she hated exercise

Earlier this summer I hired a new personal training client and she told me flat out that she “hated exercise and everything to do with it.”

She said she had pushed herself in the gym for years, up to 90 minutes, three times a week and hated every minute, seeing very little results.

(She was about to sign up for one of my 6-month training programs, so she was so relieved when I told her that exercise is the smallest component of the program and we’d only be doing 60 minutes per week. Find out how it went for her. down)

Hating exercise is very common. (The idea of ​​working out when you’re already really tired is one of the most mentally intimidating things if you ask me.)

The fact is that most people (including me) dread their exercise sessions. It’s easy to see why too, it’s hard; it makes you very uncomfortable and requires a lot of willpower and discipline to stick with a routine.

This is a big contributing factor to why so many people are sedentary these days: they are not mentally strong OR they are tired and weak.

did you know When you are tired that your willpower is at its lowest point and you are mentally weaker.

Willpower

Willpower and discipline are things that seem to be disappearing in our society with very few people being able to delay gratification at all.

I’m interested in this area of ​​willpower and discipline because the “modern man” doesn’t seem to possess much of it.

Just a few generations ago, people expected everything they wanted.

If there was a big new purchase, they would save up and THEN buy it. Today is to have it now pay later.

Have you ever heard of the marshmallow test? It’s a test that psychologists have done with children for decades to predict future success.

A child is given a marshmallow and told that they can eat the marshmallow right away, or if they can wait 15 minutes, they will receive a second marshmallow.

The test basically shows that a child who can wait 15 minutes for the second marshmallow (and delay gratification with willpower) will do much better in his life and career, because the ability to delay gratification is related to success. (And the inability to wait was related to failure.)

Even with a TV series, there is no waiting for the next episode, people now watch two or three or more episodes at a time with one box.

This has an effect on many of us over time, we become mentally weaker, unable to wait or delay gratification – ZERO willpower.

What does this have to do with us exercising?

Well, for all those people who hate working out and dread the thought of going for a session, the good news is that it doesn’t take as much willpower to do shorter sessions, which we’ll talk about today.

A recent study has added to the growing body of evidence that shorter exercise sessions are actually more beneficial than longer ones.

There has been a strong degree of movement towards shorter exercise sessions in the fitness world in recent years. More and more people are starting to reduce their training time without sacrificing their progress or results.

I have done this myself with my personal training sessions, most of my sessions will now be 30 minutes long.

Based on what we’ve said to all of us lacking in willpower, surely the thought of a 30 minute session is a lot less daunting than that 60 or 90 minute workout you may be doing.

How can less exercise be better than more?

Research generally agrees that the main benefits of exercise are gained in the first 30 minutes of a session, with studies showing no additional weight loss or results for the “second half” of the standard 60-minute session that most people do.

Exercising for 20-30 minutes 3-5 times a week is much better than doing it once a week for 2 hours! It is also a piece of cake to do these types of exercises at home, saving even more time.

Although these sessions are “high intensity” they do not have to be high IMPACT. My sessions are all high intensity and LOW IMPACT to avoid injuries and stress on the joints.

I still advise clients to use slow steady cardio more for general health reasons and as a bit of a de-stress, nothing like a good long walk or bike ride, somewhere scenic.

Research to back it up

Have you heard of Tabata? That’s a form of training named after a Japanese scientist who discovered that short bursts of high intensity exercise followed by rest, basically found that this type of training gets you FITTER FASTER compared to intensity exercise moderate.

A study was carried out in Denmark (Gram et al, 2013), over a 12-week period, moderately overweight men were instructed to expend 300-600 calories per day, which is equivalent to about 30-60 minutes of run (don’t worry if, like me, you don’t believe some of the calorie calculations out there, as this isn’t an important point).

In the study, both groups were found to lose weight, but what was interesting was that the 60-minute group did not lose any more weight than the 30-minute group (in fact, it was slightly less).

Why?

Men who exercised for an hour mentioned feeling tired and said it took a long time.
The men who exercised half the time had a very positive attitude towards exercise and did not consider it a burden.
(IMPORTANT POINT) In the first point above, these are feelings and mental perceptions of pressure to exercise.

Feeling under pressure to train but too exhausted to do so?

If you do it could be affecting your results, I’d say don’t be afraid to cancel your sessions if the thought stresses you out too much.

Have you stopped seeing results in the gym? If so, things need to change, you may need to exercise less and rest more to see better results. That should be great news for some of you out there who are struggling with energy but still can’t get a good night’s sleep (I do this a lot with clients).

A study conducted at a Canadian University testing the effect of high-intensity exercise sessions of less than 10 minutes. The results found that the participants’ muscles had improved as much as they would have from longer resistance training.

One of the lead researchers, Professor Martin Gibala, said the study showed that it is possible to “get more by doing less.”

Another study tested the fitness levels of a group of men for 10 weeks after completing 3 x 4 minute runs at 90% effort per week. Subject’s stamina capabilities improved by 10%. Endurance athletes take note: This is about increasing your VO2, not increasing mileage all the time.

As I’ve said in the past, I know it’s not all about exercise, there are many things that make you healthy, but regular exercise helps maintain a healthy lifestyle, and new research shows that it “TURNS ON” many positive genes that protect us from things like cancer.

Clearly, the less overwhelming the exercise sessions, the more you’ll stick with them.

If I knew I had to run on a treadmill at the same pace for an hour tonight, I wouldn’t be looking forward to doing it at all. On the other hand, if I knew that I only have to spend 20-30 minutes doing a mixed routine, I would feel a lot better about it.

This goes for your cardio and resistance training.

I have recommended shorter sessions from two different angles in this article:

Better physical results
Improved attitude and adherence to exercise.

Reduce your session time and increase the intensity a bit and get better results, less mental stress about exercising and much more time on your hands!

Thank you for reading,

Richard

PS It’s been three months now and the “I Hate Exercise” lady has been enjoying two thirty minute sessions a week and has lost over 18 pounds, the results help change her attitude, and while I can’t say she loves her sessions , I can say that he is no longer afraid of them and let it ruin his day.

References:

1. Gram AS, et al. Compliance with physical exercise: use of a multidisciplinary approach within a dose-dependent exercise study of moderately overweight men. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health epub ahead of print September 16, 2013