Exercise - what worked for me!

As I mentioned in my last post, I feel like my whole mindset towards exercise has changed this year. I always knew it was good for mental and physical well-being, but somehow I could never stick with it permanently.

 Walking has been my main form of exercise (until recently - more on that later) and even though I enjoyed getting outside and never regretted my walks, I wasn't consistent. When I was making my 21 for 2021 list, I knew I wanted to include some type of exercise challenge. I've used the Map My Walk app for several years, which saves my workouts and lets me review how I did each year. In my mind, I thought I'd surely walked around 500 miles. To clarify, I'm talking about miles covered while walking for exercise, not daily living. When I checked my stats, I discovered I'd walked only 311 miles in 2020, and 321 miles in 2019. That's how I came up with a goal of walking 500 miles - I was pretty sure I could do it with a little more effort. When I saw one of my friends ran 1,500 miles in 2020, it gave me even more motivation to find the key to unlock such dedication for myself!

I can't go any further without mentioning a book that has been highly influential to me and is maybe the whole reason for my change in habit. I've mentioned it before, so you might know what's coming next. 😉 I read The Happiness Project in the first days of January 2021, and it came at exactly the right time to influence my whole year.

Before I go any further I want to emphasize that I'm only sharing what worked for me, and someone else might not have the same results. The Happiness Project is not everyone's cup of tea, and that's totally fine. Somehow it connected with me, though. Gretchen shares her own experience with discovering how to exercise more, and I found her research on exercise, habit forming, and other topics very compelling. I trialed some of her practical advice and found it works! She elaborates more on making and breaking habits in Better Than Before, another book that helped me think differently. 

To get started on my goal of walking 500 miles, I decided to ask someone to do it with me. We both use the Map My Walk app, and can keep track of each other's progress. I'm not a competitive person, but in this case it provided motivation to stay on track. When I was ahead, I wanted to stay ahead, so if that meant walking a little farther, I'd do it! This competition didn't last more than a few months, but it was long enough for me to start seeing benefits, which gave me continued motivation. Once I started experiencing the physical and mental benefits of improved mood and more strength, I didn't want to stop! 

With my work schedule at LVHN, I was usually able to go on a walk after work. When I decided to change jobs, I knew it wouldn't be possible anymore with a different schedule and fewer daylight hours as we headed towards winter. By then, exercise was high on my priority list. I started researching different options and soon realized I'd have to find something to do indoors. I've always hated exercising inside, and especially loathed a treadmill. It seems so boring, staying in one place and not seeing any scenery. There's no way I could stick with something I hated doing. I've been hearing a lot about the Peloton bike, and the concept of trainer-led workouts to hold your attention piqued my interest. After a lot of research, we decided to invest in a NordicTrack s22i (see details here). 

There were several reasons we decided on this bike over a Peloton, and I'm not going into that part of it. Overall, I'm extremely happy with it! I haven't gotten bored and I look forward to my workouts. It was a considerable investment, but it's already proven to be worth it.

One of the things Gretchen Rubin talks about is the strategy of the clean slate. The idea is that any type of transition can wipe the slate of old habits and be the start of a new habit. Transitions can be things like a new baby, a new school, a new manager, a new job, or even a new car. She says, "Start the way you want to continue". So if you buy a new car and decide from day one you're not going to eat in the car, that can be the beginning of forming a habit of not eating in the car. I used this strategy when I started working at Gehman Accounting. I decided to exercise before work every day. From day one, I got up and biked for an hour before work. I've missed a few days, but I've always regretted it when I started out the day feeling sluggish as a consequence. Now I'm in that routine, it's simply a part of my day, just like driving to work.

To sum it up, here's what worked for me.

1. My mindset changed as a result of reading The Happiness Project and Better Than Before.

2. Exercise became top priority once I truly realized how it affected my physical and mental well-being. (Not just knowing this in my head.)

3. I formed a new habit by linking it to a transitional period in my life.

Also, it's important to rest. I usually don't exercise more than 5 days a week, and my workouts are far from hard-core. Sleep needs to be high on the priority list too. In order to get up before 5, I go to bed before 9. 

Please know I don't claim to have it all figured out! There's many other areas of my life I wish I could get a grip on. I'm still learning, but happy for progress.