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Top 5 Exercise "Hacks"

Added on May 16, 2007 by team g20 (1092)

Was trolling around the web the other day and found a great article on zenhabits.net about 42 "exercise hacks". It is worth a read for sure.

Here is a list of my favorite 5 hacks from the list:

Quote:

Start slow. The biggest mistake that people make when starting an exercise plan is starting too fast or too hard.

Forget about weight loss. Yeah, many of us would like to lose some weight. But if you’re motivated solely by weight loss, exercise will be a tough proposition. The reason is that you might not lose weight right away. Oh, it’ll come, if you can keep it up over time, but in the beginning you might be disappointed (especially if you haven’t changed your eating habits). Just get into the habit of exercise, and worry about the weight later. First things first.

Join an online group. One of the best motivators is having to report successes and failures to a group of people. Check out some online groups (there are groups for every type of exercise), introduce yourself, see which ones you’re comfortable with. Once you’ve gotten established (after a couple of days) see if you can post your results every day — you won’t go wrong once you start doing that.

Do a journal. If you don’t post your results on your blog, write it in a journal, either online or on paper. However you set it up, make it a habit to post to your journal or log right away, as soon as you’re done with your log. It will motivate you to see your progress over time, and it’s a good way to see what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.

Set goals. What are you trying to get out of your exercise? It’s good to know if you’re trying to build muscle or burn fat — because these are two competing goals. There are other goals, of course, but you should be clear what they are. Also, set goals for each week — what do you want to accomplish this week? Write it down, post it up, and see if you can meet them!

Check out the list? Which ones do you think make the most sense?

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Comments

good link, thanks

Submitted by misterdoyle (162) on May 17, 2007 - 12:17pm.

Nice list.

These are the ones that speak to me...

# Change it up. Sure, walking or running every day can be a lot of fun. But getting some swimming or biking or strength workouts or aerobics or kickboxing into the mix can be a lot of fun, and can also help you get into better shape. They work out different muscles, and step up the metabolism. Variety is the spice of life and all that.

# A little and often. You don’t need to work out long, and you certainly don’t need to be a weekend warrior. Just 20-30 minutes every day. Who doesn’t have 20 minutes on their schedule. You? Well, scratch “Walker Texas Ranger rerun” off the schedule and make room for this instead.

Go for the long haul. Most of all, don’t think that you will become fit and healthy and sexy in one month. Think of exercise as a life-long habit, and your goals will come to you eventually. You’ll get there, my friend!

Thanks

Submitted by morthian (380) on May 18, 2007 - 8:03am.

I checked out the whole list -- it's big one. I'm going to read it on the way to the beach. I also printed out some other articles. Thanks for the post!

Other suggestions

Submitted by Richard Waddell (13) on February 2, 2008 - 2:03pm.

I'll be 61 in a month, ended up in great shape almost by accident. I have a website, Quest For Endorphins, that's all about starting gradually and working out every day, even if on some days you just start and quit after a few minutes - but not breaking the chain arbitrarily is key, otherwise you're sending conflicting messages to your subconscious, you set a precedent for skipping again, once you skip too many days you're reluctant to start because now you have to catch up to where you were.

I started the site to use myself as an example that it works. A lot of the site is about motivation and how to get from hating exercise to tolerating it - I stumbled onto a gradual system to get there almost painlessly. As a result I primarily rode an exercise bike every day for over twenty years. Some resistance, aerobics, rowing machine, but day in, day out, was exercise bike. Also when I woke up feeling crappy from eating too much late at night, too much coffee, whatever. Once I internalized how much better I felt I could always drag myself to the bike and start turning pedals until I felt human again - even good.

The crown jewel of the site is JumpRock, which I "invented" after starting to jump rope when I was 55. I was terrible, and started so I could do shorter workouts but once I started jumping to music and dancing I began jumping as long as I can. A few months ago I came up with Heavy Hula Hands, which I really did invent as far as I know.

Because I never showed any athletic inclination or skill, I think anyone can learn this on their own as easily as I did, enjoy every day more because they have more energy, and end up fit and healthy in old age.

Everything on the site is free, There are hundreds of sample videos to different songs and videos where I tell you what I know and demonstrate. I'm trying to raise the profile of 'Energy Focused Exercise', JumpRock, and Heavy Hula Hands so I can promote them on a larger scale.