Day 83 - How 10 Days Helped Get Me Off The Couch Again
As a friend of mine mentioned lately how hard it was to get re-energized to exercise, I tried to sit and think and come up with a solution. I've had this challenge my whole life, and yes, once I got in a routine again I was fine, but I can't tell you how many times I'd start, on a mission, to get back into the swing of exercising again, and after a workout session or two, I stopped.
Why?
Anyone who's like me can understand the pain of working out really hard (okay, even working out "mediocrely" - I know it isn't a word, just made it up, haha) and then two days later you can't even bend to sit down without every fiber of your body screaming out in pain and/or giving out completely causing you to wobble and collapse at any given time. Skinny, fit people who don't believe me - yes, this is a real thing.
Anyway, I had a light bulb moment when I realized that one of the reasons that the 21 Day Fix workouts are so successful, is that it forces you to work out EVERY DAY, even when you're sore. There's good scientific reason for that, which you probably don't care about, because if you're like me, you don't even get that far. If you do, by some chance, will your way to change into your workout clothes with your legs falling out from under you, by the time you press play and try one move, you give up.
I've done that countless times. And then, "I'll just wait until tomorrow" turns into a week, at best, and then I'm sore all over again. It's exhausting - physically AND mentally. And that's why it doesn't work for me.
So this time, I created a free facebook group, called "For The Exercise Resistant - From Couch To Committed" and invited some people to join me for an experiment - where we would exercise EVERY SINGLE DAY. What's different? Well, support, for one. Having like-minded people, walking the same wobbly walk, helps you stay on track. What else? Prizes. Prizes are a fantastic motivation. BEST OF ALL? The goal is attainable. Start with 1 minute of exercise on day one, and then add 1 minute each day to 2, 3, 4... ending up on day 30 with 30 minutes of exercise. Not only does this gradually work your body into using all those muscles, but it teaches your brain to not only expect the habit of exercise but even to CRAVE it.
It worked really, really well for me. So well, I thought I'd share the first part of my journey below. You won't see the pictures, the videos, the comments posted by other members, but you can see a piece of my first 10 days!
Interested in joining the next round? Comment below, send me an email, or find me on facebook and I'll hook you up! Hope you enjoy...
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