6 Tips on How to Make Exercising a Habit That You Will Love and Stick To
Forming habits is hard. Breaking habits is even harder. This is because of the human nature to always find shortcuts. Building a habit takes time and effort. More effort than we are willing to put in.
In this segment, we look at 6 ways in which we can turn exercising into a habit .
-
Using the 90-minute rule
Sometimes it can be difficult to remember to keep moving, especially if you are having a busy day, or working from home – or both.
An easy rule to follow is to get up every 90 minutes and stretch your legs. Every 90 minutes, head to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee or go outside to get some fresh air.
There is apps like Alarmed that allow you to set reminders for yourself, to help you turn this into a habit.
-
Walk a little
The recommendation of steps per day is 10,000. It can be overwhelming to try and achieve all these steps at once. But why not start with a smaller challenge and slowly increase. Start with 2,000 steps per day in your first week, and gradually build on that every week until you find yourself at 10,000 steps.
It takes an average person 1 hour to walk 10,000 steps, so you could split this up into a few smaller strolls throughout the day.
Walking without a purpose can be boring, so make sure you mix things up a bit, explore different parts of your area, listen to something while walking like a podcast or radio. And have a destination a goal in mind, you are going to a café to get a nice cup of coffee.
If you aren’t sure how to track your steps, not to worry many smartphones have built-in step counters and old-fashioned pedometers have never been easier.
-
Take the stairs
When you find yourself using the lift or escalator ask yourself. Why not take the stairs instead. It might not seem like enough effort to really make a change, but over time, these small steps can have a significant impact.
-
Get off the bus or train early
This is a personal challenge. Get off the bus or train one stop early once a week and walk the remainder of the journey.
Once this has become part of your routine, try two days a week and before you know it you’ll be doing it all the time.
-
Take part in social sports
Exercise feels a lot less like a chore when you team up with a friend or family member to take part in a sport. Whether you find a cycling buddy or join a challenge on social media, this will help you de-stress as you socialise, and you won’t even realise you are exercising after a while,
Original Source: https://www.nuffieldhealth.com/article/5-tips-to-get-more-active-and-stick-to-the-habit
