Fellow Wild Lunas, we’re all aware that in today’s life the lack of time for sports is not just a hollow excuse, but the (sad) truth itself. However, it is of the utmost importance to stay healthy and active, so this week we’ll share our 7 steps to successfully weave sports into our busy schedule or daily routines.
Below these 7 steps, you will find a short list of our favorite places to practice some of the most desired activities.
Planning
It is much easier to make our intentions a reality if we’ve removed most of the obstacles in advance. “What type of clothes should I prepare for the workout? What are the working hours of the studio? Do I have a convenient route there at all? ” We can easily answer these types of questions in advance so that we are fully prepared to act the next day. Preparation is the way to combat procrastination, decision fatigue, and even anxiety.
And one last quick piece of advice on ‘planning’: putting the work out in the work calendar makes it much easier to follow through with.
Achievable Goals
Being realistic plays a key role in the successful introduction of sports into our everyday life. This happens through setting the right goals. It’s extremely sad when we get demotivated by our rapid fatigue during workouts after a long period of a sedentary lifestyle, for example. This is a feeling that can make us stop attending further activities. The situation is similar when we compare our results and pace with our workout buddies. Seeing the person on the treadmill next to ours last twice as long at twice the speed and twice the ground incline can be devastating if we’re not prepared that this is perfectly normal. In order to be healthy, everything must be gradual. The goals we set for long-term results should start with very small and simple steps: a 30-minute walk, a very light workout (maybe even at home), or a 10-minute jog… Each of these actions is better than nothing and can have an amazing impact sometimes.
Sport as a Means of Focus
Another step towards introducing sports into our daily life is to understand how positive and beneficial these sessions can be. During physical activity, we can give freedom to our consciousness to soar wherever it wants or to focus on an important topic for us. This is a time for ourselves. And the benefits of combining physical activity with mindfulness can be noticed even on a purely physical level: in addition to the well-known long-term effects such as a gorgeous body, regular exercise revitalizes our motor system. As mentioned above, a sedentary lifestyle can lead to a number of problems, and not letting your muscles atrophy will pay off handsomely in the near future.
Mobile Apps
Mobile applications can help tremendously with our responsibility and motivation when we try to make sports a habit. Result tracking, reminders, and notifications are valuable features that a smartphone can help us with. The main app we use is Productive, but there are a bunch of other effective solutions on the market like BetterMe, Perfectly Happy, and Habitica. Most of them have a completely satisfactory free version.
Favorite Time for Working Out
If we figure out what our favorite time of the day for sports is, we significantly increase our chances of success. Yes, it sounds great to do a jog with a friend, but if their most active hours are in the evening and we feel most energized in the morning, it will significantly reduce our motivation and results to join their schedule. Different people have different biological rhythms, so coming to terms with our own is a key step.
Consistency
As already mentioned, we don’t have to set world records when we return to a more active lifestyle. However, it is important to be consistent, and once we’ve started exercising, to keep it light, yet consistent. Building a ritual or habit is achieved with a lot of patience and motivation, which is enabled by the aforementioned mobile apps. Consistency also doesn’t necessarily mean maintaining daily activity. In the beginning, it may be even once a week, as long as the process is initiated and doesn’t get put on hold.
Changing the Environment
Here, as in most other areas of life, it’s a good idea to change the conditions on a regular. The variety of environments – at home, outdoors, or indoors – maintains our interest in the activity, and can even lead us to try different sports and find our new favorite among them. Each type of space has its big advantages, so it would be great to strive to make a healthy mix, at least until we get into a rhythm and are convinced we have found our thing.
Our Recommendations
And to help out with the preparations recommended in the first point, we’ve put together a short list of our favorite yoga and Pilates studios – two of the practices we believe to be pretty much universal:
Yoga:
Pilates:
We will be happy to learn what your favorite activities and places for sports are, Wild Lunas. Keep emailing us, DM-ing us on Instagram, and being awesome!
