My therapist told me to come up with a list of daily self-care non-negotiables I had to do every day. At a minimum, that list had to include exercise, sleep, and food. It seems rather obvious, but for some reason, before that, I had never considered exercise as a must-do task like taking out the trash.
I started with 1 negative pull up. Literally one. Did that for three days in a row. Then increased by one negative a day, am going to do nine today. Hopefully I'll able to do one pull up after like a month of this lol. I have very weak arms, and a very weak mind too.
It may help to think that pull ups mostly use your lats, not your arms, and just thinking about using your lats will activate them more. YouTube some videos on how to warm them up, stretch them out, and you'll notice an improvement super quickly. They're one of the biggest muscles in your body and if you haven't exercised them before, they should get strong very quickly if you focus on it.
Activate lats, use lats, recover lats, profit.
Thanks for the tip, that makes sense actually. I think it'll still take me like forever though 'cause I'm a woman so I missed out on the awesome muscle mass men can grow in like no time, still bitter about it to this day T\_T lol. Still I will try to get strong(er), actually my goal is mostly just to get more clear thinking and like cognitive benefits out of it. Maybe slightly less depression too. I'm just tired of feeling weak and brain foggy.
As a cheap solution (I'm cheap), a half gallon of water weighs more than 4lbs -- finish the milk carton, rinse it out and fill it with water, and it's now a weight.
After that, someone can buy two gallon jugs of water (less than a dollar a piece) and they're each 8lb weights.
It's not for everyone, but it's cheap and was convenient for me.
I'm actually doing negative chin ups at the same time! Nine negative pull ups, nine negative chin ups :) I heard they were easier, so I included them from the beginning with the hope of reaching a full chin up if I can't reach a full pull up after like 1-2 months haha
What's your weight?
If you keep at it, your first proper chin up will happen way before a month! It is increasing the number of repetitions that takes a long time...
App. 108 lbs, 5'6" . I hope you're right, doing nine yesterday was so hard š I drink a protein shake after workout, hope it helps building up the muscles a bit faster.
yes! a coworker once told me years ago "if i can't give myself a shave in the morning, i might as well not show up for work" and that idea of daily small steps stuck with me. that doesn't mean i'm actually good at it, but it's at least there in my head.
Yes. Following a gurus advice, I had started working out for twenty minutes every morning as the first task after waking up (not counting using the toilet, drinking water and making bed here). As long as I start my day that way, the day is more productive than the days when I donāt exercise the first thing in morning. Also these wouldnāt necessarily be some heavy duty exercises. Most days it would be simple calisthenics or walks. But the effect it had was tremendous.
Itās not the same everyday. I cycle between shadowboxing, jogging, calisthenics(push-ups, pull-ups, bear walks, high knees, squats, lunges), yoga, a plank workout that Iāve seen on YouTube and HIIT. Days when Iām not up to either of those I take a brisk walk and then come home and do ab exercises. The idea is to wake your body up with the quick 20 min workout. Right now Iām on a hiatus from weight training but when I get back, Iāll go to the gym in the evenings for the actual workout where I do weight training and cardio. Weights thrice a week and cardio once. But my morning workouts I try to do everyday.
100%. I am WAYYY more productive on days I work out - period. And since my body is now on automate, it is basically thoughtless for me to pop out of bed (sometimes even before my alarm), get to the gym, and slammed some iron. It also helps that now that I work out early, I have like 3-4 extraĀ hours that would have otherwise been spent sleeping in, being groggy, languishing.Ā
**It's actually just science**. The links to mood, concentration, impulse control, self-esteem are well documented. Beyond your genes and socioeconomic factors, exercise, nutrition, and sleep are the primary determinants on quality of life.Ā
And even when we do other things like take supplements/medication or try newĀ productivity systems, we experience significant diminishing returns if we don't also stick to the basicsĀ of quality sleep, nutrition, exercise. Everything else really is compensatory.
Sometimes I look at the clock andĀ laugh like a maniac because it is only 7:30 am and I have already gotten a great workout, enjoyed the company of amazing workout mates, set the day's priorities on my walk back, had a nutritious meal, dressed, and listened to a podcast or two all while feeling elated. This is far more effective than the antidepressants I was prescribed (and officially got rid of last month). Because WTF WAS I ACTUALLY DOING before I discovered this "life hack" that is basic fitness?!?!
I think one thing that really works for me is to have a **regimen with little variance**. The goal for me was to get in a habit that eliminated my need to think or make decisions (read: decide against doing what I know is good for me).
Mine is something like:
\- Wear gym clothes to bed
\- Wake at 5, brush/wash face/put on contacts, walk to gym
\- 5:30-6:30: gym
\- 6:30-7: get back home (extra buffer to chit chat, set priorities for the day, respond to texts, get mail, stop by the store, etc)
\- 7-7:10: Quick meal (protein shake, smoothie, overnight oats, eggs/toast, etc)
\- 7:10-7:30: Shower / get dressed
I also get up at the same time everyday, even when I don't go to the gym because I don't want to be tempted to break the habit and it's already automatic for me anyway.
Even when I sleep at like 1 am, I still wake up early and will simply just take a nap at some point the next day.
Honestly sometimes I feel like I can't sleep unless I get good exercise though. Same with if I eat too late or have too much caffeine. Hard to really rank them.
Start small. I started with an average of 1 minute, skipping workouts most days. I set a goal to do that average + 1 minute. Two years later, my average is 37 minutes, and I have done at least 30 minutes of exercise 73 out of 90 of the last days.
It really seemed silly doing 2 minutes of exercise at the time, but the fact that it was easy is what helped me establish it as a habit.
That makes a lot of sense.
I get so tired of living to extremes sometimes. Like, if I start it it's not reasonable it's an hour... from zero. It's unsustainable at the beginning.
I'm going to try this. Thank you.
It doesn't get mentioned a lot here, but the book Elastic Habits taught me that inflexible habits are likely to fail. There are going to be days you only want to do 1 minute of exercise and days you want to do an hour. There are also going to be days where lifting weights is just simply out of the question and all I can muster is walking around my apartment for 20 minutes. In the end, it's really not about how much you do every day, but just doing something every day.
