Exercise is hard.  Trying to get motivated to do a 2-hour workout is mentally exhausting.   The older we get the harder it is to change our habits. The inactivity in our life builds on itself and before we know it we’re staring incredulously at pictures of our former selves. We sit there half hating/half admiring the person we used to be for their ability to constantly stay in shape no matter what they ate or how they lived.

For many of us those days are long gone.  You look down and see a little extra cushion around your belly and you want it to be gone.  Maybe you feel too embarrassed to even go to a gym.  Maybe you want to start at home where no one can see you workout. You don’t even know where to start.

Maybe you’re someone who has never worked out.  Nobody ever showed you an easy to follow workout and you didn’t know who to ask.  No matter where you are in your fitness journey this workout can help you.

Here are a few things to keep in mind before we get into the actual workout:

5 Easy Ways to Get Back (and stay) in Shape

1. Start Small 

It’s hard to begin a new life of being an in shape worker-outer.  “How many hours per day do I need to workout?!”  It can be overwhelming.  Start small.  Start by doing one 5-minute workout, everyday.

It’s important to do the workout everyday so that you build a habit.

5-minutes is a small enough window you can accomplish it at any point.  There’s no need to block off an entire hour or two of time.  You just need 5-minutes.  You don’t even need to change your clothes.

2. Give yourself permission to fail 

Maybe you’re a perfectionist who wants to hit every workout goal.  If you forget to workout one day or don’t have time it throws you off entirely.  You decide to forget about the whole thing and quit.  Give yourself permission to fail.  If you don’t workout one day just try again the next day.  It’s a marathon, not a sprint.  There is no finish line.  The endgame is a healthier you.

3. Track your results

Track everything.  Keep tabs in your phone or on a notepad.  Tracking results keeps you motivated because you’ll be able to see improvements you may not have otherwise noticed.

Track how many days in a row you’ve worked out. You’re more likely to be consistent if you’re trying to beat your record for consecutive days.

Track your record for number of reps. Visually, progress is slow.  You might not notice a difference in your body right away but if you can look back and see you used to only be able to do 4 push-ups but now you can do 8 push-ups it will keep you motivated.

Track the percentage of days where you workout.  This is important to get you back on the horse after you inevitably fall off.  Let’s say you do amazing and workout 8 days in a row, but then you miss one.  If you are only tracking your record number of days it will feel daunting to try to beat 8 straight days.  If you track your total percentage it will help you start again once you miss a day.  Now you’re thinking, “Hey I’ve worked out 8 out of 9 days, that’s pretty good.” Instead of, “Damnit I missed a day.  Now I’m back at zero.” This change in how you view missing a day will keep you from getting discouraged.

4. Only compete with yourself 

Don’t get discouraged by someone who is further along their journey than you are.  You’re only competing with yourself. You’re only comparing your results today to what your results were last month.  What someone else is doing or can do is irrelevant.  Keep at it.

5.  Take action

You’ve read the article.  You know where you are today and whether or not you’re happy with yourself.  Instead of just reading the article why not give it a try?  The entire workout will only take 5-minutes!

So What’s the Workout?

Get a stopwatch and push start

First Minute

1. Do air-squats for 30-seconds.
2. Hold a plank for 30-seconds (do as long as you can resting for a couple seconds until you can start again).

Second Minute

1. Rest for 30-seconds (stretch a little or just catch your breath)
2. Do as many push-ups as you can for 30-seconds and rest when you need to. (if you can’t do push-ups put your knees on the ground to make it easier.  If you can do those just hold your body weight for the allotted time.)

Third Minute

1. Rest for 30-Seconds
2. Air Squats for 30-seconds

 Fourth Minute

1. Do as many sit-ups as you can for 30-seconds (if that’s painful on your back hold the plank again instead).
2. Do as many push-ups as you can for 30-seconds

Fifth Minute

1. Air Squats for 30-seconds
2. Plank for 30-seconds

That’s it.  You’re done.  Through the whole workout you’ll do 3-sets of air squats, 3-sets of ab exercises and 2-sets of push-ups.  You’ll also spend 1-minute resting.  If you do this exercise consistently, every day, you’ll start to notice a big difference in how you look and feel.

Give it a chance and stick with it for a couple weeks.  At the very worst you’re only wasting 5-minutes per day doing this.

Starting small to kick-start your health is way better than not doing anything.  Once you get in the groove you’ll notice yourself making smarter choices with your nutrition and overall health. Most importantly you’ll notice you feel better about yourself.  It just takes a little jump start in motivation to get the ball rolling.

Related:

10-Minute Workout for Humans Who Read Blogs About 10-Minute Workouts

9 Deadly Myths About Exercise

A Bunch of Weird Things We’re Doing to Be Healthy

If you have any questions at all please feel free to comment and I’ll do my best to help out!

 

 

 

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