How to trick your brain into exercising everyday

Henry Pong
Sep 6, 2018 · 3 min read
“brown dried leaves on sand” by sydney Rae on Unsplash

Setting up a regular weekly workout routine simply did not work for me. Like many of us in their thirties, I have started to pay more attention to my health. I think I do pretty well with diet or the lack thereof — Cutting sugar in all my drinks alone have helped me maintain a steady weight no matter what I eat so let’s leave the diet discussion for another day. However, lack of workout at times definitely has an impact on me physically. I, along with many others have a desk job. All sorts of pain and stiffness begin to show up if I do not workout. I also find myself prone to injury when doing competitive sports like basketball and tennis. Unfortunately my workout habit has always been on and off — I would go to the gym 2–3 times per week consistently for about a month and then gradually fall back to not exercising at all — work and life for me is just very full. Recently, I have finally overcome this issue and want to share my journey of transforming my routine into what truly becomes a habit.

Do you brush your teeth everyday? I believe almost everyone of us still do at least twice a day. Have you missed brushing your teeth sometimes just because you are in a hurry or just too damn lazy? I’ve been there number of times, but I’d also get uncomfortable pretty quickly and make up for it by brushing more thoroughly next time. And what are the consequences of not brushing your teeth? I’m already shaking having thoughts of seeing my dentist. These train of thoughts happened to become my cornerstone of achieving an exercising routine that works. I asked myself: What if I apply the teeth brushing model to workout? Once I dove deeper, it becomes clear that many parallels exist. I tell myself that if I don’t workout, then my consequences later on is pain, suffering and likely trip to a doctor. So what happens if you skipped a workout? It may not be that bad just like if you have skipped brushing your teeth, but once you draw the parallels, you should at least feel bad about it and do your best to workout as soon as time permits.

Our daily life is often so hectic that finding time is difficult. I believe exercising does not need to take long. We’ve been primed by fitness companies that an effective routine would last as long as their program but in reality even less than 5 minutes of workout everyday can be effective not just in 90 days as advertised but over your LIFETIME. I do recommend doing different kinds of exercises so you do not over stress a particular part of the body. I came up with a time-dependent, everyday workout program as follow:

  1. Under 5 minutes: Isometric/Stretching/Yoga/Plyometrics
  2. 5–10 Minutes: Isometric/Stretching/Yoga/Core+Plyometrics
  3. 10–20 Minutes: Stretching/Core + Weights/Cardio
  4. 20 & Up: Stretching + Core + Weights

The biggest benefit in creating your own program is that you do not have to think what to do. Whenever you have to think, your brain starts to focus on your busy daily life and you ended up creating excuses to not exercise. Make sure you have a list of workout moves that you find challenging but enjoy doing at the same time.

What benefited me the most is that the short period of time I spent exercising help me pause from my daily life. I firmly believe the habit of teeth brushing that you learnt as a kid can be applied to other habits that you want to achieve which set you on track for healthy lifestyle for decades to come.

Engineer, Thinker, Cat Lover. Putting my wandering thoughts into words.

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