Category: Daily

Committing to daily exercise doesn’t mean you must reshuffle your calendar or wake up before the rooster to do Jane Fonda aerobics.

Daily exercise simply means that you do something every day. Some days mimic a typical 30-45 minute workout. There are short and long walks. There are days when exercising means walking up and down stairs for 5 minutes. And everything in between.

The goal is to build a habit of exercise.

When you’re building a new habit, the amount you do daily is irrelevant. What matters is that you do something. And the more often you do it, the better.

For example, I had the kids all day today, which meant zero chance for formal exercise. So I did a few random pull-ups, dips, and single-leg squats while the kids went nuts at a playground.

Weird? Other parents seemed to think so. But hey, aren’t we all weird anyway…

-J

The more often you ask yourself, “Am I going to exercise today?” the more often you allow yourself to say no.

And whether you’re going to say no to exercise today, tomorrow, and in the weeks and months ahead depends on your mood, energy, stress, and availability on any given day. That and all the other factors that come with a busy family life and a thriving business.

You can forever remove the opportunity to say no to exercise by making one decision today.

“I am going to exercise every day.”

Now, you’re on the hook. The daily question is no longer if you’re going to exercise but what kind of exercise you will do.

But you’re also making things easier for yourself. You build a habit with repetition. And there is no better way to build in the reps than by doing them daily.

This is why I decided to send an email every weekday instead of my previous one or two a week. Because 99% of the time, it’s easier to write and publish every day than it is to wrestle with the build-up of anxiety, knowing that I have to send something every Thursday.

It’s counterintuitive. But it works.

-J

Exercise on your terms. Not by what Instagram influencers, society or bullshit fitness trends impose on you.

Create your definition of what exercise and fitness mean to you. Both in terms of your goals and the actual exercise stuff you do.

It should be a positive, empowering experience, even if you don’t always look forward to it. Because let’s face it, there are days when exercise is about the last thing you feel like doing. On par with getting a colonoscopy done in a crowded lift on your way to IKEA.

This doesn’t mean that all the exercise you do is easy. But even when challenging, exercise should make you feel all kinds of good, both physically and mentally.

-J

You don’t want to end up with a plan you anticipate with the same intensity as a barefoot Riverdance class on a floor of misplaced Legos.

Use your interests and personality as your guide. Start by listing the activities you enjoy. Make those the bulk of your plan.

Then sprinkle in the stuff you might not enjoy a whole lot, but know that you need to do to reach your goals.

Sure, you might not end up with the most optimal plan. But there’s no point in having an optimal plan you resent more than a politician resents a term limit. It won’t hold.

The more you can match this whole fitness thing with your interests and personality, the more likely you’ll stick with it. And the more likely you’ll make a habit out of it.

And for now, that’s all that matters. Optimal or not.

-J

But about learning problem-solving skills and adjusting your approach when you can’t do what the plan demands.

-J

Between her work in tech and taking care of her daughter, exercise can (understandably) become an afterthought for my client B. Yet, she’s managed to bent yoga into a solid habit. Strength training though, is still relatively new for her.

It’s not uncommon for B to slam shut the laptop late at night and then have a willpower-depleted, tiredness-infused battle between Apple TV and a strength workout. A battle that doesn’t always end with a workout.

A systematical thinker that she is, B looked at what’s worked with the yoga habit and whether she could copy/paste it for her strength workouts.

What she dug out was a trigger. Every morning, when her daughter heads off to school, B’s trigger for yoga kicks in:

The kid leaves for school (trigger) -> I do yoga (habit)

So, she came up with a trigger for her strength session around her daughter’s bedtime:

The kid’s about to go to bed (trigger) –> I do a strength workout

The benefit of this trigger goes way beyond just B’s health. B also sets an excellent example for her daughter. When her daughter comes to say good night, she sees mum doing a workout. Instead of going to bed watching mum slay on the computer.

For me, as someone who grew up watching my dad do ab crunches and push ups on the bedroom floor, this shit matters.

-J

A while back, I helped the fine people of StretchMinder with an article about the importance of exercise snacking. Essentially covering why prolonged sitting is about as good for your immediate energy, focus, and long-term health as swallowing a stick of dynamite with a lit-up Zippo chaser.

This holds true even if you’re already doing a daily workout. (Which you’re not. Me neither.)

Truth? I wasn’t super sold on movement breaks (inconvenient much?) until I started researching the article. It made me realise just how bad prolonged sitting is for our health. But also how much of those downsides we can undo with so little effort.

So, now I preach the gospel of movement snacking (and the brilliance of StretchMinder) to whoever cares to listen, including you.

Anyways, here’s the article if you’re keen.

-J

ps. Yes, I got paid to write the article. And no, I don’t get any kickbacks for recommending StretchMinder or promoting the article.

I just think it’s a killer app, and you can do your health all kinds of good by breaking up your sitting.

And yes, I meant to mention this article when it came out. And yes, I did kind of forget.

When you’re tight on time and have a brain more fried than a bat on powerlines, the last thing you need is a complicated workout to follow.

Instead, pick one upper and one lower body exercise and repeat that for however long you have.

Here are some ideas:

Goblet squat and single arm rows.
Kettlebell swings and push ups.
Reverse lunge and crawls.
Lateral lunge and push press.

Do a set of the first exercise, followed by the other exercise straight after. Rest for a bit. Then do it again.

Here’s the thing.

On days like that it doesn’t matter what you do. As long as you do something.

Pick two challenging exercises and get after them. You can accomplish a lot in 10-20 minutes.

-J

It’s ok to say no to a dinner invite, coffee catchup or a meeting so you can do something for yourself.

To get in a workout, read a book, or get a massage.

We are all adults here. We can deal with disappointments.

That doesn’t mean that you have to be the one who you’re constantly disappointing.

-J

You might not always get 2-3 strength workouts in a week. Or reach anywhere near 10k steps a day.

Both of those take extra time. And some weeks, there’s so much life junk flying around that you’re too busy trying to catch and/or dodge it. Leaving you little to zero time for anything else.

But regardless of how much dodging and catching you’re doing, you’re still going to eat. Right?

With some planning, you can use healthy meals to anchor your life-admin-hellraiser week.

Sometimes all it takes is having enough vegetables, fruits and protein sources* in the house.

-J

*Because if you’re like me, it’s never the lack of starchy carb sources that lets you down.