How do we get that elusive 150 minutes of exercise into our lives?
150 minutes seems to be the magic number according to the Chief Medical Officer’s physical activity guidelines.
That’s 5 x 30 minutes of exercise, 10 x 15 minutes or just one long two and half hour session.
But what’s the best way for you to do it?
Well.
My answer is an annoying one. It depends.
I believe we have to find our own way into creating a consistent exercise habit. And that it has a lot to do with joy, fun and our mindset to get us to the start line.
We can take steps to create the habit - book a class, join a gym, sign up to an app, lay out our clothes the night before, find a running buddy etc etc.
But what keeps us going has to be pleasure and joy.
I do an exercise on this in my exercise inspiration sessions. I walk you through your previous history of movement and exercise, explore your goals and intentions and find out what might be in the way.
And find out where you find joy and pleasure in moving your body.
From this we can unearth some simple strategies.
It could be taking a longer way round to walk to work. Signing back up to the Couch to 5K app or signing up to my online beginner runners course. It could be joining a dance class or finding the right you tube videos to follow.
Sometimes you have to start really small. I love the advice in BJ Fogg’s book Tiny Habits, on finding something super small to start with - eg doing one press up in the bathroom, or a squat every time you boil the kettle.
Or, as James Clear suggests on his book Atomic Habits, make it easy, make it satisfying and build in rewards. He also talks about making it small to start with - even 2 minutes done everyday makes a difference.
For some of us everyday is easier than 3 or 5 times a week.
It makes it non negotiable. We can’t put it off until tomorrow.
For others that is too overwhelming. You need to take one step at a time. I talk about creating a maximum number of times and then a minimum viable number. So you could want to do 5 times a week, but you won’t have failed if you do 2 because that’s your minimum viable number.
So much will depend on how you think about it, as well on what gets in the way.
We all have choices we can make everyday. But most of those choices we make are the same ones everyday. Making different choices can feel hard, even scary. Which is why finding pleasure and joy is helpful.
I try and build fun, pleasure and joy into my classes, even if the pleasure is in the conversation, and the joy in the laughter we share.
If you’d like to talk more about finding an exercise habit, drop me a line.