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The 38 Best

Methods ofSuccessfulExercisers

ByLeo Babauta

How do you form the exercise habit reallymake it stick?

Take the first step.

Then take another. Make each step soimportant that you cant miss it. And enjoyeach step.

Thats my method, honed from eight yearsof forming the exercise habit. It works, for

me.

But everyone has a different method, and itsinspiring and massivelyuseful to learn fromothers whove successfully created the habitthemselves.

Today, well look at a great list of those

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methods, submitted by folks on Twitter whohave overcome the odds and successfullyformed the exercise habit.

First, thank you, to everyone who submittedtheir successful methods. It was more than

Id hoped for, and incredibly powerfulreinforcement of what works. But there were

so many submissions that I had to whittle it

down, tossing out good ideas and pickingothers that I thought were more universallyapplicable. Many of the ones listed herewere echoed many times over in thesubmissions.

Lets dive in!

I asked people who had successfully createdthe exercise habit what worked for them?They answered (note ones without a nameafter them were submitted anonymously):

1. Stop looking at it as a habit and insteadas a lifestyle and an important part ofmy self-care. ~Lara Rininger

2. Work out first thing in the morning. Youget it out of the way and it provides youwith an abundance of energy for the rest

of the day. ~Jen Zeman

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3. Crank up your favorite music! I often seesuggested play lists for workouts, butjust listen to what excites you. It will getyou moving. ~Jen Zeman

4. When I started running I started out at.5 miles and increased in .25 increments(I usually average 4 mile runs). It didnthappen overnight give your lungs andmuscles time to adjust. Same with

weight training start light and buildyour way up. Results will start to showin about 3-4weeks. ~Jen Zeman

5. Making it my#1priority and doing itfirst thing in the morning.

6. 30 day yoga challenges for myself that Ithen give updates on my Blog.Accountability. ~Kira Elliott

7. If I workout in the morning, before myday starts, I earn: chocolate/beer/carblater in the day. Otherwise, no treats forme!

8. No excuses. I never miss more than 2

days. You have to insist on it and protectit.

9. Also: just putyour workout clothes on.Once you do that it feels silly not to start.Just commit to 10minutes. You willprobably do more.

10.Also: no one ever regrets working out. Is

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there anything else in the world you cando, and know100%you wont regret it?

11. This is the one thats helped the most:Ive made a point to really, really,REALLY notice how much better I feel

now that I exercise regularly; Imsleeping better, my mood is better, Immuch less sluggish. It took about 3-4weeks to see it, but its helped a lot.

~Polly12. Make it a habit, dont rely on motivating

yourself to workout, consciously think ofit as just something you do after x. Thiswas a huge aha moment for me. ~MarkFeinholz

13. On that note, do it in the morning,habits are much easier to establish in themorning. the triggers are much moredependable (finish cup of coffee put ongym shorts). Morning triggers arealways there and the day has not

polluted your plans yet.14.A daily morning ritual to mark thebeginning of training. In my case, tyingup my bandana on my head meant Itsrunning time. ~Alfonso Acosta

15. I started running consistently the monthbefore I got divorced. In theory it wasthe lowest part of my life but Id never

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felt better. I couldnt get over that.I wassold on exercise, though it took me awhile to make running the

nonnegotiable part of my schedule it isnow. After I got married again and whenour daughter was a baby I used to run atthe high school track near our house. Idpretend the bleacherswere filled withpeople cheering me on. Good job! I

imagined them hollering. Way to go!And, Its great youre leaving the babywith Dad for a while on this beautiful

summer evening to do something nicefor yourself. Well, nice and hell. Itwas hell. I wasnt in shape, I didnt want

to miss a second with our new baby, andthat was that. The pretend cheerleadersmustve helped. Certainly they didnthurt. Because eventually, through aseries of learning and unlearning andrelearning the importance ofexercising,its what I do. No discussion. No

bargaining out of workouts unless Ivemade them up in advance. Its soothing,really. There are no decisions to be madeabout exercise. I just do it. To the extentanything else good happens, I attributeit to this: running is magic. ~MaureenAnderson

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16. Fixed a time of the day that HAS to bethe workout time. Cleared away tasksaround that time to make sure I dont

get stuck with something else. ~ElleKaiye

17. Mentally preparing myself during theday for the evening workouthelped.Mental preparation wasimportant to prevent talking myself out

of workout on the pretext of beingexhausted" or having moreimportant stuff to do". ~Elle Kaiye

18. Sometimes even looking at the picturesof Victorias Secret Angels helped ;)~Elle Kaiye

19. I dont have a workout buddy now butthat had helped me to stay on track inthe past. Support from my Mom helpedme a lot! ~Elle Kaiye

20.Doing a sport that you love and try newtypes of exercise/sports. ~Chris B.

21.Do it a few days in a row, you

your

body and mind-will get used to it.~Chris B.

