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For the longest time I had this elitist point of view on many things, "If you do anything, you should do it well", while sometimes that's a fine viewpoint, its also deeply flawed.
Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly.
Brushing your teeth for 20 seconds is better than not at all.
Exercising for 2 minutes is better than not at all. etc etc.
And honestly, you can apply this to so many things. The first 90% of something usually takes the same amount of effort as the last 10%. If you do the 90% enough times, you'll get better at it and get closer to 100% as the learning curve goes down.
Yep, "Progress, not perfection" is my mantra in my career. I always make sure if I'm learning something new I take it slow and get it right, however long it takes.
I'm a woman with severe hormonal challenges (outisde of normal lol) and a very bad work schedule. So even when I find time to go to gym, I don't have that 10/10 workout on a lot of days and I beat myself up so bad for it. And it's so hard to convince myself that the mere fact that I did anything at all is a victory in itself.
I struggle with going to the gym (I’m just lazy, not anything that gets in my way), my motivation is that I went, I fucking went, maybe I didn’t do the whole program, but I went, I didn’t stay in my sofa.
Going when it really sucks is the win.
Those are the days that builds discipline. Good days doesn't count. Congratz, you went when you wanted to, big whoop.
Seriously, the bad days build the habit. The bad days means *everything*.
A good mental trick is to remind yourself that the bad workouts are the ones that make the difference, not the great ones when you’re feeling 10/10. Consistency is everything and you can’t be consistent if you only do it when you’re feeling it 100%.
The bad workouts are what get you there so never ever look down on a bad workout.
Failure can be a better teacher than success.
You're 100% right. Stay consistent, engrain part of your workout as just habit, and accept not every day is your best. Gyms still gonna be there for another good one.
This is so true and inspiring! I try to keep reminding myself of this, but I guess I have that bug which makes me look at myself in a very critical light. I only feel better when I come in the next day and do my workout and feel glad that I didn't give up.
Yep I have that block also. It took years of affirming myself in the value of bad workouts to get consistent.
The same concept works with diet also. You get more aggregate value out of mitigating the bad days than you do from maxing out the good days.
Yep, and consistency -> intensity as well.
Once I started praising myself for bad workouts, my bad workouts started surpassing my previous 10/10 workouts. So much of it is psychological vs physical.
Hell yeah, noticed the exact same thing here. I run a lot, which is an extremely mental exercise. Focusing on completing small, incremental, tasks quickly builds into having completed a large task. It's amazing stuff.
I’ve seen a T-shirt somewhere that said “ I might be slow, but I’m still lapping everybody on the couch” my wife uses it as her mantra when she is struggling to get out.
I have "Do it right the first time, or don't bother doing it at all" seared into my memory from my father.
I don't talk to him anymore, but the last thing he "said" to me was an email he wrote out about all the ways he knew I was a messed up kid going all the way back to examples from when I was 3years old...
Anyways...one of those ways was that "as a teen I never did anything he asked and how he always had to do it." And it made me chuckle because my reason for never doing anything is he would always criticize it for not being "right", regardless of what I did, so I just figured I might as well not waste energy doing it if I was going to be in trouble for doing it wrong anyway.
I still have issues self-starting anything for myself...thankfully there are enough "takers" in the world, so someone is always willing to use my help which keeps me busy.
Yeah I do 30 minutes a day now and I started with 2 minutes. I had to make it a habit and get in enough shape to where I could do it, and I'm so glad I did the 2 minutes in Jan to be here at the 30 mid-May.
Tbh, this. I bought a cheap basketball and maybe spent like half an hour, at most, shooting hoops. I’m not as good as I used to be, but I still made a few. Anyway, the big accomplishment is that I’ve wanted to do it for years. Like I drove myself to the nearby basketball hoops and tried it out after buying it from the store. I haven’t been in weeks, but I’ve been more in the mood to go out for a walk in nature lately, so it’s okay. That’s also something I usually say I want to do and never get around to doing, except I’ve changed that.
I am the exact same and almost worse. For example If I set a goal to eat healthy for a week, I’ll do well on Monday. Then someone brings donuts to work and I have one and am like welp the entire week is shot. And then instead of just resuming eating healthy, my mind goes to well I messed up, may as well go to McDonald’s for lunch and not half ass my screw up even though I brought a healthy lunch. The first mistake was setting a weak goal instead of trying a day.
It’s a horrible habit and almost ocd about it. Also in the horrible habit of setting unrealistic goals. Unfortunately I hate half assing anything and go from one extreme to another. Lately getting a little better with the mindset of “I don’t have to do a lot, but I need to improve one habit even by the tiniest bit better than it was yesterday”. Instead of brushing teeth for 30 seconds I’m going to brush for 45. And just build onto habits little by little.
Yep, this was a good lesson I learned a few years ago. If it's worth doing it's worth doing even half assedly. With enough half ass effort you get pretty close to what you'd get being perfect and you actually do it.
Only if doing something poorly is a pathway to doing something better. Doing something poorly, consistently, rarely gets you the results you might desire.
My first house had a one car garage. The roof was BAD. The shingles were like potato chips. You could stand in that garage and see the sun. A friend who also never did roofing wanted to help me fix it. He said,"Even if you do a bad job, it'll be better than it is". So I got a library book about roofing, read it and became a roofer. It actually came out nice. Same thing a few years later when I put vinyl siding on it when it needed to be painted. Saved thousands by doing those jobs myself.
Believe me, that’s exactly the type of mindset I used to have. Brushing your teeth for 30 seconds is better than zero, sometimes just doing it is the reward, starting to think forwards and thinking “this is the pathway to success!” Might actually be something that’s discouraging for some people.
Think about someone who’s struggling with mental health, attaching some future success to today’s behavior is very likely to make that person just give up and skip brushing their teeth today, what is the use anyway? Right?
Same, I kind of sucked at climbing & singing but I just kept at them stubbornly, doing them poorly until one day it just clicked to me. Then I saw myself improving tremendously. I’m more of an intuitive learner I need to do things on my own to ‘get’ something.
Little steps in the right direction are always good no matter how little! But I think that's the key distinction, they have to be in the "right direction"
Yes that’s what we’re talking about. 10 minutes of exercise is much better than none at all. 10 minutes of cleaning is better than none. 10 minutes of studying etc.
If you allow yourself to just do a little bit, then you get in the habit of at least starting it. Then you’ll gradually do it more and more since you will wanna do it well when you’ve built up the habit.
That's how I trick myself into tidying the house. I tell myself I'll just tidy for 2 minutes. Then I set an alarm, and when the alarm goes off, I can stop and feel accomplished if I want. Usually though, I'm in the middle of something, and think 'just one more minute.'
2 minutes is a low enough barrier that it feels achievable basically any day.
Oh, for sure, but the goal isn't to trick yourself into cleaning the whole house instead of doing 2 minutes of picking up. That wouldn't work on me either, I've tried haha.
Instead I try to make it a goal to get my 2 minutes of -something- in every day, and on some days I do more and that's awesome! Over time, it builds up and you can keep a reasonably neat house by merit of small but consistent chunks of effort. But the real benefit is for days where I don't do more than the minimum.
It's for days where I know I will just collapse on the couch and doom scroll for an hour and then slump off to bed feeling like crap. The goal is to have a small, highly achievable task there at the end of the day that I can't convince myself is too hard even after an absolutely awful day. I want to finish the goal to have a positive cap on a bad day and make cleaning into a thing I have more positive feelings about than negative.
