5 TIPS THAT YOU WILL STAY ACTIVE, MOTIVATED AND DO NOT STOP EXERCISING AT HOME
Maybe because of everything that happens in the world and in our country, you don't even think about exercise. All the more so as the various measures that open and close restaurants, shops and gyms are constantly tightening and loosening. Feelings of insecurity and fear for the future benefit each of us in some way. And it's completely natural. On the other hand, it is necessary to distinguish what ideas we pay attention to. We will not directly influence the geopolitical situation in the world, the presidential election in the USA or the traditional "black chronicle" instead of television news, so why deal with it and deepen the ubiquitous stress? But what we can influence is the way we can deal with this load of stressors successfully. And one of the best helpers to improve physical and mental health is sports and exercise.
If all the benefits of sports and exercise were sold in the form of pills in the pharmacy, the queues would have no end and people would argue for a more advantageous place in the crowd. Just imagine: “Hello, I would like something to improve my mood, reduce anxiety, boost immunity and grow muscle. Yes, we have something exactly for you. Here we will offer you a monthly package of strength training and a semi-annual package of running in nature. Use strength training once a day three times a week and running in nature once a day on days when you are not using strength training. "And in a month everyone will come to the pharmacy to thank them for feeling much better. You can read below the effect of regular sports activity on our physical and mental health.
What can a regular sports activity do?
↓ chronic stress, degree of anxiety, symptoms of depression, health risks, body weight
↑ mood, cognitive functions, sleep, immune system and the body's defenses, bone density, muscle mass, flexibility and balance
It seems that perhaps there is no area on which regular sports activity would not have a positive effect. However, the uncertain opening hours of gyms, fitness centers and government restrictions make it very difficult for us to adhere to healthy habits. But you can also exercise at home! But that's not quite right, is it? At home, you may be missing dumbbells, axes, reels, a squat cage, a sparring partner, motivational music roaring over the whole fitness, which makes it easy to put the series, no matter what it costs, or personally leading the trainer to a group lesson that you don't even he can't breathe for a moment. Let's show you how not to stop exercising even at home and how to make it even fun to exercise.
5 steps to help you stay motivated to exercise and play sports at home
In the time of home office, online teaching for students and the impossibility of socializing, you can find yourself in an even more intense stereotype of life than before. Ideally, you shouldn't be coming from home, and you usually decide whether to do the assigned tasks as part of flexible working hours before or after the next work, "Emily in Paris." Whether to learn with children, cook, do elaborate tasks, exercise, or solve sibling quarrels.
On the other hand, even the most busy person can find at least half an hour a day to exercise. Exercise and sports activity are one of the best nootropics to support brain function and an often forgotten method of biohacking, which is a powerful weapon against stress, a tool to improve health, fitness and body structure. Let's "kick" the exercise.
1. Find your why
To successfully master everything you want to achieve, you need a strong reason and know your own "WHY?", Why do you want to practice? The stronger and more important your reason, the more likely you are to be able to maintain motivation to exercise in the long run. Unfortunately, motivation alone is not omnipotent. When "WHY" is too remote and general, there is a greater chance that in the evening, after a hard workload, you will choose "gauching" on TV instead of exercising. This can happen in cases where there is maintenance, health or weight loss under your reason. You simply say to yourself that it's not that bad yet, and you start looking at yourself from Monday or when the constellation of stars is more appropriate.
Try to break your big and time-away WHY into smaller and current why, which will help you achieve WHY in the long run.
Big time away WHY: I want to lose weight
Current partial why: I need to clear my head after a hard day's work
Current partial why: I want to get angry out of myself
Current partial why: I want to improve my mood
Current partial why: I want to relieve myself of back pain from sitting all day
Current partial why: I want to be more focused and have tasks completed faster
2. Set close and realistic goals
This point is quite closely related to the determination of the big WHY. Let's say you decide to lose 20 kg or gain 5 kg of muscle mass in half a year and with the determination of MMA wrestlers you go full throttle for the first few days. Over time, however, the motivation and desire to achieve great why decreases due to the fact that the weight after a month differs, for example, "only" by 2 kg, and you are not so satisfied with yourself. This is mainly because your goal is too far.
