The key to being effective and getting results with any physical activity is to do it regularly. Here are 6 golden rules to make your workouts regular and turn them into a healthy habit. Let’s look at one by one to understand and appreciate their importance.
Let’s start with the first one: have fun.
We all know that laughter is good for your health. Enjoyment and laughter not only provide real benefits to your mind and body: they’re also key motivators to help keep your workout schedule on track over the long haul.
In fact: if the reason for working out is to lose extra pounds or maintain cardiovascular health, interest in your chosen workouts will gradually fade, and soon excuses for skipping workouts will be found.
While setting goals and achieving real results are important, these two factors alone are not a strong enough motivator. What really drives you to train regularly and for a long time is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm comes when you participate in something enjoyable and fulfilling that feels rewarding.
Taking up running for the sake of losing weight and understanding the benefits it will bring to your health can definitely be a good incentive to start exercising. Running to prepare for the New York City Marathon is considerable motivation, an impressive challenge… But it’s hardly enough to last.
Taking up running because you enjoy the process is the most powerful incentive, the undoubted benefit, and the only way you can be sure to train regularly for the long haul.
So, when choosing a workout direction, you should first ask yourself if you are interested in it, and only then think about the benefits it might bring or the desired goals and results.
In order to keep your enjoyment of training alive, it’s important to keep finding new stimuli and changing the format of the exercise, even within the same discipline.
Runners, for example, can vary the intensity and duration of their workouts or create different music playlists that serve as the perfect soundtrack for each workout!