The First Step Really is the Hardest

It was 5:20 a.m. and I just didn't want to exercise. Period. And it wasn't the kind of not wanting where the exercise was a simple annoyance or just another necessary evil. No, the idea of getting on the elliptical this one morning just seemed un-confront-able - even though the stupid machine (!) is right in my basement.

If anything else had come up at that wee hour, then anything else would be precisely what I’d have done instead. Change a diaper? Sure. Wash leftover dishes? Gladly. But as I thought hard about it, nothing else came up. In fact, the only thing up was me. I'd had my coffee, and the only reason I had set the alarm for 5:00 a.m. was to exercise. But despite my good intentions, this one morning I just couldn't see myself getting it done.

Healthy Me: “But you have to.”

Tired Me: “Well...”

Healthy Me: “No, you have to!”

Oh all right! I would get on the elliptical just so I could say I had gotten on it! So with absolutely no thought as to how long I'd stay on the machine, I climbed on and started moving, purposely avoiding the thought that I was, well... starting to exercise.

Nope, not feeling it. Not going to last long. 5 minutes maybe. And forget pushing to go faster. No heavy breathing here. Just keep the legs moving and be done with it. The first minute passed, then the second.

Well what do you know, I was loosening up. I was doing it. And then the thought hit me. What was all that drama about? I'd spent so much energy thinking about why I shouldn't exercise, and thinking about how to not think about exercising, when I could have just started and had all that dialogue melt away sooner.

Then I remembered how strongly I'd felt about keeping it slow and steady - no pushing. Well that's interesting! Why was that so important? I was moving now and it felt good to move. So I upped the speed a bit. I'll just do it for a few seconds.

Watching the clock tick off 10 seconds, 20, then 30, I thought, “May as well finish out the minute.” At 60 seconds, I was breathing heavier and my workout was actually turning into something...

Here's the upshot of the whole experience: I wasn't going to work out—and I did. I wasn't going to push myself—and I did. And I certainly wasn't going to push myself more than once—and I did that too. Overall, I picked up the pace five times during the workout and the whole thing lasted 40 minutes. And I'd burned about 500 calories.

I've done this enough now to know that the whole day was going to be different for me: my energy, my outlook, the way I would respond to challenges... everything. And to think that it all rested on that one moment at 5:20 a.m. when I just stopped my brain from debating itself and started moving.

How about you? What's your best way to overcome the, "I don't want to’s," and just start exercising?

 

by RickRiess on 06/07/2011 | Share Story With a Friend

tags: motivation, exercise