How to exercise at home? The power of habit.

“I tried to exercise at home, but after the first push-up I couldn’t move up from the floor…” How many of you experience the feeling of helplessness when you finally decide to exercise?

Perhaps you will say: “I have kids, a full time job and a husband”. Yes. The famous excuse of us all. Even some of us who are healthy singles in their thirties are “too busy” to find time to exercise at home or to go to the gym…

Instead, you start your morning with a ‘schoggi gipfel’ (Swiss name for a chocolate croissant) and a bucket of coffee. Personally, I have nothing against gipfels, but a gipfel a day will certainly not keep the doctor away.

You know it so well. Do sport, eat healthy, meditate, think positive…. Yeah. But when? When is always the question, which is left with no good answer.

HOW TO START WHEN YOU’RE BUSY AS A BEE?

1. Write how your typical day looks like on paper.

Usually, the biggest part of our days takes our job. Write down your daily activities and you’ll see that you’ll find a 45 minutes window of time, even when you thought that it was impossible. How about making time at lunch break for the gym?

Example: 6:45 a.m. – wake up time, 8:30-18:00 work, 19:00 shopping/cooking/meeting friends/family time/watching TV/sitting on facebook etc.

Cut on some unproductive activities like sitting on facebook and hit the gym instead. Wake up one hour earlier and do some yoga at home. You don’t even need a yoga mat. Bare floor is really enough.

2. Write your goal.

“I wanna be more fit” – it is too general. Why don’t you make it more concrete? “I want to lose 5 kg”, “I want to fit in size 38” , “I wanna be able to chase my children on the playground with no panting” – they all sound better. Why? Because they are measurable. You can measure how many kg you lose and how many cm disappear from you belly. You measure the progress of your exercise. And this motivates you even more.

3. Install a new habit.

You wanna burn the fat that you have cultured like your own crop, right? Now the time has come to saw. Then you will reap. But before you explode with happiness with your new body, some dirty work is waiting to be done. Don’t deceive yourself that it will be easy. No. It will be very difficult. It all comes down to installing a new habit and simply going for it. Regularly.

GYM OR HOME?

Whether you decide to exercise in a gym or at home, it doesn’t matter as soon as you do the work. Wind up your sleeves and prepare for a hard work in the field. Imagine you’re a farmer and the field is your body. Have you ever imagined what immense work does the farmer do from the moment he plants his crops until he harvests it?

INSTALLING A NEW HABIT

Are you acquainted with the theory of Pavlov’s dog? In short, this is a theory of classical conditioning. A certain stimulus can produce a response. We won’t get too much into details. What is important is that you can create your own theory of conditioning and adapt it for your fitness goals.

Imagine you want to instal a habit of exercising 30 minutes at home every day or going to the gym 3 times a week. How to motivate yourself? Sometimes images of slim and sporty body are not enough to keep you going. Then, you can introduce a stimulus. Just like Ivan Pavlov made it with the dog.

Think about something which could be a reward for sticking to your exercise plan and executing it. This can be eating your favourite dish or even a croissant. The thing is to treat it as something special to keep up your motivation. So no 3 croissants per day or no pizza after workout. But a home-made pizza once a week? Why not?

Last but not least, don’t push it too hard and remember to love yourself the way you are. Exercising is taking care of your body. That’s how you show your love to it.

Make progress. Not excuses. Make the time for your precious body, which is you. Get fit for life, not just for summer. Your “Pavlov’s dog” is definitely going to help you. No eat up without a sit up 🙂

Wishing you success in installing your new habits!