Tired of Deliberating? How to Make Your Exercise Resolutions Automatic
Mid-January is the time of year when our new year’s resolutions are tested. Self-help books say it takes 21 days to make a habit, but our experience often says otherwise. The good news is that research shows exercise can become automatic with the following process…
To start– have you experienced either of the following scenarios when you plan to exercise?
Scenario 1: The alarm clock sounds. John pops out of bed, laces up his tennies, and walks out the door to exercise.
Scenario 2: The alarm clock sounds. Ben pushes snooze, lays in bed, and begins a series of arguments in his head:
“get out of bed, you’ll be glad to did when you’re done….
but you were up late finishing work, you deserve to rest…
but you have started seeing improvements, you should stick with it….
but you have a cold, you should rest…
okay, I’ll exercise later this afternoon…”
the internal dialog continues into the afternoon and evening until Ben eventually goes to bed without ever exercising.
John and Ben have both decided and intend to exercise. They set their alarm clocks. Yet John’s experience appears so much less effortful and it is. John’s exercising was automatic. How can Ben stop his exhaustive deliberation and make exercise a habit?
1. Motivation
Starting an exercise regimen can be hard! You will face obstacles as you get started and it will be a challenge. Maintaining your motivation when you’re getting started is essential to making exercise a habit long term. The source of your motivation builds from your reasons to exercise. For example, you may exercise because you value health, physical functioning, quality of life, to be a role model to your children, ect. Recite your exercise reasons regularly and use them as fuel to persist when the distractions compete for your time and energy.
More on growing your motivation to exercise here: Motivation to Exercise.
2. Self-regulation
The pace of life in the 21st century is FAST and distractions abound. If you are going to live a life in line with your values, meaning you do with your time what is truly important to you (i.e. exercise), self-regulatory skills are critical to controlling your behavior and avoiding distractions. Adults report that time (or poor time-management) is the biggest barrier to exercise. Therefore, proper planning of your time is critical in achieving a regular exercise regimen.
More on overcoming the time barrier here: Exercise Time Management.
3. Automatization.
Thoughtfully design a cue-response association to exercise. Put simply, set something in your line of vision that reminds you to exercise at the time of day that you plan to exercise. Your trigger could be setting your exercise clothes next to your bed so that you see them first thing when your alarm goes off. Most people report that when they exercise, they have a positive experience. The positivity could be from the feel-good effect of exercise, sense of achievement, stress reduction, or various other mechanisms. Over time, your mind will pair your trigger cue with the positive exercise experience, which eventually creates an automatic habit.
More on automatization of exercise here: Exercise Habit Formation.
So, does it really take exactly 21 days to make exercise a habit?
A study by Lally and Gardner found the average time for participants to reach automaticity was 66 days, with a range of 18- 254 days. The figure shows that habit formation is a gradual process and can occur faster for some people than others. Finally, be encouraged that the hardest part of a regular exercise regimen is getting started. As you continue, exercise will become more enjoyable, automatic, and a part of who you are.
Thanks for reading! 🙂
Subscribe to my free newsletter: HERE
References:
Lally, P., & Gardner, B. (2013). Promoting habit formation. Health Psychology Review, 7:sup1, S137-S158.
Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C.H.M., Potts, H.W.W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40.
600 Comments
Leave your reply.