in a great while.
I don’t want this to happen to you, so here’s a bunch of things you can do to start being consistent and stay that way:
To get started, commit to three days a week for the next month. It takes about thirty days for a new habit to form. After that, its much easier because exercise becomes part of your normal routine.
On Sunday night, take out the calendar and plan your week. What days are you going to exercise? Are there any big events going on this week? What do you need to do to make sure you’ll still be able to exercise? Planning ahead makes a huge difference. Otherwise, you get busy and all of the sudden it’s Friday and you realize you didn’t exercise yet this week.
View exercise as a life-long commitment with long-term benefits, not something you’re going to try for a few weeks to see if you can lose ten pounds. Concentrate on ways exercise will make your life better in the decades to come, like helping you maintain independence, spending less time in the hospital, and living longer and.
Write down what you do each time you exercise. Months from now you can look back and see how far you’ve come.
Tell your friends and family about your exercise program. The more people you have asking you about your progress, the more likely you’ll keep it up.
Find an exercise buddy.
It’s always helpful to have a friend to hold you accountable when you don’t feel like exercising.
Know that there are going to be bumps in the road. You may get sick. You may have to move. You may get a foot of snow. You may need knee surgery. The key is to realize that you can’t control these things, all you can control is how you react to them. When it’s safe to exercise again, get right back into your routine.
The more of these things you do, the better your chances of sticking with an exercise program for years to come. So now you know the secret to exercise success. The next step is to do. Why don’t you start today?
