2020-02-06

How I learned to exercise

Some in the mornings, some in the evenings, more on the weekends: When I workout I do as much as I can when I can. With a wife, two kids and a full-time corporate job, I don’t have time to hit the gym 3 hours a day, 6 days a week. But I don’t have to.

I recently learned from the Art of Manliness (my second-favorite blog after Singular Reflections ;-) ) that my way of exercising is not just my own little plan invented by me to figure out how to stay in shape and healthy when life is getting away from me. Brett McKay interviewed Michelle Seger, author of No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness on how to get into exercising, you have to take a seemingly unconventional step: make yourself do less.

The idea is simple: take it a little at a time and stick to it rather than saying in a grand gesture: I am not going to go to the gym 4 times a week, 2 hours each time and really get in shape. The problem being that this kind of big step is too daunting for most people to stick to.

How did I come up with this?

About ten years ago when my eldest was born, I was in a little pain that I thought was a hernia (I hadn’t been exercising at all with a newborn baby around). I had it checked out and it was fine. I asked the doc what I should do to prevent it from getting worse. He had no idea. I then decided to just do whatever I can in the mornings and then a bit after dinner (mostly bodyweight stuff, stretching, kettlebell and kendo drills).

Since then, I get workouts in each morning before breakfast and at least 3 times a week and once on weekends. Mornings are about 15 minutes, evenings 30 to 40 minutes.

And the hernia never reared its ugly head again.

So, to sum up: Baby steps, but you gotta find something to motivate you to keep walking. FOr me, it was the ability to pick up my kids and throw them up into the air… Oh! And catch them gently again.