Building Better Habits: Exercise
Welcome to article 2 of my “Building Better Habits” series! Today’s topic: exercise.
Exercise does not have to be… awful. It does not have to be excruciating. It does not have to take 3 hours to get done.
Moving your body is better than not, right?
All too often, we find ourselves sitting around, scrolling on our phones, watching TV, doing nothing. We come up with a plethora of excuses, but “I don’t have enough time” tends to be the most common.
What if I told you that exercise can be as easy as just going for a 15 minute walk? Or doing a 10-minute pilates video on YouTube?
To put this into perspective, think about all the time you spend doing other things, like looking at social media. You likely have a lot more time to exercise than you think or say that you do. You can go back and read my other blog post about just how much time we actually spend on our phones; trust me, if you cut back on watching hours upon hours of short-form videos, you’ll have plenty of time to exercise. The recommended amount of exercise is 30 minutes a day, but we can work our way up to that!
Here are some easy ways to make more time for exercising in your day:
1.) Wake up 10 minutes earlier!
10 minutes really isn’t a lot to ask! Simply set your alarm for a couple minutes earlier than normal, and get your workout done first thing in the morning. Grab some ice water, put on a cute workout set, and head outside for an early sunset walk. Or find a fun, high-energy workout video online to do right in your own room!
2.) Cut down on the screen time.
Like I said earlier, you can head over to the last “Building Better Habits” blog post to see just how much time we actually spend looking at our phones, but trust me: 10 less minutes of scrolling will not hurt. In fact it will be good for you! Once you start to make exercising a habit, something tells me you’ll realize how much better it feels to move your body than to be a blue-light zombie.
3.) Find a workout that you enjoy.
When we enjoy things, we want to spend more time doing them, right? Right! So find a workout that challenges you, but still feels fun. Maybe you’ll really love a dance HIIT workout, or maybe you just like going for a peaceful walk. Whatever gets you moving, do it!
4.) Get a cute workout set.
Wearing the right clothes is a game changer. If you crawl out of bed in your pajamas, you’re probably not going to get a very good workout in. So, splurge a little on a comfy workout set that will inspire you to get your exercise in for the day.
5.) Do more things standing up!
Sitting around all day is not good for you. I know, a lot of people have desk jobs or jobs that simply have very little activity. I, as an artist at the moment, have been sitting wayyyyyy too much! So, I have started setting up my work space in a way that allows me to stand while I do my work. Standing helps me move around a bit more and keeps my body from getting stiff and tight. There’s lots of standing desks that you can buy, or you can set timers to make sure you stand up and move around every so often during your day.
Now, go make some changes! And stay tuned for more posts about building better habits. Let me know down in the comments how you plan on making more time for your workouts during the day!