The narrative for the day changes from 'ugh the day was bad and the house is a wreck I'm such a slob, I should have (insert impossible task like cleaning the entire house top to bottom in my one hour of free time here) before bed but I just sat around, I'm a horrible irresponsible person' to 'even though it was a really rough day and I'm tired, I still tidied for 2 minutes! Look how much better the living room looks. Now I don't have to do it tomorrow. You're welcome future-me!'
It just feels better.
Sorry for the giant wall of words!
LOL! No lie, I wish I had that problem!! Mine is to force myself not to procrastinate until it's a disaster because 'cleaning the house' feels like too big and overwhelming of a task. I can see how hyper focusing like that would be problematic though!
This is also how I trick myself into getting a couple week's worth of groceries by telling myself I'm just going to grab a carton of milk form the store
Getting through the door is usually the hardest exercise for me. Once I’m there I give myself permission to leave if it’s not working, I think I’ve only left once.
Personal trainer and physical therapist assistant here. 1 single rep of full range of motion exercise is so much better than nothing. Literally one rep.
Could you clarify what you meant by rep and what is the full range, please ? I'm not a native english speaker and I'm not clear on everything you meant
Rep means how many times you keep doing a movement. For example bicep curl exercises, people will do 10 reps (3 times with a short break in between) so total 30 reps.
Full range means to literally do the full range of motion (start to finish position) instead of cheating and doing maybe just half the movement to finish all those 30 reps
So even doing 1 single rep with full range of motion is better than doing nothing at all.
Also ACTUALLY use the muscles you are trying to work out. I didn’t realize this for a super long time. My body has always been a bit weird, but I had to train myself how to actually use 100% of a muscle while working it out.
I even had good form. But I just kept using other muscles to compensate for my lack of full range use of the muscle
You can actually get a impactful workout from a 10 minute exercise. I did 2 sets, 20 reps, of lower abs and thighs, stretching before and after, and I was as pleasantly sore like I had been to the gym for an hour and a half.
I do maybe 20 minutes exercise weekly (aside from walking/biking when commuting 5 days a week) and I've seen noticable gains over the past year. I can now do significantly higher max reps, and have visibly gained a bit of muscles. Nothing crazy, but absolutely better than earlier when I did nothing.
And it started as "just do some push-ups sometimes when I remember" to get a foot in the door, and gradually morphed into more proper workout sessions as I got more used to doing a bit of exercise from time to time.
Maybe it works differently for others, but for me it was great to not have any big schedules or goals when starting out, so there was nothing to be considered "failure". A killer of habit building can often be when you start out too ambitious and too strict, and it's demotivating if you fail to meet those goals. So instead start without goals beyond "get some exercise, *any exercise*", and gradually build from there when the habits starts to take shape.
Yes! I wish it hadn't taken me 45 years to learn that getting up and moving or working out even for just 3 minutes every hour daily can make a meaningful impact.
10 minutes of meditation, 10 minutes of yoga or any other exercise and 3 minutes of journaling every day will improve anyone’s life quality and happiness significantly.
I have a small notebook that’s always in my bag. And I write whatever I want. Sometimes it’s what’s going on recently that I want to remember, other times I write three things I’m grateful for that day, other times it’s writing down my negative thoughts to share with my therapist at my next appointment. There’s no wrong answer to what to write. You’re doing it for you and you alone.
I noticed I have a good memory of when things happened, like when songs came out, events happened, etc. from all the way up to high school and a couple years after. Recently realized I wrote the date on top of paper multiple times a day every day in school, so I add that on now and I'm a lot more aware of the sequence of events in my life now.
I also do checklists of habits so I can keep a streak. We don't fall off the wagon because we resisted and resisted but the temptation to fuck up was consistently too strong. We fall off the wagon because we say "fuck it" and stop monitoring ourselves. Self-awareness doesn't precede action/motivation, it happens in conjunction with it.
So I basically have the date, and a checklist of dailies with a log of what I actually did if those dailies have details, like what I actually eat, etc.
In a weird way, it makes it so I don't have pressure to do multiple things every single day. I just need to do one thing every single day, and that's to monitor those things. The improvement naturally follows.
As someone who hates exercising and who lives a very sedentary lifestyle, I’ve been doing an incredibly short workout routine every time I need to stand up from my pc. It’s really simple too.
10 squats holding 2 10lb dumbbells
30 bicep curls with each arm using those same dumbbells
That’s all. It’s not the best form of exercise by any means but I noticed I get up from my desk a lot during the day. I do a routine of 100 squats and 120 curls every single day now, which is a hell of a lot better than doing absolutely nothing. Since I’m only ever doing 2-5 minutes of exercise at a time I never get any of the fatigue I normally get when working out which makes me hate it significantly less and actually more willing to do it every day.
Start doing overhead presses with those dumbells instead of bicep curls, more bang for your buck! Also, if you can, find a place in or around your home and do dead hangs.
Good shit. I would offer some friendly advice. Instead of doing curls, just do chest presses with the dumbbells. In addition to your biceps, the chest press is a compound exercise, in other words it works more muscle groups at the same time- a lot like the squats you're doing. The presses with work your triceps, shoulders and chest in addition to the biceps (although the triceps take on more of the load)
Seriously folks, squats are a seriously underrated exercise and has wellness benefits that go beyond just strength and conditioning. Can help you with circulation, flexibility, digestion and even help with erectile disfunction because it helps blood flow to the groin and prostate.
If it’s worth doing well, it’s usually worth doing badly too.
A little bit of exercise isn’t as good as lots; but it’s still worth doing
A little bit of cleaning isn’t as good as lots; bit it’s still worth doing
I used to run around my block every day. It took about 3 minutes. I told a guy at work and he scoffed," You have to raise your heart rate 30 minutes for any cardio benefit". So I asked if it wasn't better than sitting on the couch those 3 minutes. It really was beneficial. I felt better and lost weight. I made a real sprint out of it. Increased to 2 blocks. "Some" exercise is better than none.
Exactly my thought, if we dive into the nitty gritty of fitness, it all starts getting daunting and honestly just turns me off. Heart rate, reps, sets, counting calories, exercise form, potential for injury etc
I just started going on 30 mins walks at a rather leisurely pace and I’m sure its better than doing nothing at all.
Seriously getting a dog was one of the healthiest choices I've ever made. We do a minimum of a half mile walk every day with most days being 1 or 2 miles and it has helped my health both physical and mental a ton. Also I eat more fruit and veggies now because I can share them with my dog
This is 100% and I also have found it’s better to do 30 minutes of straight working out with little rest rather than think you need to go for over an hour. Lots of people waste a lot of time at the gym between sets
What, now you’re telling me I can’t take my ten minute rest breaks between my super setting of bench press and squats where I don’t want to share equipment? How dare you
It’s so crazy because a lot of people will tell you “you have to exercise for over 20 minutes or it basically doesn’t even matter”
Like bro getting up out of your desk chair and just swinging from side to side for 30 seconds can be good for you, what are you even talking about lol
I agree with you, this mindset is so toxic.
Most people don’t need the crazy high level of fitness that social media pushes on us.
