Easy Ways to Make Exercise a Habit

What are the Difficulties in Making Exercise A Habit?

The biggest difficulty encountered in gaining the habit of exercising is actually personal obstacles. Many technological advances and conveniences that make life easier can affect your plans to be physically active along with physiological, behavioral and psychological factors. Conveniences, in particular, have made everyone less physically active. The benefits of convenience have not only reduced physical activity, but also made life busier and the pace of work faster. This resulted in difficulty finding enough time to exercise. The most common reasons why adults cannot adopt a more physically active lifestyle are as follows^[1][2][3]:

• Lack of time to exercise
• Inability to enjoy exercise
• Lack of self-motivation
• Lack of confidence in physical abilities
• Fear of injury
• Lack of ability to set personal goals
• Lack of progress or self-reward for progress
• Lack of encouragement and support from family and friends
• Lack of parks, sidewalks, bicycle paths and safe walking paths

Despite all, it is evident that a lack of time, energy, and motivation is the root cause of everything. A study conducted in 2013 showed that most people over the age of 45 do not exercise due to lack of time as well as lack of knowledge on how to do the exercises^[4]. Regardless of your age, if you think you lack knowledge about sports, you can get support from a personal trainer.

Is It Difficult to Gain the Habit of Exercise?

Getting into the habit of exercising is actually quite easy once you understand common obstacles and create strategies to overcome them. It’s important to absorb the advantages of athletics before moving on to tips for developing this habit. You can thus see the advantages of consistent training for yourself and increase your motivation. When you make it a routine in your life, the benefits of exercise will be as follows^[5]:

• Helps Control Your Weight: Exercising regularly helps you keep your weight under control. In addition, exercise combined with a weight-loss diet is the most important thing that will help you lose weight.
• Your Immune System is Strengthened: You may be worried about issues such as heart health, high blood pressure and cholesterol. Exercise on a regular basis helps protect you against diseases.
• Improves Your Mood: Do you need to relax after a stressful day? You will be less likely to skip your training if you know that exercise will be good for you. While physical activities make you feel happier, your body secretes chemicals that will help you get rid of your worries during exercise.

• Helps Increase Your Energy: Regular exercise will contribute to increasing your muscle strength and endurance. You will be more energetic by this way.
• Helps Improve the Quality of Your Sleep: You may be constantly postponing exercise. However, you should know that regular exercise will also help improve your sleep quality. Just avoid exercising right before going to bed. Exercising before sleep may cause your energy to increase so much that you cannot sleep.

Besides all this, sports are fun. You can determine your free time and devote this time to sports by preparing a calendar for yourself.

For more detailed information about the benefits of sports, you can check out our related article.

What Can Be Done to Develop the Habit of Exercise?

You can prepare a calendar for your exercise habit. Try to work out three days a week to save time. In the beginning, 45 minutes of exercise each day will be enough. Besides, the following factors can also support you in gaining sports habits:

• Get Social Support from Your Loved Ones: You can explain your interest in physical activity to your friends and family and ask them to support your efforts. You can also invite your loved ones to exercise with you. Additionally, you can participate in team sports or join group classes such as pilates or yoga.
• Plan for Energy Lack: Determine which days and times of the week you feel energetic. Consider these time zones while scheduling your workouts.

• Work to Eliminate Lack of Motivation: Planning the hours you will exercise on a calendar will help you stay motivated for your workouts. Additionally, exercises you can do with your friends can increase your motivation.
• Learn How to Leave the Fear of Injury Behind: Get support from a personal trainer to prevent injury. He or she will teach you how to warm up before your workouts and how to cool down after your workouts, as well as what precautions you should take. You can also plan which exercises you should do, taking into account your age, fitness, skill level and health condition with a trainer.
• Make Exercise Easy: The most effective way to make exercise a habit is through an active life. Do basic workouts to make it back to sports quickly, even when your motivation and willpower start to fade. You don’t even have to be at the gym for this. You can work on making yourself more physically active, even by going for a walk.

• Opt for Variety: Variety is essential to living an active lifestyle. So start exploring your options. You can do cardio exercises for 15 minutes 5 days a week or choose a brisk walk outdoors. On some days, you can perform resistance training in addition to 15 minutes of cardio exercises. 
• Exercise to Both Strengthen and Relax: Fill your calendar with sports instead of activities such as going out and having fun or watching TV series or movies. Don’t completely eliminate having fun and watching movies with your friends from your life of course.
• Note Your Workouts: Writing down every exercise you do throughout the week will not only make it easier for you to follow your fitness journey, but will also be useful for you to remember continuity and track progress.

• Reward Yourself: Don’t let this reward be a weekend of snacking on your sofa. You can buy yourself new workout clothes or plan walks to explore new places as you become successful.
• Don’t Exercise Just for Results: Make your workouts fun instead of exercising just for results. This entertainment could be a post-workout drink or even a special playlist for exercise moments.

First of all, it is up to you to make exercise a habit. You can start by being determined and making a plan for this. At the same time, you can live a more physically active life and take steps towards days full of health by rejecting a sedentary life. If you are new to sports, you can take a look at our article we prepared for beginners.