How to Create an At-Home Workout Routine for the New Year by Doing Less
The two most common problems are weight loss and get into better shape. People start out with great intentions, but they often stop working out before January even ends. If you want this year to be different you need to take a completely different approach to your workouts. You need to start by doing less.
Habits and Changes
We are hardwired to resist change. Our brains see changes in our routines as dangerous. That is one reason you often sabotage yourself. If you want to develop a new workout habit you need to trick your brain into thinking that you are not making a change at all.
When you begin a new workout routine you are really doing two different things. You are trying to create a new habit, daily workouts, and end an old habit, not working out. Most people fail at this because they start too big. They try and go from not doing any regular exercise to doing an hour or more a day. This almost always ends in failure because it is too much for your brain to handle.
Micro Habits
The best way to start your new workout routine is by doing something so small it would be ridiculous not to do it. Think doing yoga for one-minute, doing one push-up, or something else equally trivial. It’s much harder to come with excuses why you shouldn’t do something as easy as a single push-up. Faithfully do this small exercise every day for a week. Do not do any more.
After a week this small exercise is now a habit. It doesn’t take any willpower to do your one-minute of exercise. After a week you increase the amount you exercise by another small amount. Maybe you add another minute of yoga or another pushup.
As you go through the year you add a tiny amount every week. At first the amount of exercise you are doing is too small to make a difference in your health. That doesn’t matter. You are building a micro habit that doesn’t require any serious changes. This means you need less willpower to get started. It is harder to sabotage yourself
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After several weeks of slowly adding to your routine you will find yourself with a serious workout routine that is changing your body and your attitude. You will also find that you are compelled to workout everyday. You will almost be addicted to the feeling of working out.
When everyone else has long abandoned their New Year’s resolutions, you will find that you are growing more dedicated. This is the power of micro habits.
This year could be your year to build the body you have always wanted. Don’t set yourself up for failure with big goals and complex plans that are too hard for you to stick to. Instead, set yourself up for success by starting so small you don’t need hardly any will power at all. If you stick to slowly ramping up your amount of exercise you will find that by June you are working out longer than you ever have before in your life, and loving your new body.
