The Surprising Power of 50 Pushups and 30 Crunches, Done Daily
Don’t Underestimate the Impact of a Micro-Workout
About seven weeks ago, I began building a new habit: Every night, before settling into bed, I do a micro-workout consisting of 50 pushups followed by 30 crossover crunches.
I know, I know. This isn’t some secret way to get shredded with a 49-inch chest and an 8-pack. But it’s been a surprisingly powerful habit for psychological reasons, and I think it could be equally impactful for you, mainly in changing your mindset about your health and building your ability to form good habits.
There are at least four ways my nightly micro-workout habit is beneficial:
1. It reminds me that I need to do something good for my body, every single day.
I work out, properly, 4–5 times per week. On the other 2–3 days, the micro-workouts are a way to signal to myself that I need do something good for my body, every single day.
As they say, health and fitness are not a destination, they’re a lifestyle. And lifestyles happen all 7 days a week.
The more you build in little decisions throughout your day that improve your health — snack on the yogurt, not the cookies; season with more pepper, less salt — the more these behaviors will snowball into a genuinely healthy lifestyle that happens every day.
My nightly micro-workouts serve as reminders that the healthy lifestyle I aim for is composed of an accumulation of many good habits and daily decisions that are seemingly insignificant on their own.
2. It reminds me that I CAN do something good for my body, every single day.
When the California wildfires hit two weeks ago and filled the air with gray smoke and bits of white ash lazily raining from the sky, I no longer could swim or run outside. Of course, COVID-19 meant I couldn’t do them inside either. Oof.
During those days, the little workouts helped keep me sane. They reminded me that no matter how restricted the options become, there’s always an option for keeping my body strong.
Every day is different. On one day you might be unusually busy at work, and on another day maybe there’s a social event you committed to 3 weeks ago that conflicts with your workout time. There will always be an excuse, if you want one.
My daily micro-workouts remind me that I can do something good for my body every single day, no matter the menu of available excuses.
3. It signals to me that I can do a little more, even after reaching my limit in my main workout.
On the days when I do complete a real workout, the nightly micro-workouts prove to me that there’s always a little more to squeeze out.
It’s a nice psychological boost to know that even though I felt like I had reached my exercise limit for the day during the main workout, there’s a little more to be had.
4. It helps me develop my meta-skill of building new good habits.
James Clear, world-renowned expert on habit formation, recommends in his book Atomic Habits that you reduce new habits to 2 minutes or less to help them take root more readily. Stop before it feels like work, he says.
I’m a big believer in this concept. Establishing a nightly micro-workout routine has been one way I practice the meta-habit of building good habits via small routine actions.
Since life is mostly habits, I believe a key to a good life is the ability to accumulate good habits. Establishing and strengthening my micro-workout habit in recent weeks has been a way to practice this ability.
The power of a small, seemingly insignificant habit can be much greater than you think. It certainly has been for me.
What will you add next to your collection of good habits?
