You already know that exercise is vital to keep you healthy and strong. Some of the benefits of exercise are that it relieves stress, increases your energy, and improves your sleep. Furthermore, exercise can help lower your risk of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure. So, if you could build a workout routine and stick with it, you could maintain your fitness and quality of life without much effort.
The Struggle is Real
Building a workout routine, or any habit really, is hard. You are already playing out your established habits every day, from what you do when you wake up until you go to bed at night. You are performing habits such as drinking your morning coffee or tea, taking the route you take to go to work and come home, eating meals, and performing your evening routine before bed.
Your routine is automatic, and you may not realize what you do every day unless you take a moment to think about it. Therefore, changing any of those habits will require commitment and discipline. Furthermore, your brain is telling you to conserve energy. Therefore, it will look for the least path of resistance when possible. However, you can prevail like many others. Use these five tips to help build a workout routine that you’ll stick with.
1. Start Small
It can be demoralizing to only focus on the end result. Instead, do a little each day to work towards your goal. You don’t have to work out for 45 minutes to an hour on your first day. Instead, you could start with just a few minutes of intense exercise, a walk, or some other small change to improve your health. Then, you can increase your workload a little bit each week.
Anything you do consistently will help you build a workout routine. As a result, after a few weeks of consistency, you may do your workout without your inner critic talking you out of it. When exercise is a habit, it makes your fitness goals easier to achieve.
2. Create a Routine
Starting a new routine from scratch can be difficult. However, a routine will lead to a habit. MIT researchers discovered that habits occur because of a neurological loop. Habits form because of an event, known as a trigger. Then, the trigger starts an action (the habit). Once the action is complete, your brain releases the feel-good chemicals as the reward.
If you wish to start a new habit, create a new trigger. You could schedule an alarm or use another habit to help you remember to exercise. Habit stacking is a great way to help you create healthy habits and build your workout routine. For example, instead of listening to podcasts or audiobooks at your desk, why not listen to them while biking, running, or walking? How about walking or running on the treadmill while streaming your favorite show instead of lying in bed and watching them?
3. Do Exercises You Enjoy
You are more likely to stop exercising if you do not like the exercises you do. Your chance of successfully building a workout routine will improve if you find exercises you enjoy. Not many people can run around the track and like it. So, try different workouts and see what works best for you. There are plenty of activities to get that heart pumping! Exercise should never feel like a chore.
Regardless of what exercises you do to build your workout routine, never force yourself to exercise when you’re injured, sick, or just feeling run down. It’s essential to listen to your body. Taking a rest day will not derail your efforts.
4. Socialize
Although some people work best exercising alone, others find having a workout partner or participating in group activities motivating. Furthermore, exercising with others can help you build a workout routine by keeping you accountable. Most people don’t want to disappoint their team, so it may be enough for you to show up. In fact, Research suggests that exercising with others can help you work harder and stay motivated.
5. Track Your Progress
Tracking your progress provides insights that are both helpful and rewarding. Fitness trackers make it easy. Regardless, tracking your progress gives you insight into your progress without memorizing every detail and milestone. Moreover, you may see patterns that help you identify what’s working and what needs tweaking. An app can help you visualize your progress and identify areas needing adjustments while building your ideal workout routine.
The Takeaway
Building an ideal workout routine can set you up for lifelong success. If you’re at the beginning of your journey, identify what you want to achieve and start small. All you have to do is a little every day to help build your routine. Then, you can increase your workload a little each week.
However, don’t do exercises that you won’t enjoy. If exercise feels like a chore, you won’t stick with it. Try a variety of activities until you find something that you like. You don’t have to go it alone. You can involve a friend or group to help you stay motivated and accountable.
Lastly, track your progress so you can watch your journey unfold and help identify what’s working and what needs tweaking. No matter how you get there, you can do it. Just make sure to listen to your body and take a rest day as needed. One day won’t derail your workout routine, and your future self will thank you for your efforts today.
FitTrend’s mission is to help you along your self-improvement journey, promote an active lifestyle, and help you achieve your goals. Our journal can help you track your activities and workouts. Also, FitTrend allows you to connect certain smartwatches and trackers to your account to make it easier for you to update your journal automatically. Create your account today and start using FitTrend for free!
Disclaimer: No content on this site should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