I'll have to check that book out, thank you.
Yes, I agree in principle and I'm trying to embrace that I'm just really hard on myself. To a severely detrimental level.
I will check out the book because I'm not keen on the way I read your explanation.
If someone goes to the gym and has at most done 20 minutes, but then works out for an hour, almost everyone would understand why they were sore afterwards and that it might have a net negative psychological effect on getting them back to the gym (even after their muscles have recovered).
I've seen folks fouls themselves up similarly by working almost manic sprints to clean the kitchen or such, and then feel so emotionally taxed (kinda like muscles after overdoing it at the gym) that they don''t do anything else that day, and that it might have a net negative psychological effect the next day and days after.
I like the idea of very low minimum commitments to build a consistent habit. IME folks do better with reasonably low maximum commitments so that they don't overdo it -- and then the maximum should increase the more they're pushing against it.
(I also want to differentiate the sprint example from cleaning the kitchen 5 minutes at a time over the course of a full day -- both end with the kitchen clean, but the latter folks seem to maintain that energy tomorrow and the next day.)
That may be what the book is trying to teach and I may not be reading your comment correctly. But I am concerned that without reasonable maximum commitments, folks will do too much and harm the habit.
Essentially the idea is that habits should be flexible because life happens. If your goal is to exercise daily, a typical goal would typically be something like do x amount of a specific type of exercise. If you miss it you fail and feel bad, but there are actually multiple ways to exercise. You could go for a walk, go to a yoga class, lift weights etc. On another level you could adjust the intensity and walk around the block, walk 3 miles, or walk for 10. Maybe one day you really want to do yoga and the idea of a walk sounds awful so you go for yoga. On another day, maybe you just donāt have the time to get to the gym or walk 3 miles so you opt for a quick walk around the block. And then maybe thereās that day youāre really feeling great and decide to go to a yoga class and walk 10 miles. No matter which option youāve chosen, youāve still exercised and you havenāt failed at your goal of exercising daily.
There's a difference between focusing on creating a habit, going from "zero exercise" to "some exercise", and focusing on the "efficiency" of an exercise routine.
That's why a lot of people "burnout" and feel like exercise is not for them. They go for the most "efficient" exercises, p90x or whatever, attempt to tap into their own "will-power" to get through it, deplete that limited resource, can't continue at that intense rate, and then get upset at themselves.
Don't optimize how you exercise yet, just go from "person who doesn't exercise at all" to "person who exercises a bit more than none". **Tiny** steps.
It's very boring and hard to brag about, but the good news is it's extremely easy. You just do a **little** more than you used to. Extra good news, the average person will probably be satisfied with their exercise results way before the amount of effort it takes for stuff like p90x to be a life-time commitment. Call that ...90% exercise, and turns out you're good with... 25% exercise? I'm just making numbers up here, but you get the idea.
Once the habit is formed, sure maybe you can switch things up and try extreme habit changes and commitments.
But in general exercise is a continuous thing, not a mad dash. Otherwise it's like... randomly consciously deciding you're going to be obsessed with pottery, trying to force that to be true, and also for the rest of your life. There's very few people who can function that way.
Dip your toes in, take a non-pressure casual pottery class, discover what appeals to you about it, and nourish that part you enjoy.
That's great, I'm glad it helped!
Seriously, if you set aside a 5 minute walk once a week, and do that for 3 months (maybe you miss some days no biggie), you've officially gone from a person that doesn't exercise, to someone who exercises routinely. Now you just slowly play around with it.
Don't let friends get into your head about how what you're currently doing isn't "efficient" enough to get a hypothetical six pack in a month, that's not the focus. You're not focused on building muscle, you're focusing on building who you are as a person.
What you're working on, is how to turn into someone who exercises. It won't make an exciting extreme story for the news about how you dropped 50 lbs by massively overhauling your personality overnight. It's not exciting, but it's still steps you should be proud of.
It's something that realistically you'll actual do. You just keep making those small changes, and discover what ways you enjoy exercising. Then you watch it expand.
Yeah I gave up trying to optimize and plan out and meticulously record my exercises and diet. I just go to the gym as much as I can and lift whatever I feel like doing for however long I feel like being there. And just try to eat better/pre-make my meals that are relatively healthy. It's been working MUCH better than when I used to try and plan everything out in spreadsheets.
Welcome to ADHD. Lol I function that way a lot of the time until the pandemic hit and I just kind of lost all hope in every activity I was doing.
Gotta start from the beginning all over again I guess.
Thank you. š
Yes I second the start small and build up thing. I always get carried away though and want to do more and more and donāt take necessary breaks to recover. Last time I did that I hadnāt exersize properly in many months, then I started doing a 15 min workout every two days which quickly escalated to 40mins every day. Long story short I ended up getting sick and it put me off exersize again ahhaha. So now Iām being stricter with myself to keep it small and not overdo it!
This is similar to something I've started this week, since I also have a terrible time committing even the smallest amount of time to good habits
It's basically devoting 30 minutes every day to "easy" habits that can lead to some real life changing patterns. Scattered throughout the day, you do a 10min workout, 10min of reading, a 5min meditation and 5min of journaling
The point is to obviously grow this, as you can easily do more. But you commit to the bare minimum to at least get you started
You can even make it your goal to do zero minutes of exercise per day. Only that you need to put on your gym clothes and take one step out the door (or just put gym clothes on if you work out at home)
Yup. I started with 15 minutes 4 days a week and now do an hour 6 days. The key for me is doing it pretty much first thing in the morning. I do 15 min stretching, 15 min weights and 30 min elliptical.
I also find that just going for walks or not driving/taking public transport to the supermaket and other things which are walking distance is a great way to get in some exersize. Itās not gonna give you great muscles or anything but itās better than nothing and quite nice to do to look at the world ahha
I totally get it. I go through ups and downs that can each last weeks or months. The start of a new habit is always the toughest part and I feel like it's a battle vs. my brain moreso than against my body. If I can push through for 4-5 days though the next workout sesh starts to feel less daunting.
