Chris WiegmanI’ve been writing and thinking a lot about habits this year. For the most part, I’ve spent a lifetime building a lot of bad habits, especially where it relates to my health, and I want to do something about that. I’ve been working more, eating better and generally doing so much better in many areas of my life.
This past week, well, two Fridays ago, the 15th, to be exact, I started a new habit. While walking has helped me so much over the past year and more I know it isn’t the only exercise I should be doing. Given it’s not safe to go to a gym in the age of COVID I haven’t touched any weights in a very long time and I have been starting to notice it.
While I’ve wanted to fix that for a while now, working a new routine into my day hasn’t been easy. I’ve tried everything from video games (Fit Boxing for Nintendo Switch is fun but not that helpful) to elaborate exercise routines and none of it works. I get in a day or two and over do it to the point where I’m sore or the routine is too complex to keep going and that’s the end of it.
This time I’m trying something very simple to keep moving. Each day I do 3 exercises, 3 sets each of 10 pushups and 10-second planks plus about 30 reps of arm curls using 8 lb weights (this is as many as I can fit in while doing the exercise while walking a loop through the house). These exercises are super simple and, I hope, can serve as a base to add or change out as I grow tired of the routine in the future.
So far, so good. I’m already feeling like they’re working and I’ve managed to keep the new habit up for 10 full days. I don’t know if this will stick over the long term but I am optimistic for a change and that might be the greatest benefit of all.