We humans are equipped with an internal reward system that motivates us to engage in activities that are important to our survival, such as the need to eat and drink. At the same time, they motivate us, "force" us to learn or are associated with pleasant feelings. Learning for an exam or forcing yourself to practice is sometimes like a punishment, but the good feeling after successfully completing the task and the motivation for further work is worth it, isn't it? This is due to our internal reward system in the form of the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine. We can compare it to a situation where you feel good after being satisfied with the feeling of hunger, thirst, a test or "bed games". If your goal is 6 months away, there is no reward in the form of dopamine, and this is exactly the problem why we do not want to continue working. Simply put, dopamine gives us a partial motivation and a desire to achieve other goals.
What needs to be done with long-term goals? Break them down into smaller sub-goals…
It's really as simple as it seems at first glance. You probably already know that this is mainly due to the more frequent activation of the reward center, the feeling of satisfaction from the ongoing fulfillment of partial goals and the dopamine reward. With this strategy, you tilt the scales and dopamine starts working for you, not against you.
Of course, the weight can vary calmly every day + - 3 kilograms, so it's nice to watch other parameters that will tell you more about your progress. You can easily add, for example, body circumferences in the form of waist circumference, hips, thighs and abdomen. If you tick fulfilled every day in your diary or calendar, you are on the right track. You can expect a measurable change in your body after about 2 weeks, consider this.
Another method of setting goals is the SMART strategy, where each goal must be:
Specific: 30 minutes of physical activity each day or training 3 exercises with 50 repetitions.
Measurable: you can use a stopwatch, a phone, or write down the number of repetitions in a diary to measure the time or number of repetitions.
Achievable: Don't want everything now and start slowly. You will achieve more performance over time.
Relevant: Sports activity must be beneficial for you and be related to your why. Do what you enjoy. There's no point in forcing yourself to do something trendy, but it's not close to you.
Time: Daily and weekly goals work well for self-reflection. You know that you want to complete 30 minutes of physical activity per day, which is 210 minutes per week.
You can even elegantly combine these two methods. With the help of your big WHY, you will set a long-term goal, which you will break down into smaller sub-goals, and you will use the SMART method by planning how you will achieve it with its help.
3. Plan the training as an urgent meeting
To say that every day you spend half an hour exercising and hoping that it will really work out by some miracle can be reminiscent in today's world of about the same certainty as when you bet the Euro Jackpot and hope you win. You've probably caught up with yourself that if you didn't have something fixed in time, it probably didn't work out. That's why it's good to get to know each other a little bit.
Are you more of a morning bird, getting up is not a problem for you and can you imagine a morning workout that, together with a cold training shower, will charge you with energy for the coming day?
Or do your thoughts on morning training not do you any good and you prefer to exercise after work, when you clear your head and relax mentally after a hard day thanks to training?
Write a specific exercise time on your calendar that suits you, and make it binding as if it were an urgent meeting. Every day from 6:00 in the morning or from 17:30 in the afternoon you do exercise and a dot. To be sure, turn on the notification on the phone, which will prepare you for the upcoming event at least 15 minutes before training. And what is the best? This eliminates the space for excuses. If you do not know how to compile a home workout, read our article How to compile a quality training plan for home exercise?
4. Celebrate small victories as if they were big
Training that you didn't even want to do for the world or that you somehow "slackened off" is better than the one that didn't take place at all. It's not about being completely perfect every day and working 100%. The main thing is that every time you exercise according to a pre-planned time, you build a habit that will help you achieve your goals. This is probably the most important thing, which is somehow hidden under the surface. From a mindset in the form of "all or nothing", you can boldly switch to a setting in the style of "at least something is better than nothing."
