It’s no secret that a lot of us groan inwardly at the thought of exercise. We all know it’s good for us, but…. we still don’t want to get up out of bed and do it some days. How can we stop thinking of it in terms of “no pain, no gain” and simply enjoy it?
Well, there are a few techniques that scientists have uncovered as excellent ways to make working out not just more enjoyable, but literally easier. Try a couple of these pointers, and soon you’ll be flying through that gym session like a zen, worry-free guru.
1. Learn how to make exercise an auto-cue habit
Forming a habit is key to the success of your workouts, because regularity is what actually keeps you fit. Long lags between sessions mean every couple of weeks you’ll be back to square one. So where do we find the motivation to make sure that happens?
First of all, work out when the best times are for you to exercise, and do your best to stick to them. If your schedule changes a lot, maybe promise yourself that each time you finish work, whenever that may be, you head straight to the gym, for example. Find some way of establishing a pattern, so that you start to do it automatically. After doing this for a while, the brain is trained and you will literally start performing the action on “auto pilot”, as they say. Aim for a commitment of two to three times a week.
An excellent way of forming this automatic habit is to set alarms. Research done this year by the American Psychological Association concluded that people could link sounds with an activity, spurring them into action without having any thought process at all. Similar results have been established in a number of other studies around the world.
So pick an alarm sound that is unique, set it for each time you’ll be going to the gym, and pretty soon, when you hear that tune – you’ll find yourself putting your sneakers on before your mind can even register it. The best thing about this is that you skip the part where you may think “Oh, time to go to the gym…could I be bothered?”
It’s basically “tricking” yourself into motivation – mentally, it doesn’t even need to be there any more. Things just happen!
2. Check yourself out
It turns out that looking in the mirror is useful for more than just checking how sexy you look.
A recent study found that when people mirrored the actions of others – or themselves in a reflection – they performed activities more accurately and with better co-ordination. This also meant that their technique started to improve more quickly over a period of time, than without any visual guidance.
So join a class, get yourself a trainer, or at least make use of those mirrors when you exercise. If you can’t get access to any of that, the main thing is to pick a focal point while you work out. A wandering gaze becomes distracting, and impacts on your technique, which in turn could reduce the effectiveness of your exercise. That was partly what the research found too – that imitation eliminates other distractions going on around you.
3. Make damn sure you enjoy yourself
Luckily, science is a big advocate of fun. There’s now plenty of research confirming that if you pick a form of exercise you enjoy, you’re much more likely to keep doing it. Trying to force yourself to do something horrible is the quickest way to fail.
So if gyms aren’t your thing, that’s ok – just figure out something else that requires more energy than lifting a beer or the T.V. remote! Even walking will do the trick, if you do it a few times a week. If you’re stuck in the house with kids, get an exercise bike or a workout DVD. Everyone can think of something.
As we get older, it’s more important to exercise to keep our bodies functional; there’s also plenty of proof that keeping on the move helps enormously with conditions like Parkinson’s Disease and other physical ailments. So start having fun now, while you have plenty of time to choose what you might stick with.
4. Keep it short and sweet
This is probably the best one of the list, right? Keep it short and it will be not only be less agonising, but more beneficial. Research shows that working out for too long puts stress on the heart and is actually detrimental to your health.
Recent studies, including those conducted at the University of Stockholm and German Cancer Research Centre found that cardio exercise in short bursts was much healthier for the heart, and that people who worked out for over an hour were as vulnerable to heart disease as those who were completely sedentary. The only group of participants whose risk factor reduced were those who undertook exercise for moderate periods of time. So, keep your sessions to an hour at most, and it’s actually better for you than longer workouts.
5. Turn up the funk
It seems there’s nothing a good tune can’t do. It can calm us down, give us energy, or provide a soundtrack for whatever you’re up to. But now science is also telling us that it has the power to increase the intensity at which we exercise.
A study undertaken by scientists in Canada recently found that exercising with music had such a positive effect on exercisers, that they felt less fatigued than others moving at the same level without music. That meant the music-movers achieved more in the same time and with less exertion. What could be better than that?
It has also been shown that those who select their own music report much greater enjoyment of their activity – so of course, it’s a factor that would play a part in how often they returned for more.
So make sure you bring your headphones when you head to your session – you’ll get much more out of the same activity than if you left home empty handed.
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Of course, the above five points are only the beginning of what can link your exercise to positivity. There are so many rewards we reap- the benefits never stop once you’ve incorporated regular movement into your life. Find the workout that excites you, and the rest will be a cinch.