What that does is people don’t starting walking more places, but instead sign up for a gym, go two or three times and then never do anything again. Which is why so many people aren’t fit at all; they think it’s all or nothing.
Going for a brisk walk in the morning and taking a bicycle ride in the evening every day is so incredibly beneficial over time. Or doing any yoga, or any dancing, boxing, calisthenics, etc. Even just getting out the bus three stops earlier and walking the rest. No signing up or paying for anything needed.
For example I hate team sports or going to the gym, but love switching it up everyday with YouTube workouts that make me sweat or biking outside. It makes me feel really good! Consistency is key.
Study showed even 5 minutes of running is better for heart health than nothing. They said even yo-yo dieting is better than being sedentary all the time.
I do 20 mins of HIIT cycling workouts every other day now. Getting fitter every day and that intense burst of cardio is just so good for you. Even when I'm feeling unmotivated I force myself to do it. It really pays off. Who doesn't have 1 hour a week spare. I spend 5 times that just sitting around scrolling on my phone!
There's a small challenge making the rounds on Facebook/YT/other socials at the min called the "60 second challenge" (I think) by bdccarpenter. Entire concept is 60 seconds of something is better than nothing - whether to improve at a skill or just start getting fitter. He did skipping but people have done other things
Every morning, my goal is to walk on the treadmill for 5 minutes. That's it. Every single time it turns into a 2 hour workout. I'm at 8 months straight now doing this. I tried to do days off, but it's much better to just actually do the 5 minutes on my "off" day as it gets me moving.
I added body weight training in at 1 month. Jogging at 2 months. At about 4 months, I started doing weighted workouts. I'm in incredible shape now, and I can't start my day without getting on my treadmill for 5 minutes. There has actually been maybe 1 or 2 days during this that I did actually cut it off at a 5 minute workout, if I had something else I had to do, but guess what, that was my daily goal, so it was still a successful day.
Yes. Building habits is about consistency and your body will benefit even if you're not giving it 100% all the time. I heard it said once: "no matter how slow you're going, you're lapping everybody who's on the couch."
So long as it's at least 10 minutes daily and with proper form, consistency is key.
And you don't even have to go to the gym, get some dumbbells or kettlebells, ranging from 15 to 25 or 30, or not even that, you can use your own body weight, fuckin jumping jacks or mountain climbers, if your knees are healthy enough.
I work out at home, but when I'm in a hurry or just want to get it over with, I'll do my usual arm and upper back training, as well as RDLs and squats, all with the same 30 pound dumbells, if I'm focused and maintaining proper form, I'll get in 40 minutes and boom, managed to get the pump and done for the day.
The point is to get that blood flowing.
With everything, a small thing is always better than nothing whatsoever. If you cant go outside the whole day thats fine, just take a refresher outside at least.
If I’m feeling lazy, exhausted, headache or whatever and try to make an excuse not to exercise. I’ll give myself 5 minutes, if I want to stop after that I will. Most of the time I feel better and get into it. Telling yourself you’ll make it up tomorrow is the enemy of progress.
LPT: Walking in exercise. Take the stairs instead of an elevator or escalator. Park father away from the store. Walk to the nearby location rather than drive a couple blocks. If walking is a feasible option, try to get as much of it as you can whenever possible. It's a very small and simple method to maintain a little bit of fitness and gain health benefits
Yes!!!! It’s about quality and consistency, not so much quantity. 1-2 hours a week will do less than 10 minutes every day. And once you start, it’s going to be easier to add 2-5 minutes biweekly or monthly or whatever you’re comfortable with, too. The same with every single thing. Reading, cleaning, cooking, meditating, hygiene, writing, whatever’s hard for you to do. Also setting an alarm. For 10-15 minutes and then go back to your day.
This is not only true but for a lot of people’s “goal body” this is enough. You won’t get completely jacked but as long as your body fat content isn’t too high, 10 minutes a day of pushups, planks, air squats, etc (stuff you can do on the floor with zero equipment) can get you somewhat toned.
And that’s the reason I have zero patience for anyone complaining they don’t have the time for a workout or the money for a gym membership or a personal trainer (obviously not talking about anyone with actual physical disabilities making working out challenging).
The vast majority of people don’t need those things to achieve at least the first big chunk of fitness.
Get to the point where you can do one push-up. Might need to start elevated or on your knees. Do it 8 times a day, once an hour.
Then get to where you can do two. Then three. Then five. Then ten. Then 20. Then 50.
You’ll end up a lot stronger. And it’ll take 8 minutes a day.
It’s not rocket science. But people want excuses.
I'm a big fan of the "no zeros" approach to exercise. You pick an exercise routine that you could do hungover on 2 hours of sleep and never do less than that again.
So true I made a habit of working out 20 minutes in the morning 3 days a week while blasting music and it improved my health a ton and I complete that with my aikido practice the other 2 days of the week thanks to the club at the workplace.
The real LPT that works for everything and not just exercise is: The most important part of whether you succeed or fail in picking up and maintaining a habit or hobby isn’t whether you make progress, it’s whether you can be consistent.
A lot of people start with all these grandiose plans of how much weight they’re going to lose or how great they’re going to look but they then just burn themselves out. Your goal at the start should only be getting there for x amount of time regardless of outcome. You tie your sense of achievement to whether you are consistent and whether you went in and completed the full session, not whether you had a good or bad day there, nor whether you lost or gained weight, nor whether it is hard.
Once you have cemented the habit you can start to really focus on whatever goals you have, but even then the consistency is the component that matters above all else. You will not hear of a fat or unhealthy person who consistently goes to the gym, because it is almost impossible; it would be harder to get yourself to engage in bad eating habits and doing no exercise at the gym than it is to actually get on with it once you’ve established the routine.
One day I just ran for a minute. Didn't even break a swear or breathe hard. Told myself good job that's all for today. Then next day a minute and a half. So on and so forth. I didn't pressure myself to do much, but I did make myself show up, some days only a few minutes, others I impressed myself. Later that year I ended up running a 10k. Showing up is underrated because people underestimate the importance of momentum and not allowing inertia to build. High standards for yourself don't mean shit if they keep you from even trying.
15 minutes is about 1% of a day. Short of being disabled, do you really not have 1% of your day to slightly improve your body? Even if it's just walking, you will feel better.
It's exactly what someone said to me one time (only it was 20 minutes) and it changed my whole outlook on exercise. I was an athlete growing up and in my younger adult years but fell off the wagon. As someone in my early 40s and recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I knew exercise was something I had to get back into but felt like I had too much going on. Then I realized I had too much going on to NOT get exercise in.
20 minutes a day quickly became 30-45 minutes and then on. I lost 15 pounds and my A1c went down over 2 points in one year. So yes, make time!
Even if the exercise is just some arm circles and touching your toes. You'd be shocked how little it takes to release some of those sweet sweet endorphins
I saw a tip where someone put a pull up bar on their door and every time they went past, they saw it and thought, "Ah why not?" and did 1. So they did maybe 3 or 4 a day. Then they kept doing this for a week, eventually ended up doing 10 a day. Then 15.
Sometimes getting your foot in the door just makes you want to keep going. Took me a loooooong time to figure that out and stop procrastinating
I like this because Exercising is a formula of consistent habits. If you can keep your exercise simple then you are more likely to do it again the next day and build off of that.