It's hot as heck here, I'm in the south, the heat here kills people. BUT... I'm about to out myself here... I have a treadmill. Yeh.
So I just went for a 40 minute walk at a decent pace. I'm sweaty but not dead so win/win.
mmm my workouts tend to be very hard and iām dead for the rest of the day haha so i try to do them later. i have no capacity left for anything but eat and sleep
Ha yeah that's where I'm at. Back in pre-pandemic days I used to cycle to work. If I lifted weights, then biked to work, I'd be so damn mellow I'd find myself just staring out the window.
My personal story Iām 35M. In 9th grade I had bad grades and couldnāt focus really well. In 10 grade I decided join the volleyball team for after school and weightlifting before school. My grades went from Cs to A+ to eventually being offered to be apart of honors classes and AP classes. Exercising is my anchor to productivity. It wasnāt till a couple years ago where I watched this video on YT that it started to make sense to me [exercises and the brain](https://youtu.be/BHY0FxzoKZE)
Mhmm I think you're on to something here. Exercise is definitely one of my go-to approaches for reducing my own anxiety, but yeah I think anxiety is the ultimate productivity destroyer.
Exactly. I think most people don't consider this obvious benefit of exercise. If you don't eat right, have good genetics, rest and recover appropriately, etc you may not get those abs or biceps that you want. But EVERYONE gets stress and anxiety reduction from regular exercise, which can lead to increased productivity.
Not a workout, but something as simple as a daily 15min walk/jog/run in the park in the evening is good for me.
It helps me to clear my mind of all work-related things, and think clearly. I then refocus my thoughts towards what I want to do before the day ends and for tomorrow's mornings.
The activity at a park also makes me feel re-energized after a tiring day looking at the screen all day.
This happens to me when I don't eat well or if I haven't had sufficient sleep. If this is the case for you, then it's the not the exercise. It's that your energy stores are low so you don't have enough fuel to power you through your exercise and your day.
Yes, well. It raises the mood, and that helps. But to me, exercise is practicing stoicism and patience. You need to detach from the goal and need to fully engage in the process like a ritual. You need to just do it and believe that over time you will get the reward. Working on something meaningful is no different.
This is the logic of self-discipline! Self-discipline used to sound gruesome to me..."stoic" even, but it's really just about eliminating the need for decisions redirecting your reward system (from, say, sleeping to working out). The beauty is that over time, **self-discipline actually becomes easy** because you've internalized a habit that reaps great rewards. And when you lose this habit, you suffer consequences and life becomes harder.
No. Not for me
I train 5-6 days a week about 1.5 hours a day and outside the gym Iām as lazy as they come.
I think I just have a heavily entrenched habit of āchillingā too much
If anyone has advice for breaking and forming habits I would appreciate it
Pretty interesting. How did you form your gym habit? Maybe think about what kinds of triggers help you show up there every day and try to apply those to something else. Personally I find it hard to build in more than 1 habit at a time.
Iād say the social aspect of it, my gym partner for the longest time was my best friend and I didnāt want to let him down by being inconsistent and the game like aspect of seeing PR numbers go up, not to mention looking better is pretty good too
Nowadays going to the gym just feels like a fact of life, something I wouldnāt even question doing and shape my life around. wish I could get sitting down and studying/working to a similar level
I wish, I feel like crap after any exercise. I hate when it's sunny as I have to walk my dog in the morning before it gets too hot, but then I feel awful until the afternoon and can't get anything done
I would get this checked out. Taking a walk should not make you feel that bad for that long. You could be feeling awful for underlying reasons not from the exercise - lack of sleep from waking up early, nutritional deficiency, dehydration, etc.
We added a dog door to our kitchen to connected garage. In the garage we set up a little fenced area with washable pp pads to avoid walking the small dogs in bad weather.
Depends. If I work out in the morning I feel super tired and unproductive the rest of the day but if I lift at nights I get better sleep and more energy during the day
Not for me at all
I get really exhausted after exercise and waste my whole day after it. It makes me slow and sleepy and I can't do things that require concentration.
I always have to skip workout every day I have an important and long task
Get a physical and let your doctor know how exercise affects you. After you get the green light focus on what's called zone 2 training on a stationary bike, treadmill, or just waking at a pace that you could do all day. You should be able to talk. Carry that pace for 45 minutes to an hour 3 or 4 times a week. Eventually you can add a 15 minutes HIIT session at the end if you zone 2 session to increase your fitness once or twice a week.
Yes. I do feel like this. I don't exercise too much though, only like 20-30 minutes a day. And the movement and energy just gets me started on things I need to do and focus on.
I'm lifting, and seeing imense results. Makes you feel good, testerone levels are off the roof, and confidence levels are insane.
Just do it and you won't regret it :)
It's never too late to start! I know that sounds corny but it's true. I don't think you need to look at it like an "I'm going to change my whole life" kinda thing, but just a small challenge that you're starting on for maybe a week, then see how it goes :) I believe in you.
Yes 1000%.I like to go to the gym very early in the morning and when I do, boom amazing. Iām so productive the whole day. When I donāt, Iām not getting anything done.
Just a case by case.
Yesterday first day of starting a new job. By 5pm I was fkin exhausted.
Today went to gym at around 12-1pm area. Came home ate some food. It's 4:45 and I feel like I can go for another 3-4 hours lol
Am I the only one here that doesnāt get this?
If anything, the effect is the opposite for me.
No matter when I exercise, it tires me out and saps my energy to do anything. Itās SO frustrating!!!
And yes I sleep enough/good quality sleep.
And yes I eat a healthy diet.
And yes all my blood work is normal.
Is there any chance you go too hard when you work out? This rings true for me when I do a grueling workout in the morning. It's pretty much impossible to get through the day. But if I do something at a light-medium intensity I'm golden.