22.Enter a race or contest. ~Chris B.23.I had to stop setting goals as is advised

by pretty much every source out there! Ijust got discouraged that I wasntmovingas fast as the programme, or

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that I still felt no closer to running amarathon I seriously didnt want to.>What works instead: feeling great

about just turning up. I do what I feelable to when Im there, and if its notmuch or not as much as last time fine.I showed up. I get to say I went to thegym which impresses on its own,without me detailing what I did! ~Sarah

24.A lot of people take days off when theyreexercising, which I think is great andimportant for your body to recover.However, Ive found the habit of going tothe gym (or wherever you go to workout)is important for me to do EVERY DAY. I

run and do some strength training mostdays, but when its time for a recoveryday I still go to the gym-to playracquetball, take an easy walk, shoot afew baskets, whatever. ~Dave Hall

25.What worked for me was strongcommitment to myself that I do exerciseon these days on this time NO MATTERWHAT. I do not accept situations Iwouldnt exercise on my planned day iffor example I felt tired, or couples offriends invited me for a meeting, or itwas raining (running is essential part ofmy routine) or anything else. These are

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all small excuses that we have to actuallystruggle with. They are too small toprevent us from fulfilling the plan. I only

omit my exercise session if Im onvacation or if Im seriously ill. In othercases there is no way to break the habit.~Przemyslaw

26.Dont think about it, just do it. Eventhough Ive consistently worked for over

15 years, it doesnt mean I dont havedays that I just dont feel like workingout. I do have those days, but I pushthrough it and do the work out anyway.~Caroline

27.Schedule time for exercise and keepingto it like you would any otherappointment or meeting. ~Katie

28.First I picked some awesome skills Iwanted do be able to do from this

website for motivation. While workingtowards them I basically only had a

single goal: Do at least a single exerciseevery day, one pushup, pullup, sit up, If I didnt feel like it, wouldnt do more,just a single one. Now Im can do onearmed pushups, one legged squads, l-seats and quite a few pullups. What alsoprobably helped was that I didnt need asingle piece of equipment. ~Michael

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29.I exercise every single day. Every. Single.Day. Thats my secret. I dont give myselfthe choice of whether to exercise or not.

Every time that you give yourself achoice, you give yourself the opportunityto decide not to do something. ~MarkCancellieri

30.Sleep in my exercise gear (makes me feelmentally ready for action the next day).

~Ruth Seatter31. Plan to exercise with a friend (running

or gym class etc). $20wager if you dontmake it. ~Ruth Seatter

32.Make it into a game or do it as a socialactivity with a friend. the more enjoyable

it is the likelier you are to continue it.~Matthew

33.Accountability. I am a very lazy personand I hate being answerable to people. Ilike to do things at my pace which is whyI never stick to anything for long. But

this time when it came to eating healthyand losing weight, I made myselfanswerable and accountable to my cook!I asked my cook to keep a check on whatI eat and not offer me any junk or fried.So each time I entered to kitchen to grabsome snacks, I saw him standing thereand to avoid answering to his questions,

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I would step out with eating. Thisworked for me and now I am used to

not eating when I am not hungry.

~Surabhi Surendra34.Focus on effort: Set yourself goals

around effort, not around results.~Chiranth

35.Dont let weather deter you. Once you doone or two runs in the rain youll see that

they are liberating. ~Patty36.I started very small. Starting small

cancelled any excuse not to practicedaily. I have refrained from overdoing inthe first two weeks. This left me more

energy to become more stable in

practicing daily. I have committed withmy girlfriend on a feasible outcome in amedium term, like being fit for oursummer vacations. After some weeks the

reason of my motivation shifted frombeing willing to satisfy the external

source (girlfriends expectations) tobeing more confident and happy withmyself. Startingone single habit isgiving me the confidence to changeother habits and the clarity to identifywhich other habits do I want to develop.~Niccolo Stamboglis

37.No more than 1 day off in a row. Find an

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exercise you really enjoy (I love liftingweights!). Try new types of exercise. Youwill be tired when beginning a new

exercise program so eat well to fuelexercise and get enough sleep.Religiously stick with it for the first twoweeks, then you will begin to notice animprovement in your energy levels thatis very motivating. ~Patty

38.I joined a sports team (soccer), which isa fun way to exercise and ride my bike towork daily. This way I am physicallyactive without really realizing it. I lackmotivation to do exercises on my own. Ialmost need a team or coach or class to

do well. (i.e. if I go to the gym solo, I getless results than if I joined a class).~Bradlinn

The Exercise Habit in AprilIf youre looking for help to form theexercise habit, I recommend my Sea Change

Program its a monthly membershipprogram focused on helping you makechanges in your life, and in April were doingan Exercise Habit Module.

Each month we do a module focused on a

different habit (procrastination, healthyeating, and meditating so far), and in April,

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were tackling the exercise habit!

Heres what you get, for $10/month:

1. A plan to help you form the habit.2. Email reminders every2-3days.3. A live webinar each month where you

can ask me questions.4. A forum to ask questions of other

members.5. Accountability teams within the forum.6. 2-3articles to help guide you and

answer your questions.Learn more.