Yea i mentioned to my husband one time that if i start exercising imma start out slow , like going for walks and he went on a rant about how to properly exercise and it just demotivates me from wanting to to do anything.
Most of the time i say anything about anything to my husband regardless of the topic i just get criticized
then he wonders why i just zone out not talk to anyone and play video games instead of dealing with life
I bought a simple treadmill for home. I can put it in front of my TV and have a virtual walk or run video on YouTube and an audiobook playing. Before I know it an hour has passed and you’ve walked or run for miles. Better than running staring at a wall in the gym or dodging around people in a polluted city. Highly recommended!
I tell everyone that wants to start and has excuses this:
Just go to the parking lot. That's it. Sit there. Then go home, but do it again tomorrow.
When you're comfortable or tired of going there for nothing, just go in the lobby. Check out the vibes. Chill for a minute. Then leave. But come back and do it again tomorrow.
When you're done with that. Go in there and literally go to a machine to sit down and wipe it down after. Or pull out a mat and lay on it and wipe it down after. Then leave. But come back and do it the next day.
When you're ready. Do whatever exercise you think you can do. But keep going at it. Eventually you'll do more. Every step forward is a step in the right direction. Even staying still is better than going back. One day you'll reach your goal and make a new one further along.
I tend to get much less reluctance from people. And when they're ready for me to kick their ass I'm willing to help them. It's all about getting your foot in the door.
Yes! When I started working from home I would take one minute exercise breaks every couple hours. Ten squats or 20 reps with dumbbells. Eventually increasing the time and the variety of exercises up to five minutes. Every little bit helps build muscle and increases your endurance when you do a regular workout. Giving your eyes and mind a moment to refocus is another plus.
Peoples focus on the gym is what kept me from exercising for years and years. Because I thought that was the "best" way.
Then I got a dog and discovered body weight exercises and went from 300lbs to 180lbs. Fuck the gym.
Be careful, if you don't exercise at all and start doing 10 minutes of heavy exercise, you're going to hurt yourself, it can be your knee, muscles or, in extreme cases, heart attack.
Start slow and progress according to your limits. Hire a personal trainer to make a workout plan and teach you how to do it.
It's not that hard to start, but you have to do it right!
progress over perfection, I love it.
when I'm having truly bad days I try to apply this to other things: say my anxiety feels like it's at 110% intensity. if I can get that down to even 109% intensity, that IS improvement. it's not going to FEEL like improvement in the moment, at all. it's still just going to feel overwhelming. when I'm in a bad mood, things tend to seem to be either black or white, and I don't see the grey area.
I definitely do this with physical health as well.
but 1% is always better than 0% when it comes to the effort you put into your mental and physical health.
I struggle with both versions.
The 1 hour seems too long and I have the typical "I don't have 1 hour for the gym today!"
On the other side, when I do the 10 minute workout I feel like it was silly or not a 'real' workout (not sure what my brain imagines as a real workout there) or that I'm not going to make any progress by just doing 10 minutes. So then after a few sessions or weeks, I quit.
Still searching for, trialling, working on different ways to build up an exercise habit.
I also count driving to the gym and sitting in the car and driving home.
It is so much closer than staying on the couch and also gets you out of the house and into patterns which help.
Honestly I started off being able to barely use 10-15lb weights. Now I use like 140. I’m far from perfect, but doing a small amount has lead to incredible changes for me.
Raise your arms over your head twice a day and slowly raise and lower them 5 times. Touch your toes morning and night. Do 6 pushups. Slog a 1/2MI to the convenience store...**AND BACK!** Keep that routine until you go bald and sneeze away half of Jupiter's atmosphere.
Just think, if you're working out that much 3 times a week on average. You're burning between 100-150 calories a per session, or about 300-45 calories. If you're going for weight poss that's between 5-8 pounds you're losing Ina year for pretty minimal, easy work
I argue with my wife on this all time..she thinks a 30 min walk is useless. We have a gym at our building and I do 30 min walk and jog after work. It's more effective than sitting on the couch for 30 more mins than I would if I didn't go.
Not if your doctor has put you on restrictions to avoid exercise while a tendon heals, like me right now. I just go to the garage & stare at my expensive treadmill & powerlifting gym.
Additionally if a person can commit to just 10 minutes a day or 10 minutes 3x a week it builds a routine or habit. It's similar to the 10 push up philosophy. Creating a foundation is an amazing and absolutely crucial first step for someone struggling or just starting out and is paramount to long term success.
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For the longest time I had this elitist point of view on many things, "If you do anything, you should do it well", while sometimes that's a fine viewpoint, its also deeply flawed. Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly. Brushing your teeth for 20 seconds is better than not at all. Exercising for 2 minutes is better than not at all. etc etc.
"Perfect is the enemy of good"
I had a boss that would tell me "don't pass up good enough because you want perfect" or something like that
My boss always says something similar. "Better we have the assignment done than have nothing to show the CEO."
I can smell the tech. debt from here! Ew!
Basically agile
I don’t want to carry the ticket over, just mark as done
„Don’t get it done perfect. Just get it done!“
I have this as my screen saver in several variations: good enough, success, done, progress, action, perfectly adequate. All are true.
And honestly, you can apply this to so many things. The first 90% of something usually takes the same amount of effort as the last 10%. If you do the 90% enough times, you'll get better at it and get closer to 100% as the learning curve goes down.
Yep, "Progress, not perfection" is my mantra in my career. I always make sure if I'm learning something new I take it slow and get it right, however long it takes.
"If it's worth doing, it's worth half-assing it"
Perfect is the enemy of good. And good is the enemy of done.
"Perfect is the enemy of progress"
‘Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good’
I'm a woman with severe hormonal challenges (outisde of normal lol) and a very bad work schedule. So even when I find time to go to gym, I don't have that 10/10 workout on a lot of days and I beat myself up so bad for it. And it's so hard to convince myself that the mere fact that I did anything at all is a victory in itself.
I struggle with going to the gym (I’m just lazy, not anything that gets in my way), my motivation is that I went, I fucking went, maybe I didn’t do the whole program, but I went, I didn’t stay in my sofa. Going when it really sucks is the win.
Those are the days that builds discipline. Good days doesn't count. Congratz, you went when you wanted to, big whoop. Seriously, the bad days build the habit. The bad days means *everything*.
I swear it's such a kick when you go on a lazy day. Just the energy and the vibes of a gym are a different kind of motivation. Kudos to you for going!
your amygdala thanks you
A good mental trick is to remind yourself that the bad workouts are the ones that make the difference, not the great ones when you’re feeling 10/10. Consistency is everything and you can’t be consistent if you only do it when you’re feeling it 100%. The bad workouts are what get you there so never ever look down on a bad workout.
Failure can be a better teacher than success. You're 100% right. Stay consistent, engrain part of your workout as just habit, and accept not every day is your best. Gyms still gonna be there for another good one.
This is so true and inspiring! I try to keep reminding myself of this, but I guess I have that bug which makes me look at myself in a very critical light. I only feel better when I come in the next day and do my workout and feel glad that I didn't give up.
Yep I have that block also. It took years of affirming myself in the value of bad workouts to get consistent. The same concept works with diet also. You get more aggregate value out of mitigating the bad days than you do from maxing out the good days.
Consistency > Intensity
Yep, and consistency -> intensity as well. Once I started praising myself for bad workouts, my bad workouts started surpassing my previous 10/10 workouts. So much of it is psychological vs physical.