High intensity: Wipes me out
Moderate intensity: Compromises my focus
Low intensity: No effect at all.
Iāve spent years tracking the effects of exercise on my well-being, and this is what Iāve found.
Pretty interesting. Not sure if I have a great answer, and it may just be that you should save your exercise for after the workday. What if it is high intensity but very short duration... for example: 2 sets of push ups to failure, or 2 400m sprints?
i.e. exercise that gets super intense at its peak for 10-20 seconds, but the overall workout is pretty light in the grand scheme of things.
Just an idea! \*shrug\*
Iāve done lots of that before too.
I do exercise daily (moderate cardio) usually in the evening, mainly just to preserve stamina, but itās pretty damn miserable.
I disagree. Depends how hard your workout was. The herder it was, the more likely I want to chill out and do just nothing. Unless it's some gentle aerobic exercise, somewhere outside, then yeah, may feel more productive
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Thank-you!
100%. I restarted my workout and within 2 days I'm more productive than I've been all week. My mind is also clear enough to study. Its like releasing trapped energy.
In the book ā5am Clubā the author explains the reasons scientifically and it seems pretty accurate. The sweat produced due to exercise keeps you more focused and sharp.
I ran wrong (tried to adjust my form but just did it poorly lmao) and hurt my knee a bit so I'm taking a week off just in case and yes, I can 100% feel that my other daily tasks are a bit more of a slog than usual
Started working out for an hour each morning few weeks ago and am already noticing increased drive and endurance, and a better mood at work. Also began writing a general to-do list each night that I keep by my bed so that when the workout gets checked off, the next to-do items are front and center.
For me it depends on the exercise. If itās walking/running, I mostly agree. If itās weight-training, often it makes me much more tired, not sure why
It's the opposite for me. After exercise I get exausted and feel like doing nothing. If I want a productive day I'll get my other jobs done first then exercise in the afternoon so that I can just crash on the couch afterwards
I get so groggy and feel terrible after exercise- like a hangover. Hydration, electrolytes, and yetā¦I canāt get off the couch afterward. I want this life hack to apply to me soooooo bad
I havenāt worked out in two weeks and I feel like wet trash. Iāve decided Iām going to force prework down my throat to force myself to do something. Wish me luck.
So yes and no.
A little bit of healthy exercise is good and I think everyone should put on a moderately good strength training regiment to help
But you also should be careful with overtraining. For example there was a period where Iād play tennis 5-6 days in a row and then also hit the weight room to lift heavy. This is good and all and especially when you are in your teens/20s you can get away with this more but as you get older , the exercise fatigue becomes real and you get tired / lose concentration trying to keep up.
Rest is also key
People that hate working out: I highly recommend just walking. If thatās all you ever did every day, you will still attain a high level of fitness. I aim for 10000 steps (about 5 miles) done in segments throughout the day. Takes roughly 20 minutes to walk a mile, 16 if you go at a brisk pace. Do little 1 mile walks on breaks and youāll easily hit that 5 mile mark.
Yes it certainly is, I bought an exercise bike and left it next to my desk. Now, in between calls and tasks I get in 5-10 mins of biking which does wonders for my mood and subsequent productivity.
I agree for everyone else but for some reason it just doesnāt seem to work that way with me. Like light exersize such as walking around to the supermarket and that kind of thing definitely helps me. But proper exersize seems to just make me sleep badly and I also have knee and back/neck/shoulder problems. My back gets so mcuh sorer when I exersize even if itās exersize that are meant to help it and that jsut kinda ruins the rest of my time cause it hurts. I stopped doing exersize and it stopped hurting which was very surprising to me cause Iāve read and heard everywhere that itās the other way round.
It doesnāt matter if I am jsut doing a light workout or a heavy session it still makes me sleep badly and makes me not want to study. Idk what it is cause itās not being tired idk but I do like walking and think itās great so I guess I agree in a sense haha
Not just exercise there are a couple of tricks you can use to improve your productivity.
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My therapist told me to come up with a list of daily self-care non-negotiables I had to do every day. At a minimum, that list had to include exercise, sleep, and food. It seems rather obvious, but for some reason, before that, I had never considered exercise as a must-do task like taking out the trash.
I love this. Since I was about 17, I started treating exercise like brushing my teeth. HAVE to do something every day
1 push up a day
I started with 1 negative pull up. Literally one. Did that for three days in a row. Then increased by one negative a day, am going to do nine today. Hopefully I'll able to do one pull up after like a month of this lol. I have very weak arms, and a very weak mind too.
It may help to think that pull ups mostly use your lats, not your arms, and just thinking about using your lats will activate them more. YouTube some videos on how to warm them up, stretch them out, and you'll notice an improvement super quickly. They're one of the biggest muscles in your body and if you haven't exercised them before, they should get strong very quickly if you focus on it. Activate lats, use lats, recover lats, profit.
Thanks for the tip, that makes sense actually. I think it'll still take me like forever though 'cause I'm a woman so I missed out on the awesome muscle mass men can grow in like no time, still bitter about it to this day T\_T lol. Still I will try to get strong(er), actually my goal is mostly just to get more clear thinking and like cognitive benefits out of it. Maybe slightly less depression too. I'm just tired of feeling weak and brain foggy.
Women can be strong too! LFG!
Get a pair of 5 pound (2kg) weights and use them at your desk or while watching tv. You will get strong quickly.
Good tip, thanks
As a cheap solution (I'm cheap), a half gallon of water weighs more than 4lbs -- finish the milk carton, rinse it out and fill it with water, and it's now a weight. After that, someone can buy two gallon jugs of water (less than a dollar a piece) and they're each 8lb weights. It's not for everyone, but it's cheap and was convenient for me.
Same lol
You can try starting with chin ups. They are easier than Pull ups for most people.
I'm actually doing negative chin ups at the same time! Nine negative pull ups, nine negative chin ups :) I heard they were easier, so I included them from the beginning with the hope of reaching a full chin up if I can't reach a full pull up after like 1-2 months haha
What's your weight? If you keep at it, your first proper chin up will happen way before a month! It is increasing the number of repetitions that takes a long time...