With this, another very important thing comes to light. Take into account that according to the pre-set plan, almost nothing works, and have a backup plan ready. What will you do if you have really little time to exercise during the day or miss an online group lesson? Have a backup 10-minute workout on hand that will be intense enough to exercise your whole body. Be prepared for the fact that you will not always want to run, and instead go for a brisk walk instead. When you have a backup plan up your sleeve, you avoid the sudden question, "What now?", And postpone training.
5. Be creative
People often say that they have absolutely no time for anything. Subsequent, careful and honest analysis of the day spent with the help of self-reflection will show where that time disappears. Yes, it disappears into the depths of wasted time in the form of an hour-long view of social networks, half an hour on a messenger, another half hour playing mobile games and two hours of evening watching a series, which again doesn't take us that much, but it's a habit. Counted and underlined, this is 4 hours, from which you can cut at least half an hour for daily exercise.
And to combine the pleasant with the useful, we have a few tips for creative sports activities:
In times of fast internet networks and unlimited data, you don't have to be hooked on a laptop every time during an online meeting. Try the "walking meeting" variant, where you go for a walk in nature and you will have the meeting in the headphones and, if necessary, on the phone display.
Listen to your favorite podcast or audiobook while exercising or playing sports. Although this is not the ideal solution for maximum concentration on sports and enjoying the present moment, but if it suits you, why not use it.
Change sports activities. If you exercise at home, include a classic workout with your own body weight, try HIIT training, make your workout more interesting by using home exercise equipment (filled backpack with hard squats, push-ups and biceps lift), expand your home gym with new equipment or give a chance almost forgotten today skipping rope.
Experience sports in augmented reality with game consoles. If you are a fan of the cult sitcom The Big Bang Theory, you will certainly remember a few scenes when this group of "nerds" played various games such as tennis, bowling or boxing on the Nintendo Wii. How about using your game console for family competitions in dancing, tennis, skateboarding or snowboarding. You may be surprised that even with such activities you can put yourself into the body.
If it suits you, download the exercise application according to which you will exercise.
Speed up, slow down, speed up. Even so, you can revive your withered love for running, cycling or sport walking.
Take advantage of online exercises where you can do a workout with a coach. You can also try one of the workouts on our YouTube channel.
You can also dance on yourself with the help of dance. How to read about it in the article Creative Training: Self-Weighted Exercises Inspired by Dance
How to deal with an inactive day behind the monitor?
When working at the computer, try to take regular breaks after about 30 minutes or at least an hour of work. You will stretch the stiff body and spread the blood all over the body. If you have a pet, jump outside, reach out, walk around the house or have a "micro-cork", where you can train for example 10 push-ups, 20 squats and stay in the plan for 30 seconds. Wondering what happens to your body when you exercise plank every day? Find out in our article What happens to you when you plank every day?
If you can do it, try to spend time outside as well. Nature is combined with movement, literally a cure for the soul. And remember, every step counts. If you enjoyed the idea of training in the fresh air, read our article Outdoor training - Why and how to start exercising in the fresh air.
Do you miss the gym?
Create your own small personal gym at home with ready space and equipment for training. When you see this space in your eyes, you are even more likely to exercise. We will be happy to help you equip your home gym with a set of fitness accessories.
What do you get out of it?
Staying active and exercising regularly can take a long time, but it's not impossible. When you set up the support system and environment correctly, everything is much easier. Keep in mind your big WHY, which will constantly remind you of your vision and the goal you want to achieve. To make goal setting work for you, not the other way around, split your long-term goal into a few smaller sub-goals that are easier to achieve and closer in time than "sometime in the future." By setting weekly and daily goals, you'll know exactly what to do each day. . Checking out a box on your calendar or diary every day will reward you with a motivating elimination of dopamine and a desire to continue.
By setting a fixed daily time to exercise, you will gain control of yourself and increase your chances of regular sports. Practicing every day at 4:30 pm is far clearer and more binding than "sometimes I just practice during the day." Gradually, your meeting will become a habit and everything will be somewhat more natural and easier than at the beginning. By adding creativity to your training efforts, you come up with a variety of movement options so that you still enjoy it and exercise doesn't just become a "necessary break." Every move counts and "even the dishonest training is better than no training."
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