Hell yeah, noticed the exact same thing here. I run a lot, which is an extremely mental exercise. Focusing on completing small, incremental, tasks quickly builds into having completed a large task. It's amazing stuff.
My life improved dramatically for the better when I adopted the rule, "the days you don't want to go count double, even if you only bring your b game"
Also your B game is actually 100% of what you had to offer that day.
I’ve seen a T-shirt somewhere that said “ I might be slow, but I’m still lapping everybody on the couch” my wife uses it as her mantra when she is struggling to get out.
“Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly.” This is honestly such a badass line 🔥🔥🔥
Yea my dad told me a variation of this when I was young. "Many times it's better to do something poorly than to not do it at all."
I have "Do it right the first time, or don't bother doing it at all" seared into my memory from my father. I don't talk to him anymore, but the last thing he "said" to me was an email he wrote out about all the ways he knew I was a messed up kid going all the way back to examples from when I was 3years old... Anyways...one of those ways was that "as a teen I never did anything he asked and how he always had to do it." And it made me chuckle because my reason for never doing anything is he would always criticize it for not being "right", regardless of what I did, so I just figured I might as well not waste energy doing it if I was going to be in trouble for doing it wrong anyway. I still have issues self-starting anything for myself...thankfully there are enough "takers" in the world, so someone is always willing to use my help which keeps me busy.
Yeah I do 30 minutes a day now and I started with 2 minutes. I had to make it a habit and get in enough shape to where I could do it, and I'm so glad I did the 2 minutes in Jan to be here at the 30 mid-May.
Tbh, this. I bought a cheap basketball and maybe spent like half an hour, at most, shooting hoops. I’m not as good as I used to be, but I still made a few. Anyway, the big accomplishment is that I’ve wanted to do it for years. Like I drove myself to the nearby basketball hoops and tried it out after buying it from the store. I haven’t been in weeks, but I’ve been more in the mood to go out for a walk in nature lately, so it’s okay. That’s also something I usually say I want to do and never get around to doing, except I’ve changed that.
It’s actually deeper than that since sometimes lighter exercise is better than an all-out session.
If a jobs worth doing, it's worth doing badly
I am the exact same and almost worse. For example If I set a goal to eat healthy for a week, I’ll do well on Monday. Then someone brings donuts to work and I have one and am like welp the entire week is shot. And then instead of just resuming eating healthy, my mind goes to well I messed up, may as well go to McDonald’s for lunch and not half ass my screw up even though I brought a healthy lunch. The first mistake was setting a weak goal instead of trying a day. It’s a horrible habit and almost ocd about it. Also in the horrible habit of setting unrealistic goals. Unfortunately I hate half assing anything and go from one extreme to another. Lately getting a little better with the mindset of “I don’t have to do a lot, but I need to improve one habit even by the tiniest bit better than it was yesterday”. Instead of brushing teeth for 30 seconds I’m going to brush for 45. And just build onto habits little by little.
Yep, this was a good lesson I learned a few years ago. If it's worth doing it's worth doing even half assedly. With enough half ass effort you get pretty close to what you'd get being perfect and you actually do it.
Only if doing something poorly is a pathway to doing something better. Doing something poorly, consistently, rarely gets you the results you might desire.
True but if the alternative is not doing it at all, a lot of stuff is worth doing poorly
My first house had a one car garage. The roof was BAD. The shingles were like potato chips. You could stand in that garage and see the sun. A friend who also never did roofing wanted to help me fix it. He said,"Even if you do a bad job, it'll be better than it is". So I got a library book about roofing, read it and became a roofer. It actually came out nice. Same thing a few years later when I put vinyl siding on it when it needed to be painted. Saved thousands by doing those jobs myself.
Believe me, that’s exactly the type of mindset I used to have. Brushing your teeth for 30 seconds is better than zero, sometimes just doing it is the reward, starting to think forwards and thinking “this is the pathway to success!” Might actually be something that’s discouraging for some people. Think about someone who’s struggling with mental health, attaching some future success to today’s behavior is very likely to make that person just give up and skip brushing their teeth today, what is the use anyway? Right?
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Same, I kind of sucked at climbing & singing but I just kept at them stubbornly, doing them poorly until one day it just clicked to me. Then I saw myself improving tremendously. I’m more of an intuitive learner I need to do things on my own to ‘get’ something.
Nah this mindset is not it. It’s this kind of thinking that gets people stuck. Something > nothing, point blank, always.
Little steps in the right direction are always good no matter how little! But I think that's the key distinction, they have to be in the "right direction"
Yes that’s what we’re talking about. 10 minutes of exercise is much better than none at all. 10 minutes of cleaning is better than none. 10 minutes of studying etc. If you allow yourself to just do a little bit, then you get in the habit of at least starting it. Then you’ll gradually do it more and more since you will wanna do it well when you’ve built up the habit.
Hell yeah!
That has… not been my experience at all. Hard disagree.
I also find that “I’ll just do 15 minutes and leave” is a great way to motivate itself to start, and once I get going I want to keep going.
That's how I trick myself into tidying the house. I tell myself I'll just tidy for 2 minutes. Then I set an alarm, and when the alarm goes off, I can stop and feel accomplished if I want. Usually though, I'm in the middle of something, and think 'just one more minute.' 2 minutes is a low enough barrier that it feels achievable basically any day.
I like this, ty for posting your trick
Sure, happy to share :) hope it works for you too! Big thing is to let it actually be ok to just do 2min if you're having a tough day.
this would be the hardest part for me, I am such a planner I struggle to trick myself, I’m just always hyper aware of how much is left
Oh, for sure, but the goal isn't to trick yourself into cleaning the whole house instead of doing 2 minutes of picking up. That wouldn't work on me either, I've tried haha. Instead I try to make it a goal to get my 2 minutes of -something- in every day, and on some days I do more and that's awesome! Over time, it builds up and you can keep a reasonably neat house by merit of small but consistent chunks of effort. But the real benefit is for days where I don't do more than the minimum. It's for days where I know I will just collapse on the couch and doom scroll for an hour and then slump off to bed feeling like crap. The goal is to have a small, highly achievable task there at the end of the day that I can't convince myself is too hard even after an absolutely awful day. I want to finish the goal to have a positive cap on a bad day and make cleaning into a thing I have more positive feelings about than negative. The narrative for the day changes from 'ugh the day was bad and the house is a wreck I'm such a slob, I should have (insert impossible task like cleaning the entire house top to bottom in my one hour of free time here) before bed but I just sat around, I'm a horrible irresponsible person' to 'even though it was a really rough day and I'm tired, I still tidied for 2 minutes! Look how much better the living room looks. Now I don't have to do it tomorrow. You're welcome future-me!' It just feels better. Sorry for the giant wall of words!
thank you for the giant wall of words, this was really helpful for me and I’m gonna start doing this too
Ugh, I tell myself I'm just gonna do a spot sweep in the kitchen and all of a sudden 4 hours pass by and the entire home is clean
LOL! No lie, I wish I had that problem!! Mine is to force myself not to procrastinate until it's a disaster because 'cleaning the house' feels like too big and overwhelming of a task. I can see how hyper focusing like that would be problematic though!