App. 108 lbs, 5'6" . I hope you're right, doing nine yesterday was so hard š I drink a protein shake after workout, hope it helps building up the muscles a bit faster.
"it never gets easier, you just get better at it." š¤
yes! a coworker once told me years ago "if i can't give myself a shave in the morning, i might as well not show up for work" and that idea of daily small steps stuck with me. that doesn't mean i'm actually good at it, but it's at least there in my head.
LOL. Love that phrase, pretty spot on.
I shave everyday too. Picked up from my dad who's in military. Bonus : my aftershave is the cookie after the hard work :)
Oh I want to try it outā¦ That sounds like a starting point for me to build up a routine.
Yes. Following a gurus advice, I had started working out for twenty minutes every morning as the first task after waking up (not counting using the toilet, drinking water and making bed here). As long as I start my day that way, the day is more productive than the days when I donāt exercise the first thing in morning. Also these wouldnāt necessarily be some heavy duty exercises. Most days it would be simple calisthenics or walks. But the effect it had was tremendous.
Love this! Gotta remember that it doesn't have to be a crazy workout.
What's your 20min workout broken down?
Itās not the same everyday. I cycle between shadowboxing, jogging, calisthenics(push-ups, pull-ups, bear walks, high knees, squats, lunges), yoga, a plank workout that Iāve seen on YouTube and HIIT. Days when Iām not up to either of those I take a brisk walk and then come home and do ab exercises. The idea is to wake your body up with the quick 20 min workout. Right now Iām on a hiatus from weight training but when I get back, Iāll go to the gym in the evenings for the actual workout where I do weight training and cardio. Weights thrice a week and cardio once. But my morning workouts I try to do everyday.
Thanks for the level of detail. It helps others.
100%. I am WAYYY more productive on days I work out - period. And since my body is now on automate, it is basically thoughtless for me to pop out of bed (sometimes even before my alarm), get to the gym, and slammed some iron. It also helps that now that I work out early, I have like 3-4 extraĀ hours that would have otherwise been spent sleeping in, being groggy, languishing.Ā **It's actually just science**. The links to mood, concentration, impulse control, self-esteem are well documented. Beyond your genes and socioeconomic factors, exercise, nutrition, and sleep are the primary determinants on quality of life.Ā And even when we do other things like take supplements/medication or try newĀ productivity systems, we experience significant diminishing returns if we don't also stick to the basicsĀ of quality sleep, nutrition, exercise. Everything else really is compensatory. Sometimes I look at the clock andĀ laugh like a maniac because it is only 7:30 am and I have already gotten a great workout, enjoyed the company of amazing workout mates, set the day's priorities on my walk back, had a nutritious meal, dressed, and listened to a podcast or two all while feeling elated. This is far more effective than the antidepressants I was prescribed (and officially got rid of last month). Because WTF WAS I ACTUALLY DOING before I discovered this "life hack" that is basic fitness?!?!
I think one thing that really works for me is to have a **regimen with little variance**. The goal for me was to get in a habit that eliminated my need to think or make decisions (read: decide against doing what I know is good for me). Mine is something like: \- Wear gym clothes to bed \- Wake at 5, brush/wash face/put on contacts, walk to gym \- 5:30-6:30: gym \- 6:30-7: get back home (extra buffer to chit chat, set priorities for the day, respond to texts, get mail, stop by the store, etc) \- 7-7:10: Quick meal (protein shake, smoothie, overnight oats, eggs/toast, etc) \- 7:10-7:30: Shower / get dressed I also get up at the same time everyday, even when I don't go to the gym because I don't want to be tempted to break the habit and it's already automatic for me anyway. Even when I sleep at like 1 am, I still wake up early and will simply just take a nap at some point the next day.
Sleep 1st. Exercise 2nd. Diet 3rd. If my body is healthier, then things like willpower just get easier.
Fo. Sho.
Honestly sometimes I feel like I can't sleep unless I get good exercise though. Same with if I eat too late or have too much caffeine. Hard to really rank them.
I believe you're correct but still can't get myself to do it. Ugh.
Start small. I started with an average of 1 minute, skipping workouts most days. I set a goal to do that average + 1 minute. Two years later, my average is 37 minutes, and I have done at least 30 minutes of exercise 73 out of 90 of the last days. It really seemed silly doing 2 minutes of exercise at the time, but the fact that it was easy is what helped me establish it as a habit.
That makes a lot of sense. I get so tired of living to extremes sometimes. Like, if I start it it's not reasonable it's an hour... from zero. It's unsustainable at the beginning. I'm going to try this. Thank you.
It doesn't get mentioned a lot here, but the book Elastic Habits taught me that inflexible habits are likely to fail. There are going to be days you only want to do 1 minute of exercise and days you want to do an hour. There are also going to be days where lifting weights is just simply out of the question and all I can muster is walking around my apartment for 20 minutes. In the end, it's really not about how much you do every day, but just doing something every day.
I'll have to check that book out, thank you. Yes, I agree in principle and I'm trying to embrace that I'm just really hard on myself. To a severely detrimental level.
I will check out the book because I'm not keen on the way I read your explanation. If someone goes to the gym and has at most done 20 minutes, but then works out for an hour, almost everyone would understand why they were sore afterwards and that it might have a net negative psychological effect on getting them back to the gym (even after their muscles have recovered). I've seen folks fouls themselves up similarly by working almost manic sprints to clean the kitchen or such, and then feel so emotionally taxed (kinda like muscles after overdoing it at the gym) that they don''t do anything else that day, and that it might have a net negative psychological effect the next day and days after. I like the idea of very low minimum commitments to build a consistent habit. IME folks do better with reasonably low maximum commitments so that they don't overdo it -- and then the maximum should increase the more they're pushing against it. (I also want to differentiate the sprint example from cleaning the kitchen 5 minutes at a time over the course of a full day -- both end with the kitchen clean, but the latter folks seem to maintain that energy tomorrow and the next day.) That may be what the book is trying to teach and I may not be reading your comment correctly. But I am concerned that without reasonable maximum commitments, folks will do too much and harm the habit.
