Health and Fitness

4 Ways To Trick Yourself Into Exercising, Even If You Hate It

There is enough medical data to prove the benefits of exercise on our body and mind. Studies show that maintaining a recommended 150 minute physical activity every week helps reduce the risk of critical diseases like type 2 diabetes, stroke, cardio-vascular diseases and some kinds of cancer. With a regular exercise routine, the risk of early deaths could be reduced between 20–30%. In addition to the positive impact on the body, it helps to boost your mood, concentrate and reduce stress level as the body releases the happy chemicals called endorphins.

In spite of all the positive offerings, according to WHO data, 25% of the adult population do not meet the recommended levels of physical activity and more than 80% of the world’s adolescent population remains inactive.

After all, what are the reasons we find to skip our exercise routine and how to get over them?

1. Flexible routine is the key — One of the main reasons we skip the routine is because of some unfinished work from the previous day which needs to be delivered at the earliest or the classes got scheduled late in the evening when you prefer to workout. You stick to a particular form of exercise and it is not possible to maintain a routine with it. Make your routine keeping in mind your schedule at work/school and decide a time which suits you. There is no hard and fast rules that you should exercise in the morning or evening, just pick a time suitable for you. If you do exercise in the morning regularly and somehow had to skip it, do it sometime in the evening. If the exercise in the morning acts as a mood booster for the rest of the day, in the evening it coils act well as a stress buster after the long day at work. In order to maintain this kind of flexibility, keep your exercise routine short and effective according to your need. Endurance exercise for improved lung & herat functions, resistance training for strengthening the muscles, balance exercise to improve balancing and flexibility exercise for reducing stiffness. Regular exercise for 20 minutes will give long term benefits and such not so long routines can be sneaked in between your schedule easily. Another excuse is when you cannot stick to a particular form of exercise due to various reasons. Suppose, you couldn’t go to the park for running since you woke up late and you will be late for work. No problem, still you can do some stretching at home and be all pumped for the day.
2. Exercise need not be all hard and fast that you hate it — If you want to get back to something everyday, it has to be something you look forward to. If you are an amateur and doesn’t know what you enjoy the most, try all forms and find what makes you enjoy the most. Some would love running/jogging in a park basking in the morning sun and some might enjoy dancing to the beats with friends. You might love taking your pet dog for a walk or playing with your kids after coming back from work or you love to spend time gardening. Exercise should be the happy time you carve out for yourself.
3. Record your progress — Your progress should be the biggest motivator to keep you going and it needs to be properly recorded. Do not start the first day with a long and tough routine, which wears you down but start small and progress slowly and document every hits and misses. Set a goal for the week and at the end of the week, if you could finish the routine as per the benchmark, put a tick mark against that week.There is nothing reassuring than a quantifiable difference in your progress. Do not forget to make the next week’s routine little bit more challenging than the previous one so that you would not lose interest motivating you to better yourself day by day.
4. Are you getting the results from exercise? — Before planning a routine, what is it that you aim to gain from the exercise. You would be planning to address obesity or reduced flexibility or poor concentration or anxiety disorder, find the best routine to tackle your problem. And while you record the progress in exercise, keep a record of the improvement you have seen in your physical and mental health. Has the loss of breath you experienced while climbing a flight of stairs reduced? Are you able to twist and twirl without much pain in the joints? Have the number of emotional outbursts reduced ? Are you able to focus longer while studying after this routine? If your answer is a resounding YES, you are on the right track. If not, you might need to reevaluate the choice of exercise forms.

Remember all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.