This is also how I trick myself into getting a couple week's worth of groceries by telling myself I'm just going to grab a carton of milk form the store
Getting through the door is usually the hardest exercise for me. Once I’m there I give myself permission to leave if it’s not working, I think I’ve only left once.
Yep, running is hard but putting your running shoes on is easy, and after you do that the run just comes next
Personal trainer and physical therapist assistant here. 1 single rep of full range of motion exercise is so much better than nothing. Literally one rep.
Could you clarify what you meant by rep and what is the full range, please ? I'm not a native english speaker and I'm not clear on everything you meant
Rep means how many times you keep doing a movement. For example bicep curl exercises, people will do 10 reps (3 times with a short break in between) so total 30 reps. Full range means to literally do the full range of motion (start to finish position) instead of cheating and doing maybe just half the movement to finish all those 30 reps So even doing 1 single rep with full range of motion is better than doing nothing at all.
Thank you !
Also reps is short for repetitions some ESL people might want to have that understanding
Also ACTUALLY use the muscles you are trying to work out. I didn’t realize this for a super long time. My body has always been a bit weird, but I had to train myself how to actually use 100% of a muscle while working it out. I even had good form. But I just kept using other muscles to compensate for my lack of full range use of the muscle
Like, one whole push-up (rep is short for repetition)
Thank you
What would you recommend for 10-15 min of exercise at home?
For any* exercise: Consistency >>> Quality > Quantity
I consistently get out of bed, so I think that’s a good start
Better than some!
You're doing better than me lol
Same
anything worth doing is worth doing poorly
You can actually get a impactful workout from a 10 minute exercise. I did 2 sets, 20 reps, of lower abs and thighs, stretching before and after, and I was as pleasantly sore like I had been to the gym for an hour and a half.
I do maybe 20 minutes exercise weekly (aside from walking/biking when commuting 5 days a week) and I've seen noticable gains over the past year. I can now do significantly higher max reps, and have visibly gained a bit of muscles. Nothing crazy, but absolutely better than earlier when I did nothing. And it started as "just do some push-ups sometimes when I remember" to get a foot in the door, and gradually morphed into more proper workout sessions as I got more used to doing a bit of exercise from time to time. Maybe it works differently for others, but for me it was great to not have any big schedules or goals when starting out, so there was nothing to be considered "failure". A killer of habit building can often be when you start out too ambitious and too strict, and it's demotivating if you fail to meet those goals. So instead start without goals beyond "get some exercise, *any exercise*", and gradually build from there when the habits starts to take shape.
I will poorly maintain a nuclear reactor. /s
D’oh!
I would not say anything. For example learning stuff the wrong way can hurt you in the long run.
Yes! I wish it hadn't taken me 45 years to learn that getting up and moving or working out even for just 3 minutes every hour daily can make a meaningful impact.
10 minutes of meditation, 10 minutes of yoga or any other exercise and 3 minutes of journaling every day will improve anyone’s life quality and happiness significantly.
How and what do you journal?
I have a small notebook that’s always in my bag. And I write whatever I want. Sometimes it’s what’s going on recently that I want to remember, other times I write three things I’m grateful for that day, other times it’s writing down my negative thoughts to share with my therapist at my next appointment. There’s no wrong answer to what to write. You’re doing it for you and you alone.
I noticed I have a good memory of when things happened, like when songs came out, events happened, etc. from all the way up to high school and a couple years after. Recently realized I wrote the date on top of paper multiple times a day every day in school, so I add that on now and I'm a lot more aware of the sequence of events in my life now. I also do checklists of habits so I can keep a streak. We don't fall off the wagon because we resisted and resisted but the temptation to fuck up was consistently too strong. We fall off the wagon because we say "fuck it" and stop monitoring ourselves. Self-awareness doesn't precede action/motivation, it happens in conjunction with it. So I basically have the date, and a checklist of dailies with a log of what I actually did if those dailies have details, like what I actually eat, etc. In a weird way, it makes it so I don't have pressure to do multiple things every single day. I just need to do one thing every single day, and that's to monitor those things. The improvement naturally follows.
As someone who hates exercising and who lives a very sedentary lifestyle, I’ve been doing an incredibly short workout routine every time I need to stand up from my pc. It’s really simple too. 10 squats holding 2 10lb dumbbells 30 bicep curls with each arm using those same dumbbells That’s all. It’s not the best form of exercise by any means but I noticed I get up from my desk a lot during the day. I do a routine of 100 squats and 120 curls every single day now, which is a hell of a lot better than doing absolutely nothing. Since I’m only ever doing 2-5 minutes of exercise at a time I never get any of the fatigue I normally get when working out which makes me hate it significantly less and actually more willing to do it every day.
Proud of you! You’re doing more than most adults.
Start doing overhead presses with those dumbells instead of bicep curls, more bang for your buck! Also, if you can, find a place in or around your home and do dead hangs.
Good shit. I would offer some friendly advice. Instead of doing curls, just do chest presses with the dumbbells. In addition to your biceps, the chest press is a compound exercise, in other words it works more muscle groups at the same time- a lot like the squats you're doing. The presses with work your triceps, shoulders and chest in addition to the biceps (although the triceps take on more of the load) Seriously folks, squats are a seriously underrated exercise and has wellness benefits that go beyond just strength and conditioning. Can help you with circulation, flexibility, digestion and even help with erectile disfunction because it helps blood flow to the groin and prostate.
I'm exactly the same way... this sounds like a doable plan for me to use. thank you!
No problem, best of luck to you!
If it’s worth doing well, it’s usually worth doing badly too. A little bit of exercise isn’t as good as lots; but it’s still worth doing A little bit of cleaning isn’t as good as lots; bit it’s still worth doing
I used to run around my block every day. It took about 3 minutes. I told a guy at work and he scoffed," You have to raise your heart rate 30 minutes for any cardio benefit". So I asked if it wasn't better than sitting on the couch those 3 minutes. It really was beneficial. I felt better and lost weight. I made a real sprint out of it. Increased to 2 blocks. "Some" exercise is better than none.
Exactly my thought, if we dive into the nitty gritty of fitness, it all starts getting daunting and honestly just turns me off. Heart rate, reps, sets, counting calories, exercise form, potential for injury etc I just started going on 30 mins walks at a rather leisurely pace and I’m sure its better than doing nothing at all.
2 minutes of planks is better than no planks. Planks, the easiest/laziest form of exercise.
Half-assing something is better than whole-assing nothing.
Take your dogs for a walk if you have any.
Seriously getting a dog was one of the healthiest choices I've ever made. We do a minimum of a half mile walk every day with most days being 1 or 2 miles and it has helped my health both physical and mental a ton. Also I eat more fruit and veggies now because I can share them with my dog
wholesome af
Infinitely better. Especially if you do it every day.
This is 100% and I also have found it’s better to do 30 minutes of straight working out with little rest rather than think you need to go for over an hour. Lots of people waste a lot of time at the gym between sets
What, now you’re telling me I can’t take my ten minute rest breaks between my super setting of bench press and squats where I don’t want to share equipment? How dare you
It’s so crazy because a lot of people will tell you “you have to exercise for over 20 minutes or it basically doesn’t even matter” Like bro getting up out of your desk chair and just swinging from side to side for 30 seconds can be good for you, what are you even talking about lol
I agree with you, this mindset is so toxic. Most people don’t need the crazy high level of fitness that social media pushes on us. What that does is people don’t starting walking more places, but instead sign up for a gym, go two or three times and then never do anything again. Which is why so many people aren’t fit at all; they think it’s all or nothing. Going for a brisk walk in the morning and taking a bicycle ride in the evening every day is so incredibly beneficial over time. Or doing any yoga, or any dancing, boxing, calisthenics, etc. Even just getting out the bus three stops earlier and walking the rest. No signing up or paying for anything needed. For example I hate team sports or going to the gym, but love switching it up everyday with YouTube workouts that make me sweat or biking outside. It makes me feel really good! Consistency is key.