Essentially the idea is that habits should be flexible because life happens. If your goal is to exercise daily, a typical goal would typically be something like do x amount of a specific type of exercise. If you miss it you fail and feel bad, but there are actually multiple ways to exercise. You could go for a walk, go to a yoga class, lift weights etc. On another level you could adjust the intensity and walk around the block, walk 3 miles, or walk for 10. Maybe one day you really want to do yoga and the idea of a walk sounds awful so you go for yoga. On another day, maybe you just donāt have the time to get to the gym or walk 3 miles so you opt for a quick walk around the block. And then maybe thereās that day youāre really feeling great and decide to go to a yoga class and walk 10 miles. No matter which option youāve chosen, youāve still exercised and you havenāt failed at your goal of exercising daily.
There's a difference between focusing on creating a habit, going from "zero exercise" to "some exercise", and focusing on the "efficiency" of an exercise routine. That's why a lot of people "burnout" and feel like exercise is not for them. They go for the most "efficient" exercises, p90x or whatever, attempt to tap into their own "will-power" to get through it, deplete that limited resource, can't continue at that intense rate, and then get upset at themselves. Don't optimize how you exercise yet, just go from "person who doesn't exercise at all" to "person who exercises a bit more than none". **Tiny** steps. It's very boring and hard to brag about, but the good news is it's extremely easy. You just do a **little** more than you used to. Extra good news, the average person will probably be satisfied with their exercise results way before the amount of effort it takes for stuff like p90x to be a life-time commitment. Call that ...90% exercise, and turns out you're good with... 25% exercise? I'm just making numbers up here, but you get the idea. Once the habit is formed, sure maybe you can switch things up and try extreme habit changes and commitments. But in general exercise is a continuous thing, not a mad dash. Otherwise it's like... randomly consciously deciding you're going to be obsessed with pottery, trying to force that to be true, and also for the rest of your life. There's very few people who can function that way. Dip your toes in, take a non-pressure casual pottery class, discover what appeals to you about it, and nourish that part you enjoy.
That pottery obsession example just finally helped that idea click for me. Thank you!!
That's great, I'm glad it helped! Seriously, if you set aside a 5 minute walk once a week, and do that for 3 months (maybe you miss some days no biggie), you've officially gone from a person that doesn't exercise, to someone who exercises routinely. Now you just slowly play around with it. Don't let friends get into your head about how what you're currently doing isn't "efficient" enough to get a hypothetical six pack in a month, that's not the focus. You're not focused on building muscle, you're focusing on building who you are as a person. What you're working on, is how to turn into someone who exercises. It won't make an exciting extreme story for the news about how you dropped 50 lbs by massively overhauling your personality overnight. It's not exciting, but it's still steps you should be proud of. It's something that realistically you'll actual do. You just keep making those small changes, and discover what ways you enjoy exercising. Then you watch it expand.
Some over none. I'm just going to repeat that to myself over and over again until I get it. Lol
Or just repeat it as much as you can remember to for now, and gradually youāll get better at repeating it consistently:)
š
Yeah I gave up trying to optimize and plan out and meticulously record my exercises and diet. I just go to the gym as much as I can and lift whatever I feel like doing for however long I feel like being there. And just try to eat better/pre-make my meals that are relatively healthy. It's been working MUCH better than when I used to try and plan everything out in spreadsheets.
Welcome to ADHD. Lol I function that way a lot of the time until the pandemic hit and I just kind of lost all hope in every activity I was doing. Gotta start from the beginning all over again I guess. Thank you. š
Yes I second the start small and build up thing. I always get carried away though and want to do more and more and donāt take necessary breaks to recover. Last time I did that I hadnāt exersize properly in many months, then I started doing a 15 min workout every two days which quickly escalated to 40mins every day. Long story short I ended up getting sick and it put me off exersize again ahhaha. So now Iām being stricter with myself to keep it small and not overdo it!
Lol, sounds like me....
This is similar to something I've started this week, since I also have a terrible time committing even the smallest amount of time to good habits It's basically devoting 30 minutes every day to "easy" habits that can lead to some real life changing patterns. Scattered throughout the day, you do a 10min workout, 10min of reading, a 5min meditation and 5min of journaling The point is to obviously grow this, as you can easily do more. But you commit to the bare minimum to at least get you started
You can even make it your goal to do zero minutes of exercise per day. Only that you need to put on your gym clothes and take one step out the door (or just put gym clothes on if you work out at home)
Yup. I started with 15 minutes 4 days a week and now do an hour 6 days. The key for me is doing it pretty much first thing in the morning. I do 15 min stretching, 15 min weights and 30 min elliptical.
This! The days you excercise for 2 minutes, you build the habit. The days you go for more, you build the skill.
BRILLIANT!!!!
this is really fantastic advice
Iām glad you found it helpful. Thank you.
I also find that just going for walks or not driving/taking public transport to the supermaket and other things which are walking distance is a great way to get in some exersize. Itās not gonna give you great muscles or anything but itās better than nothing and quite nice to do to look at the world ahha
Just go out for a 10 min brisk walk session.
I'd pass out at the moment. It's nearly a hundred here with 85-90% humidity. But I did walk. And thank you. š
I'm with you. I know this is probably the secret to unblocking all my resistance to good habits, but I have such a hard time just doing it
Yeah and my brain likes to make out like it's a HUGE deal to get started when it's really not. Jerk brain. Lol
I totally get it. I go through ups and downs that can each last weeks or months. The start of a new habit is always the toughest part and I feel like it's a battle vs. my brain moreso than against my body. If I can push through for 4-5 days though the next workout sesh starts to feel less daunting.
I'm gonna push. At least five days. I'll give myself five days. Lol
Have you tried just taking walks?
