habit forming

How To Form A Exercise Habit Fast – 4 Tips

how to form a exercise habit fast

What’s the biggest challenge that we face whenever we begin to exercise? It’s knowing where to begin, or knowing how to form a exercise habit fast, that will motivate and inspire you.

It’s sticking to our exercise habits, we know the benefits of working out, such as a better mood.

Exercise Often Neglected

But, what value does regular exercise provide to us when we only do it once or twice? It seems like on every New Year’s day, there is a huge swarm of ads for gym memberships and nutritional products with the understanding that people will want to form new habits for the new year.

Learning How To Form a Exercise Habit Fast Often Becomes too Fast

Many people take the bait of the January 1 promotions and discounts. But, most don’t make these “habits” stick. Most people fail to keep these new years’ habits: over 80% of New Years’ Resolutions fail.

Are you struggling with sticking to a new exercise routine? Here are some tips that can help:

1. Progressively Build Yourself Up To Your Big Goals

Don’t try to eat a huge elephant all at once. Start off with some small goals and gradually work yourself up to your bigger goals. Imagine that you want to be able to do 200 push-ups per day. You might start off by doing 10 per day on week 1, and gradually increase this number by 5.

2. Keep it measure-able and track it

When you are measuring yourself against your fitness goals, you will see a clear trend of improvement over time. Therefore, your improvement over time will inspire you to continue to work toward your big goals.

3. Don’t aim for health-related goals

Don’t aim to lose 5 pounds in a month. While it’s great that you are wanting to improve your body, it’s also very hard to attain these types of goals because it’s hard to correlate your effort to your attainment of this. Instead, try to aim for a goal that correlates to your effort. Examples are: being able to comfortably lift 50 pounds x 30 repetitions, do 200 crunches / situps, or run a mile in under 12 minutes.

4. Focus on Enjoying The Experience Instead of Forming a Fast Exercise Habit

Exercise is a nice interruption in your busy and often chaotic day. It’s time for yourself and yourself alone. Because it’s a great opportunity to clear your mind, it’s your chance to listen to music while doing something that you enjoy. If you put a lot of performance related pressure on yourself, then you will no longer enjoy the experience.

Final Thoughts On How To Form A Exercise Habit Fast

Remember to exercise a way which feels most comfortable for you. Don’t worry about what others will think of you or the types of exercises that yo perform. If you only feel like lifting 5 lb. hand-weights in the beginning, don’t worry that someone else will be judging you for that. Your goal is to build up long-term habits, along with a positive relationship toward exercise – that’s the easiest means of the “how” part or the “how to form a exercise habit fast.” The “Why” part is entirely up to you.