3 Tips to Almost Effortlessly Increase Your Activity in a Month

It’s easy to pin lots of excuses on external conditions, that “justify” why you can’t move your body as much as you’d like, but we’re here to tell you that it’s much simpler than you think to get into the habit of exercising regularly – all while putting in almost minimal effort into it.

The thing with exercise, is that everyone thinks the correct order is motivation > habit > results, but since we only like to do things if we see a benefit, the real order is habit > results > motivation.

So this month is about putting in the effort to turn up, which eventually turns into effortless habit. That’s where the effortless part comes in – how can it be an effort if you’ve made time for it, you’re used to it and you know what to do?

These 3 tips are what you need to commit to, every day for a month, to see yourself move more!

1. Prep: Choose a spot (both in your calendar and your surroundings) for your exercise 

-Commit to a time every day that works for your schedule and organize your daily routine around that – including your meals to eat at the best time to fuel your activity.

-Designate an area for a mat in a convenient location for you: in your room, in a nearby grassy area, in the basement, wherever! You need to be able to do body weight exercises or aerobic exercises: jumping jacks, press ups, squats, lunges, burpees, whatever suits you; it doesn’t have to be an elaborate routine (yet!).

2. Do: Start small and log it all

Choose somewhere you monitor regularly - notebook, wall calendar, app, Excel spreadsheet, etc.

Start with your absolute most basic level of exercise – even 10 minutes in the right mode counts!

Write down each day you do something

3. Ensure: Gamify your activity

Think of how to quantify the activity you do – minutes, reps, sets, rest period between sets

Each day, aim to increase it by any number - even 1. Don’t worry if it doesn’t go up though, the trend doesn’t drop back down to 0 if you did the same amount as the day before, you still did something that day!

From the day you start, reward yourself each week with a small treat when you hit a 3-day streak and a week streak

Just by logging 1 item or line a day, over a month you see your personal a great trend of you committing to doing something, and it feels rewarding at the end of the month to know that you accomplished your goal of increasing your activity!