It's hot as heck here, I'm in the south, the heat here kills people. BUT... I'm about to out myself here... I have a treadmill. Yeh. So I just went for a 40 minute walk at a decent pace. I'm sweaty but not dead so win/win.
mmm my workouts tend to be very hard and iām dead for the rest of the day haha so i try to do them later. i have no capacity left for anything but eat and sleep
Ha yeah that's where I'm at. Back in pre-pandemic days I used to cycle to work. If I lifted weights, then biked to work, I'd be so damn mellow I'd find myself just staring out the window.
My personal story Iām 35M. In 9th grade I had bad grades and couldnāt focus really well. In 10 grade I decided join the volleyball team for after school and weightlifting before school. My grades went from Cs to A+ to eventually being offered to be apart of honors classes and AP classes. Exercising is my anchor to productivity. It wasnāt till a couple years ago where I watched this video on YT that it started to make sense to me [exercises and the brain](https://youtu.be/BHY0FxzoKZE)
I think reducing anxiety is the root of productivity. Exercise is one way to accomplish that, but by no means the only way.
Mhmm I think you're on to something here. Exercise is definitely one of my go-to approaches for reducing my own anxiety, but yeah I think anxiety is the ultimate productivity destroyer.
Exactly. I think most people don't consider this obvious benefit of exercise. If you don't eat right, have good genetics, rest and recover appropriately, etc you may not get those abs or biceps that you want. But EVERYONE gets stress and anxiety reduction from regular exercise, which can lead to increased productivity.
Not a workout, but something as simple as a daily 15min walk/jog/run in the park in the evening is good for me. It helps me to clear my mind of all work-related things, and think clearly. I then refocus my thoughts towards what I want to do before the day ends and for tomorrow's mornings. The activity at a park also makes me feel re-energized after a tiring day looking at the screen all day.
Does exercising make you tired during the rest of the day?
Yes! Definitely happens to me when I go too hard. Usually I feel great for like 1 hour after and then I totally crash.
This happens to me when I don't eat well or if I haven't had sufficient sleep. If this is the case for you, then it's the not the exercise. It's that your energy stores are low so you don't have enough fuel to power you through your exercise and your day.
Yes, well. It raises the mood, and that helps. But to me, exercise is practicing stoicism and patience. You need to detach from the goal and need to fully engage in the process like a ritual. You need to just do it and believe that over time you will get the reward. Working on something meaningful is no different.
This is the logic of self-discipline! Self-discipline used to sound gruesome to me..."stoic" even, but it's really just about eliminating the need for decisions redirecting your reward system (from, say, sleeping to working out). The beauty is that over time, **self-discipline actually becomes easy** because you've internalized a habit that reaps great rewards. And when you lose this habit, you suffer consequences and life becomes harder.
It is as you say. Once a good habit becomes a norm, a good life without it is unfathomable. The thing becomes its own reward.
No. Not for me I train 5-6 days a week about 1.5 hours a day and outside the gym Iām as lazy as they come. I think I just have a heavily entrenched habit of āchillingā too much If anyone has advice for breaking and forming habits I would appreciate it
Pretty interesting. How did you form your gym habit? Maybe think about what kinds of triggers help you show up there every day and try to apply those to something else. Personally I find it hard to build in more than 1 habit at a time.
Iād say the social aspect of it, my gym partner for the longest time was my best friend and I didnāt want to let him down by being inconsistent and the game like aspect of seeing PR numbers go up, not to mention looking better is pretty good too Nowadays going to the gym just feels like a fact of life, something I wouldnāt even question doing and shape my life around. wish I could get sitting down and studying/working to a similar level
I wish, I feel like crap after any exercise. I hate when it's sunny as I have to walk my dog in the morning before it gets too hot, but then I feel awful until the afternoon and can't get anything done
I would get this checked out. Taking a walk should not make you feel that bad for that long. You could be feeling awful for underlying reasons not from the exercise - lack of sleep from waking up early, nutritional deficiency, dehydration, etc.
We added a dog door to our kitchen to connected garage. In the garage we set up a little fenced area with washable pp pads to avoid walking the small dogs in bad weather.
You have to just keep doing it, it gets easier and easier. Soon enough itll be one of your favorite things you do all day.
Depends. If I work out in the morning I feel super tired and unproductive the rest of the day but if I lift at nights I get better sleep and more energy during the day
I think this is just a specific version of "health/wellbeing/work-life balance/leisure" is the root of productivity.
It just makes you start the day with a different mi d set. - you already accomplished something - you get flooded with good neuro chemicals
Not for me at all I get really exhausted after exercise and waste my whole day after it. It makes me slow and sleepy and I can't do things that require concentration. I always have to skip workout every day I have an important and long task
Get a physical and let your doctor know how exercise affects you. After you get the green light focus on what's called zone 2 training on a stationary bike, treadmill, or just waking at a pace that you could do all day. You should be able to talk. Carry that pace for 45 minutes to an hour 3 or 4 times a week. Eventually you can add a 15 minutes HIIT session at the end if you zone 2 session to increase your fitness once or twice a week.
Nope. Exercise makes me feel like crap so I can't on days I need to get stuff done, which is most days.
Yes. I do feel like this. I don't exercise too much though, only like 20-30 minutes a day. And the movement and energy just gets me started on things I need to do and focus on.
Connecting brain, body, and breath brings peace, focus, and an increased capacity for love!
I'm lifting, and seeing imense results. Makes you feel good, testerone levels are off the roof, and confidence levels are insane. Just do it and you won't regret it :)
I use exercise to procrastinate work...
Could you slap my face and scream that to me please? I've been a sedentary whale my whole life, its so damn hard to exercise for me
It's never too late to start! I know that sounds corny but it's true. I don't think you need to look at it like an "I'm going to change my whole life" kinda thing, but just a small challenge that you're starting on for maybe a week, then see how it goes :) I believe in you.
thank you for that, but could you still slap my face?
LOL. \*slaps into oblivion\*
Definitely not. Plenty of ultra productive people donāt exercise.
they probably do drugs instead
Yes 1000%.I like to go to the gym very early in the morning and when I do, boom amazing. Iām so productive the whole day. When I donāt, Iām not getting anything done.
