Fixing My “Not Exercising Enough” Problem

I’m famous inside my household for “overdoing it” at the gym. In the past, I would miss weeks or even months without doing any consistent exercising, and when I would finally get that opportunity, I tried to make up for all that lost time in one session at the gym.

I would crawl home broken and not be able to move much for the next few days.

Part of my challenge with getting the gym consistently was the time investment it took. I always had seemingly more pressing things to take care of. Exercising was the award if I got them done. But for an entrepreneur, your work is never done; hence, I struggled with consistency.

But I now can say with pride that I’ve been exercising every day for the past 70 days, and I have no intention of breaking that streak anytime soon.

Exercising every day may sound extreme, and it certainly can be, but I’m doing a specifically designed workout each day as part of group fitness challenge called GRIT.

With GRIT workouts, I’ve found that I can push myself hard each day, and make significant gains physically, without “overdoing it” so I can come back the next day feeling strong.

The GRIT workouts are hard, but most of the time I can do them in 15-30 mins from my home. This saves me loads of time, not having to drive to the gym, find parking, figure out what to do, do it, then drive back home.

The workouts are different each day, but all of them are designed to work your entire body and achieve something called “Minimum Effective Dose” which is simply a way of getting all the benefits of a great workout while eliminating as much wasted time as possible to achieve the desired results.

The best part about committing to these daily GRIT workouts is the results I see in my body and my physical abilities. I can do things now (without pain) that I never thought I’d be able to do again.

These gains did not come easily, nor right away. There are many days when the last thing I want to do is go in my basement and crank out a GRIT workout.

But the secret weapon about GRIT, is the community behind it. I have a team that is relying on me to report my workout each day. If I don’t, not only am I booted from that month’s GRIT challenge, but my team would be penalized as well (and my pride would never allow that happen).

Having a team to check in with each day is not only great for accountability, but it also inspires you to want to keep fighting alongside of them. We are in it together. The team is there to a bright light on a dark day.

All in all, I believe the key for me to be more consistent with my exercising was making it a daily routine. I don’t have to make a decision if I should do it or not. It just has to happen. And to make it something I can do anywhere, that doesn’t require a gym or significant investment in time. I can do while traveling or on my busiest workday day at home.

My biggest take away with all of this is just realizing that willpower only goes so far, that I must commit to a routine to be consistent, and if possible, find a team to be accountable to.