10 Strategies for Successful Workout
What really works to keep you exercising? Here, secrets of successful exercisers:
Deal with the details.
We’re strategic in other areas of our lives-whether we’re throwing a party or going on vacation, we sit down and figure out what needs to be done, how and when. Exercise deserves the same brain work, because “planning helps lessen the perception of inconvenience, which is what may be keeping you from exercising,” says James Sallis, Ph.D., professor of psychology at San Diego State University in California.
Make it enjoyable.
If you do something you like, you’ll keep doing it “Don’t pick what’s popular or what everyone else is doing; try selecting an activity that fits your personality,” says Terrie Heinrich Rizzo, manager of health education programs at Stanford University. “Are you a loner or a social type? Do you like flexibility or more structure? Do you like to move to music? Are you a thrill seeker? Are you a morning person? Answering these questions can help you find an activity you’ll stick with.”
Reward yourself.
“Adults think they’re too old for this behavioral principle, but we never outgrow the need for positive incentives,” says Patricia Dubbert, Ph.D., chief psychologist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. Decide on a reward for meeting a specific goal. Set aside the amount of money for your reward and figure out how much you’ll deduct each time you skip exercise. Wanting to “save” your money can become a powerful incentive to keep working out.
Learn from past experiences.
Think back on an exercise program that didn’t stick: Did you hurt yourself? Was it too boring? Did it take too much time? Use this experience to design a new workout that better meets your needs and interests, says Rizzo.
Work out regularly.
If you’re new to exercise, try to work out on the same days at the same time. That will solidify your sense that it is a scheduled activity, not an option.
Replace negative incentives with positive ones.
Fear and guilt, though catalysts for change, are dismal motivators in the long run. Try focusing on how much better you’ll feel or how much stronger you’ll be.
Schedule exercise to follow a routine task.
Work out before or after you eat lunch, leave work or take a coffee break. Pegging a new activity to a well-established ritual makes it more likely the activity will also become a habit.
Always have a Plan B.
If you want to go for a walk and it’s raining, take an aerobics class instead. If the treadmills are fully occupied, hit the rowing machine or bike. Regular exercisers expect obstacles, but they treat them as momentarily inconvenient, not permanently impassable.
Learn to see exercise as a welcome break, not a disruption.
“While I was writing a grant proposal, I used exercise as an excuse not to work,” says Dubbert. “Surprisingly, I got my best ideas during exercise and once I got back to my desk afterward, I worked more efficiently.”
Talk the talk.
“Everyone has inner dialogues between the exercising and couch-potato sides of themselves every time they think about working out,” says Sallis. “Successful exercisers just win those arguments more often.” The exercising half of you doesn’t have to have the best argument, he notes, “just the last word.”
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