How to Stick to Your Exercise Plan
Exercise and movement are a huge part of maintaining a healthy life, as I’m sure most of you have heard. As Dr. Robert Butler put it, “If exercise could be purchased in a pill, it would be the single most widely prescribed and beneficial medicine in the nation”. Engaging in regular physical activity is one of the key ways to prevent, or in some cases help reverse, the onset of so many of the chronic diseases that plague our society, such as Type 2 Diabetes and cardiovascular disease. How many times have you tried follow a new workout program or routine and somehow found yourself six weeks in only to realize you haven’t worked out for the past three? Incorporating an exercise routine into your daily life can be difficult, and even more difficult to stick with long term, but it’s such a crucial part to living a long and healthy life. Here are a few tips that I find help me to stick to my workout plan, and I hope they help you too!
Find something you truly enjoy doing.
Prioritize it and make the time for it.
Prepare, prepare, prepare!
Get a friend to join.
Commit and make a habit of it.
Embrace the setbacks.
Find Something You Truly Enjoy Doing
This is huge. If you’re trying to force yourself to do a type of workout or routine that you hate, it simply is not going to be a sustainable long term plan. Find something you genuinely enjoy or think you could learn to like, because when you look forward to something, you’re far more likely to continue sticking with it. Get out there and try new things—see what lands well with you! Whether it be running, yoga, hiking, weights, boxing, dancing, or any combination of things, just find a routine you love and are excited to do.
I would also encourage continuing to revisit forms of exercise that you’ve tried in your past and didn’t particularly like, as you and your tastes change over the years, so you never know what might suddenly spark a new interest!
Prioritize and Make the Time For It
I understand that everyone is busy, trust me. However, if you truly want to incorporate exercise into your life (which I would highly recommend), whether it be to lose weight, gain muscle or simply maintain a healthy and active lifestyle, you need to make it a priority. The things in your life that you prioritize, you will create the time and space for them to occur. If it’s in the backseat, it will continue to get pushed aside for the other parts of your day and life that you do view as a priority. So calendar it out! Schedule the times into your week for a work out.
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!
The best of intentions can get derailed by lack of planning. If you’re working out in the morning, set your clothes and shoes out the night before to make things easier on yourself the next day -- waking up early is hard enough already! If you’re working out later in the day or after work, be sure to pack your clothes and shoes the night before so you don’t forget them.
Get A Friend to Join
Having a workout buddy can be a game changer. Whether it be for trying out new classes or just meeting at the gym, having someone else to show up for makes it so you’re far less likely to just bail out of that workout.
Commit and Make It A Habit
One of the most important steps in sticking to your exercise plan, as with any goal or plan in life, is really making the conscious decision to commit to it. Motivation will only get you so far. The discipline to commit to your exercise is really what will help you stick it out through the days when you feel less than enthusiastic about working out. If you tell yourself you are going to workout, keep that promise you made to yourself. Every time you do, it gets a little bit easier. Making your exercise routine a habit will take all of the question out of deciding to go to the gym or a run (etc), and you will just go because that’s what feels natural. Some say it takes 21 days, 30 days, 60 days to get to that point, but I would just recommend continuing the routine until it truly feels like it’s habitual.
Embrace the Setbacks
Nobody’s perfect, and life happens. We all experience interruptions in our exercise and health routines, and that’s just a part of the process. Mentally preparing for and embracing those setbacks will help you to move past them when they do happen. Understand that it’s okay, and that some off days (or hey, even weeks) does not derail you for life. Do your best to look forward and find your way back to a healthy routine.
I hope these are useful! Let me know if you give them a try or if you have any other recommendations. And if anyone in the NYC area is looking for a work out buddy, holler at me!
xx
Slim
