For the past 4 years, we have run a grueling 8-mile (not to be confused with Eminem) trail race about an hour north of St. Louis through a really, really hilly forest.
That race is less than a month away.
And how many times have I gone out and run?
You guessed it…zero.
When I was a kid, then high school, then college, I played soccer. And I always tried to turn myself into a “runner”.
To this day, I don’t like running. I’ll run on a soccer field all day, But, I don’t like running – figure that out.
So, why was it so tough for me to create the habit of running?
It’s like any other habit we’re trying to create…
I knew I needed to run to be a better soccer player.
We all know that getting in shape is going to make us better golfers.
We all know that eating less calories than we put in is going make us lighter on the scale.
And yet, we struggle to get ourselves to stick with any of these very basic things for longer than a few weeks.
WHY?
Building new habits is tough.
We don’t put the right systems in place, and we rely waaay too much on willpower and motivation. And if you’ve read any emails from me, that is a perfect recipe for failure.
We also tend to make drastic changes – too much, too fast. Then we get overwhelmed.
You ever do this?
I’m going to stop eating carbs.
AND
I’m going to start running 5 miles every day.
AND
I’m going to lift 5 times a week.
Adding extreme changes on top of extreme changes is a surefire recipe to succeed at exactly NONE of them.
And that is where everybody gives up.
- They try to change too much too soon
- They get impatient the results don’t come quickly enough
- They slip up when life gets in the way
- They start the cycle over again
So, what has helped me in my later years is to:
START SMALL
If you want to start getting into shape, don’t start a 6-day per week, 1-hour per day workout regimen.
Instead, start with 3 days per week, 20-minutes per workout, just like we show you in Micro Workouts– Total Body.
Just get that boulder on the hill in motion. THEN, you can slowly add more – and you will b/c you’ll be addicted to how you feel.
It’s not as sexy as 30-day abs, but starting slow works.
And it works for the long-term.
Your #1 Fan,
Jeff Pelizzaro
PS – 20-minutes. 3 days a week. All of us can commit that to ourselves.
It doesn’t matter if you go for a walk, run, swim, play basketball, or do whatever. That is Step #1 to creating your “get fit” habit.
Now, if working out to play your best golf is how you want to spend your 20-minutes, then I’d check out Micro Workouts– Total Body.