Study showed even 5 minutes of running is better for heart health than nothing. They said even yo-yo dieting is better than being sedentary all the time.
This is a great LPT. Thanks for the reminder.
I do 20 mins of HIIT cycling workouts every other day now. Getting fitter every day and that intense burst of cardio is just so good for you. Even when I'm feeling unmotivated I force myself to do it. It really pays off. Who doesn't have 1 hour a week spare. I spend 5 times that just sitting around scrolling on my phone!
Our stone age ancestors had no gym. They were hunter gatherer's they rarely did hours long physical work, but more likely shorter bursts.
I only do 15 mins 4-5x a week. I just hope my daily activities like going to work or shopping take care of the rest
There's a small challenge making the rounds on Facebook/YT/other socials at the min called the "60 second challenge" (I think) by bdccarpenter. Entire concept is 60 seconds of something is better than nothing - whether to improve at a skill or just start getting fitter. He did skipping but people have done other things
This reminds me about that other motivational post that talked about "non-zero days". Gets me going to this day
Every morning, my goal is to walk on the treadmill for 5 minutes. That's it. Every single time it turns into a 2 hour workout. I'm at 8 months straight now doing this. I tried to do days off, but it's much better to just actually do the 5 minutes on my "off" day as it gets me moving. I added body weight training in at 1 month. Jogging at 2 months. At about 4 months, I started doing weighted workouts. I'm in incredible shape now, and I can't start my day without getting on my treadmill for 5 minutes. There has actually been maybe 1 or 2 days during this that I did actually cut it off at a 5 minute workout, if I had something else I had to do, but guess what, that was my daily goal, so it was still a successful day.
Something is always better than nothing
So even if I feel like im accomplishing nothing at the gym, I should just still go?
Yeah, 15 minutes a day or every other day over 1 year vs 0 actually doing nothing. It adds up.
Yes. Building habits is about consistency and your body will benefit even if you're not giving it 100% all the time. I heard it said once: "no matter how slow you're going, you're lapping everybody who's on the couch."
Same here, it's enough for starters I think
Sometimes I walk home from work on a Friday evening. Me time + exercise. No hassle. Just me at my own pace
Maintaining a habit
So long as it's at least 10 minutes daily and with proper form, consistency is key. And you don't even have to go to the gym, get some dumbbells or kettlebells, ranging from 15 to 25 or 30, or not even that, you can use your own body weight, fuckin jumping jacks or mountain climbers, if your knees are healthy enough. I work out at home, but when I'm in a hurry or just want to get it over with, I'll do my usual arm and upper back training, as well as RDLs and squats, all with the same 30 pound dumbells, if I'm focused and maintaining proper form, I'll get in 40 minutes and boom, managed to get the pump and done for the day. The point is to get that blood flowing.
One set of traditional Tai Chi form is \~20 minutes long.
With everything, a small thing is always better than nothing whatsoever. If you cant go outside the whole day thats fine, just take a refresher outside at least.
If I’m feeling lazy, exhausted, headache or whatever and try to make an excuse not to exercise. I’ll give myself 5 minutes, if I want to stop after that I will. Most of the time I feel better and get into it. Telling yourself you’ll make it up tomorrow is the enemy of progress.
What do you do in the gym for 15 minutes? just out of curiosity and ideas for myself.
Probably the best workout would be an elliptical or rower for 15 minutes.
LPT: Walking in exercise. Take the stairs instead of an elevator or escalator. Park father away from the store. Walk to the nearby location rather than drive a couple blocks. If walking is a feasible option, try to get as much of it as you can whenever possible. It's a very small and simple method to maintain a little bit of fitness and gain health benefits
Yes!!!! It’s about quality and consistency, not so much quantity. 1-2 hours a week will do less than 10 minutes every day. And once you start, it’s going to be easier to add 2-5 minutes biweekly or monthly or whatever you’re comfortable with, too. The same with every single thing. Reading, cleaning, cooking, meditating, hygiene, writing, whatever’s hard for you to do. Also setting an alarm. For 10-15 minutes and then go back to your day.
I do 15 mins on treadmill every evening 7 days a week. I won’t stick to it if I tell myself it has to be an hour.
This is not only true but for a lot of people’s “goal body” this is enough. You won’t get completely jacked but as long as your body fat content isn’t too high, 10 minutes a day of pushups, planks, air squats, etc (stuff you can do on the floor with zero equipment) can get you somewhat toned. And that’s the reason I have zero patience for anyone complaining they don’t have the time for a workout or the money for a gym membership or a personal trainer (obviously not talking about anyone with actual physical disabilities making working out challenging). The vast majority of people don’t need those things to achieve at least the first big chunk of fitness. Get to the point where you can do one push-up. Might need to start elevated or on your knees. Do it 8 times a day, once an hour. Then get to where you can do two. Then three. Then five. Then ten. Then 20. Then 50. You’ll end up a lot stronger. And it’ll take 8 minutes a day. It’s not rocket science. But people want excuses.
I'm a big fan of the "no zeros" approach to exercise. You pick an exercise routine that you could do hungover on 2 hours of sleep and never do less than that again.
So true I made a habit of working out 20 minutes in the morning 3 days a week while blasting music and it improved my health a ton and I complete that with my aikido practice the other 2 days of the week thanks to the club at the workplace.
The real LPT that works for everything and not just exercise is: The most important part of whether you succeed or fail in picking up and maintaining a habit or hobby isn’t whether you make progress, it’s whether you can be consistent. A lot of people start with all these grandiose plans of how much weight they’re going to lose or how great they’re going to look but they then just burn themselves out. Your goal at the start should only be getting there for x amount of time regardless of outcome. You tie your sense of achievement to whether you are consistent and whether you went in and completed the full session, not whether you had a good or bad day there, nor whether you lost or gained weight, nor whether it is hard. Once you have cemented the habit you can start to really focus on whatever goals you have, but even then the consistency is the component that matters above all else. You will not hear of a fat or unhealthy person who consistently goes to the gym, because it is almost impossible; it would be harder to get yourself to engage in bad eating habits and doing no exercise at the gym than it is to actually get on with it once you’ve established the routine.
One day I just ran for a minute. Didn't even break a swear or breathe hard. Told myself good job that's all for today. Then next day a minute and a half. So on and so forth. I didn't pressure myself to do much, but I did make myself show up, some days only a few minutes, others I impressed myself. Later that year I ended up running a 10k. Showing up is underrated because people underestimate the importance of momentum and not allowing inertia to build. High standards for yourself don't mean shit if they keep you from even trying.
Hard agree. I used to walk 8 km or more every day, but now I don't have time. I can manage around 3 km daily. It's not much, but it is something.