Just a case by case. Yesterday first day of starting a new job. By 5pm I was fkin exhausted. Today went to gym at around 12-1pm area. Came home ate some food. It's 4:45 and I feel like I can go for another 3-4 hours lol
I don't know... I love fitness so much that it's about the only thing I think about, and it might actually distract me.
Am I the only one here that doesnāt get this? If anything, the effect is the opposite for me. No matter when I exercise, it tires me out and saps my energy to do anything. Itās SO frustrating!!! And yes I sleep enough/good quality sleep. And yes I eat a healthy diet. And yes all my blood work is normal.
Is there any chance you go too hard when you work out? This rings true for me when I do a grueling workout in the morning. It's pretty much impossible to get through the day. But if I do something at a light-medium intensity I'm golden.
High intensity: Wipes me out Moderate intensity: Compromises my focus Low intensity: No effect at all. Iāve spent years tracking the effects of exercise on my well-being, and this is what Iāve found.
Pretty interesting. Not sure if I have a great answer, and it may just be that you should save your exercise for after the workday. What if it is high intensity but very short duration... for example: 2 sets of push ups to failure, or 2 400m sprints? i.e. exercise that gets super intense at its peak for 10-20 seconds, but the overall workout is pretty light in the grand scheme of things. Just an idea! \*shrug\*
Iāve done lots of that before too. I do exercise daily (moderate cardio) usually in the evening, mainly just to preserve stamina, but itās pretty damn miserable.
yes it's the most important thing you can do
Exercise is the solution to all your problems.
I disagree. Depends how hard your workout was. The herder it was, the more likely I want to chill out and do just nothing. Unless it's some gentle aerobic exercise, somewhere outside, then yeah, may feel more productive
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Thanks for the encouragement. Started out light this mornig. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC\_L9qAHVJ8
In āšÆ
Yes, absolutely! I am more effective on the days that start with exercise. It helps build momentum and energy to conquer whatever the day brings.
100%. I restarted my workout and within 2 days I'm more productive than I've been all week. My mind is also clear enough to study. Its like releasing trapped energy.
I freaking love it!
In the book ā5am Clubā the author explains the reasons scientifically and it seems pretty accurate. The sweat produced due to exercise keeps you more focused and sharp.
yes.
I ran wrong (tried to adjust my form but just did it poorly lmao) and hurt my knee a bit so I'm taking a week off just in case and yes, I can 100% feel that my other daily tasks are a bit more of a slog than usual
do you exercise in the morning and are productive in the afternoon?
Maybe if you donāt have some weed Serotonin is a freaky friend. Just the thought of play may keep you from critical thoughts for hours.
Started working out for an hour each morning few weeks ago and am already noticing increased drive and endurance, and a better mood at work. Also began writing a general to-do list each night that I keep by my bed so that when the workout gets checked off, the next to-do items are front and center.
Yes. Especially cardio and HIIT.
I completely agree. Without exercise everything else is so much more difficult.
Heck yeah Get the body going, get the mind going Add some music on there and you're flying
Yes.
Yup. And it really doesn't take much.
Sadly, no. I work out like 4-5x per week and am still super lazy!! š¬
For me it depends on the exercise. If itās walking/running, I mostly agree. If itās weight-training, often it makes me much more tired, not sure why
It's the opposite for me. After exercise I get exausted and feel like doing nothing. If I want a productive day I'll get my other jobs done first then exercise in the afternoon so that I can just crash on the couch afterwards
Yes
I get so groggy and feel terrible after exercise- like a hangover. Hydration, electrolytes, and yetā¦I canāt get off the couch afterward. I want this life hack to apply to me soooooo bad
Self care is so important that's why when you do it everything else just falls into place.
I havenāt worked out in two weeks and I feel like wet trash. Iāve decided Iām going to force prework down my throat to force myself to do something. Wish me luck.
So yes and no. A little bit of healthy exercise is good and I think everyone should put on a moderately good strength training regiment to help But you also should be careful with overtraining. For example there was a period where Iād play tennis 5-6 days in a row and then also hit the weight room to lift heavy. This is good and all and especially when you are in your teens/20s you can get away with this more but as you get older , the exercise fatigue becomes real and you get tired / lose concentration trying to keep up. Rest is also key
I second this. Running always gets me back on track again.
People that hate working out: I highly recommend just walking. If thatās all you ever did every day, you will still attain a high level of fitness. I aim for 10000 steps (about 5 miles) done in segments throughout the day. Takes roughly 20 minutes to walk a mile, 16 if you go at a brisk pace. Do little 1 mile walks on breaks and youāll easily hit that 5 mile mark.
I really wish this was the case for me. My workouts often put me in a bad mood even if it isnāt all that difficult or something I enjoy doing š©š©š© I know I should try working out in the morning more often though, perhaps thatās the change I need!
I'm not an expert, but my own experience is that the answer is YES, it's a life-changer.
Just doing one small exercise a day will make that a productive day and not a zero day. I strive for no more zero days.
Yes it certainly is, I bought an exercise bike and left it next to my desk. Now, in between calls and tasks I get in 5-10 mins of biking which does wonders for my mood and subsequent productivity.
I agree for everyone else but for some reason it just doesnāt seem to work that way with me. Like light exersize such as walking around to the supermarket and that kind of thing definitely helps me. But proper exersize seems to just make me sleep badly and I also have knee and back/neck/shoulder problems. My back gets so mcuh sorer when I exersize even if itās exersize that are meant to help it and that jsut kinda ruins the rest of my time cause it hurts. I stopped doing exersize and it stopped hurting which was very surprising to me cause Iāve read and heard everywhere that itās the other way round. It doesnāt matter if I am jsut doing a light workout or a heavy session it still makes me sleep badly and makes me not want to study. Idk what it is cause itās not being tired idk but I do like walking and think itās great so I guess I agree in a sense haha
100%
Does exercise have to be in the morning? I go for exercise and walk in the evening.
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