How to get moving
Exercise tips for beginners
To succeed, you’ve got to start
Drawing from behavioural science and psychology, the fitness industry is bursting with advice on how to set long-, medium- and short-term goals. Know what your success looks like, write it down, break it down into a plan.
Laudable. Logical. But also a very easy way to keep procrastinating – putting off just getting moving more.
Have a goal. Or don’t
You might want to have a specific end point in mind, such as aiming to complete the 10 k charity run that’s taking place in four months time. You might want to keep it as vague as “be able to jog for a bit a few times a week”.
Or: Feel a bit fitter. Not get so breathless going up stairs. Gain a bit of energy. Feel brighter in yourself. They’re all loose as goals, but all good places to start.
You can always come back to goal setting once you have tricked yourself into moving more regularly.
Put yourself in your diary
To get started, you need to commit to yourself. Prioritise a little bit of time for a little bit of movement, regularly, in your weekly schedule.
Short periods of moderate activity, done regularly and with consistently, are more beneficial than a long, intense workout every now and then.
Showing up for yourself, for some daily or regular physical activity is a theme that I keep coming back to. A little bit of movement, every day, does so much to improve your physical and mental health. With every repetition you move closer to developing a habit that supports a healthy lifestyle.
The movement habit
If an activity becomes habitual, it becomes easier and less effortful. Scheduling time in your day when you will do a five-minute stretch or yoga routine, putting your half hour weekly dance class into your calendar, incorporating a 20 minute walk into your daily lunch break - and keeping these appointments with yourself - will help physical activity to simply become your healthy way of life.
You can make forming these movement habits even easier by using cues. Cues are gentle reminders, like an alarm on your phone, your walking shoes near the front door, your online exercise class reminder popping up as an email an hour before the session starts, that prompt you to remember that you have consciously made a commitment to move a little more, a little more often.
Find the joy!
Can’t abide the idea of jogging? So why are you surprised that you step over your trainers every morning, and then feel guilty for the rest of the day because you haven’t started your couch to 5K? Make it easy to start moving more. This isn’t a test of your moral fibre!
Love wiggling around the kitchen to music? Start with that every morning. And then maybe seek out a Zumba, Clubbasize or another of the dance-based classes that have boomed in the last decade. Choose an activity you know you find joy in.
We release dopamine, the feel-good hormone, when we undertake something that we enjoy. We’re more likely to stick with our new movement habits if we enjoy what we are doing. We also release dopamine when we anticipate the outcome of an activity. Noticing the improvements you are making through your new habit will inevitably motivate you to move even more.
Once your body and brain feel the benefits of movement, you might start to look at those running shoes with anticipation rather than dread.
Hang on! You said “trick yourself”
Yep.
If you’ve read this far, I am guessing you don’t consider yourself a naturally sporty person. Exercise can feel like another chore that you have to add to your “to do” list.
Using these tips
stop putting off starting;
decide that generally feeling fitter is a priority for you;
making a commitment to yourself ;
showing up consistently;
doing something that you know you enjoy
you will trick yourself into making a little bit of movement a regular habit.
Once you have started moving just a little, a little more often, you can revisit the idea of setting goals and milestones that will help you to maintain and develop your new healthy habits.