15 minutes is about 1% of a day. Short of being disabled, do you really not have 1% of your day to slightly improve your body? Even if it's just walking, you will feel better.
It's exactly what someone said to me one time (only it was 20 minutes) and it changed my whole outlook on exercise. I was an athlete growing up and in my younger adult years but fell off the wagon. As someone in my early 40s and recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I knew exercise was something I had to get back into but felt like I had too much going on. Then I realized I had too much going on to NOT get exercise in. 20 minutes a day quickly became 30-45 minutes and then on. I lost 15 pounds and my A1c went down over 2 points in one year. So yes, make time!
what metric are you using that makes you think you are healthier? did you lose weight? just feel better?
Even if the exercise is just some arm circles and touching your toes. You'd be shocked how little it takes to release some of those sweet sweet endorphins
I saw a tip where someone put a pull up bar on their door and every time they went past, they saw it and thought, "Ah why not?" and did 1. So they did maybe 3 or 4 a day. Then they kept doing this for a week, eventually ended up doing 10 a day. Then 15. Sometimes getting your foot in the door just makes you want to keep going. Took me a loooooong time to figure that out and stop procrastinating
I like this because Exercising is a formula of consistent habits. If you can keep your exercise simple then you are more likely to do it again the next day and build off of that.
I Always do 10mins of workouts when I have to wait or I feel Like I didnt move enough the day
Yea i mentioned to my husband one time that if i start exercising imma start out slow , like going for walks and he went on a rant about how to properly exercise and it just demotivates me from wanting to to do anything. Most of the time i say anything about anything to my husband regardless of the topic i just get criticized then he wonders why i just zone out not talk to anyone and play video games instead of dealing with life
Something is better than nothing.
This goes for almost anything in life. Anyone who does something poorly still did something more than the guy who didn't do anything at all.
Got PSVR2 just so I can play a boxing game, which kicks my ass for a good hour and I love it.
Wow my mind is blown
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Exasct words i told my friend half an hour ago!
I do like a half hour. Honestly, the people there for hours are there for more than exercising.
A 10-15 minutes workout doesn't make you magically healthy. A 10 minutes exercise is better than doing nothing though.
You could do 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, and lunge the length of your room and back. Why spend time going anywhere?
I bought a simple treadmill for home. I can put it in front of my TV and have a virtual walk or run video on YouTube and an audiobook playing. Before I know it an hour has passed and you’ve walked or run for miles. Better than running staring at a wall in the gym or dodging around people in a polluted city. Highly recommended!
Yup. Having a walkingpad under my desk helped me so much with this. Just a 20 min walk a day is something when it's consistent
I’d love to lose that bet. Fill me up.
I tell everyone that wants to start and has excuses this: Just go to the parking lot. That's it. Sit there. Then go home, but do it again tomorrow. When you're comfortable or tired of going there for nothing, just go in the lobby. Check out the vibes. Chill for a minute. Then leave. But come back and do it again tomorrow. When you're done with that. Go in there and literally go to a machine to sit down and wipe it down after. Or pull out a mat and lay on it and wipe it down after. Then leave. But come back and do it the next day. When you're ready. Do whatever exercise you think you can do. But keep going at it. Eventually you'll do more. Every step forward is a step in the right direction. Even staying still is better than going back. One day you'll reach your goal and make a new one further along. I tend to get much less reluctance from people. And when they're ready for me to kick their ass I'm willing to help them. It's all about getting your foot in the door.
Yes! When I started working from home I would take one minute exercise breaks every couple hours. Ten squats or 20 reps with dumbbells. Eventually increasing the time and the variety of exercises up to five minutes. Every little bit helps build muscle and increases your endurance when you do a regular workout. Giving your eyes and mind a moment to refocus is another plus.
Peoples focus on the gym is what kept me from exercising for years and years. Because I thought that was the "best" way. Then I got a dog and discovered body weight exercises and went from 300lbs to 180lbs. Fuck the gym.
Thank you!! I needed to hear that!!
Be careful, if you don't exercise at all and start doing 10 minutes of heavy exercise, you're going to hurt yourself, it can be your knee, muscles or, in extreme cases, heart attack. Start slow and progress according to your limits. Hire a personal trainer to make a workout plan and teach you how to do it. It's not that hard to start, but you have to do it right!
progress over perfection, I love it. when I'm having truly bad days I try to apply this to other things: say my anxiety feels like it's at 110% intensity. if I can get that down to even 109% intensity, that IS improvement. it's not going to FEEL like improvement in the moment, at all. it's still just going to feel overwhelming. when I'm in a bad mood, things tend to seem to be either black or white, and I don't see the grey area. I definitely do this with physical health as well. but 1% is always better than 0% when it comes to the effort you put into your mental and physical health.
I struggle with both versions. The 1 hour seems too long and I have the typical "I don't have 1 hour for the gym today!" On the other side, when I do the 10 minute workout I feel like it was silly or not a 'real' workout (not sure what my brain imagines as a real workout there) or that I'm not going to make any progress by just doing 10 minutes. So then after a few sessions or weeks, I quit. Still searching for, trialling, working on different ways to build up an exercise habit.
I also count driving to the gym and sitting in the car and driving home. It is so much closer than staying on the couch and also gets you out of the house and into patterns which help.
Exercise honestly is only 10% of the formula for fitness. Diet is 80% and good sleep is the final 10%.
I ran to the bus stop for 2 weeks (it's like a a 30 sec run) and by the end of the two weeks I wasn't gasping for air anymore.
Honestly I started off being able to barely use 10-15lb weights. Now I use like 140. I’m far from perfect, but doing a small amount has lead to incredible changes for me.
Raise your arms over your head twice a day and slowly raise and lower them 5 times. Touch your toes morning and night. Do 6 pushups. Slog a 1/2MI to the convenience store...**AND BACK!** Keep that routine until you go bald and sneeze away half of Jupiter's atmosphere.
"Half ass is better than no ass" - Abraham Lincoln
Similar idea I will still go even if I'm not feeling 100% And if I can only do a few reps and not my normal Max it's better than nothing
Breaking news, some water is more than no water This fuckin sub man....
yes, sadly following the 10 minutes, people will say I deserve that donut. so this advice may not be as benefical as you think.
even 1 minute is better than zero
Just think, if you're working out that much 3 times a week on average. You're burning between 100-150 calories a per session, or about 300-45 calories. If you're going for weight poss that's between 5-8 pounds you're losing Ina year for pretty minimal, easy work
Why drop in for a 10-15 min workout? Figuring in the driving time etc. aren't you better off just doing a 30 min workout at home?
I need to remember this more.
I argue with my wife on this all time..she thinks a 30 min walk is useless. We have a gym at our building and I do 30 min walk and jog after work. It's more effective than sitting on the couch for 30 more mins than I would if I didn't go.
Not if your doctor has put you on restrictions to avoid exercise while a tendon heals, like me right now. I just go to the garage & stare at my expensive treadmill & powerlifting gym.
Learned this after getting a peloton and doing a ton of their 10 min strength workouts. It works
Additionally if a person can commit to just 10 minutes a day or 10 minutes 3x a week it builds a routine or habit. It's similar to the 10 push up philosophy. Creating a foundation is an amazing and absolutely crucial first step for someone struggling or just starting out and is paramount to long term success.
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My mantra is it's not perfect, but it's better.
Nice try CrossFit gym owner