One of the keys to success, if not the key, is the development of good habits. I could go on about the importance of habits all day, but today I want to write about habits in relation to exercise. In particular, what I believe is one of the best habits to develop for good health: exercise every day.
Firstly, everyone exercises for different reasons. Some people wish to lose weigh. Some people wish to increase their strength. Some people enjoy the social aspect of it. Some enjoy the competition. You get the idea. Despite these different reasons, everyone would agree that you feel great after exercise. The post-exercise surge in endorphins makes you feel on top of the world.
After years of being very active, I found recently I was not exercising as much as I would have liked. I would go through patches where I would exercise 5 days in a row, but that would be followed by 5 days of laziness. I had no idea of my exercise goals and I had no plan in place. Not surprisingly, a lot of the time I generally felt like crap.
So I took my first step forwards. I set of goal of feeling healthy and having a general sense of wellbeing. I would do this by exercising 5 times a week. I now had a goal and a plan, and indeed I started to see some positive results. But a funny thing happened. Because I knew that I would have two days off a week I often found that I could not motivate myself to exercise when I had initially planned to. This would be “one of those days off”. You can probably guess what happened. Despite planning to exercise 5 times a week, I actually exercised about 3-4 times. Sure I felt ok, but deep down I knew I was cheating myself. It also made a difference when I played basketball once a week and struggled to keep up.
Exercise Every Day
What change did I make? You guessed it… I began to exercise every day. No more “this will be my day off”. Each day now I somehow manage to find at least 30 minutes to exercise. For example, I love an after work beer on Fridays. So I exercise in the morning before work on Friday.
For those who have struggled with irregular or non-existent training habits, I highly recommend you consider exercising every day. It may make all the difference.
Photo by Josh Janssen
This is probably a great habit for light excercize (jogging, bodyweight work) but it’s pretty unrealistic and counterproductive if you have certain goals. I’d say getting on a structured program is a much better bet, that way you know exactly when you have to work out, and why you need rest days(for lifting weights anyways)
A structured program does not work for everyone…simply because a lot of people are not disciplined enough — or have too hectic a schedule — to follow such a program through to the end. Doing something everyday, however light exercise that may be, is a pretty good idea. You feel like going for a walk during lunch time? Do it. You come home and feel like doing some pushups? Do it. That’s really the idea here…to get your blood moving without worrying about the constraints of a structured program. Think about it. Even if you miss three days of exercising, you still would have worked out the other four days. At the end of the week, you are more likely to feel better about yourself.
Hi, and I would like to thank you for this site, I have really enjoyed pouring through the posts I have had an opportunity to look at. Perhaps another way to look at it, is how beneficial it is to develop that habit of “moving” every day:) So many of us just don’t move enough anymore. Between cars and computers and television, we have become far too stationary and the results are obvious. Moving every day and having the plan to do so is critical to so many things, clearing the mind and body of stress, appreciating out bodies and all that they do, etc… It is to easy to make the excuses or to stay in a place were you chose not to fit movement into day after day. For some, we have to start with commitments such as after dinner, no matter how late, I am going to walk around my neighborhood. From there, you find, that that is so enjoyable, that you progress to two miles a day. I think that majority of people would benefit in making daily commitments to moving more and feeling better and allowing the good things that come from that to progress them into more activity and different kinds.
“exercise every day” is a very stretch-able statement- the key is to exercise right in order for your body to be subjected to some form of challenge every day. daily exercise is is an absolute must, especially the older you get; however, the key is intensity and the focus is getting your heart rate up on a continous basis for a duration of time – and for this, you need to get out of breath, huff & puff and be sweating for a good ten to fifteen minutes. don’t confuse activity with exercise – going for a walk and doing some yoga, as beneficial as they are (i do both) simply do not get your heart rate up sufficiently. in the end, however, it’s a question of your lifestyle – if you move around much and eat a clean & healthy diet, you can get away with very little exercise, but if you lead a sedentary lifestyle or are looking to get “toned” for the beach or whatever, then you need to get into gear.
I am a runner who also lifts moderate weights. Exercising everyday is a GREAT idea DEPENDING on the intensity / duration of your workout. For example, on the days I run 8 miles, I MUST give my body a break the next day. If I don’t, I set myself up for injury (and thus an involuntary exercise furlough.)
Keep in mind that my 8 mile run is often after 4 prior days of running where I pulled anything from 5-7 miles. So my legs will HURT me (!) if I don’t give them an exercise break. This is where CROSS TRAINING comes in.
On the days I don’t work my legs, I work my arms (like I did today for an hour). But MOST DAYS (like 4-5 days a week), I do FULL BODY exercises (dynamic exercises as they are often called) which call on both upper and lower body cardio / toning movements.
It is important to remember that exercise MUST get your heart rate up – it MUST challenge you somewhat to work to your maximum capacity based on your CURRENT fitness level. And for me, sometimes exercise is just a walk around the track with my dogs.
Loved your post. And it has great advice to just MOVE your body :)