Eight tips for getting more exercise
Find out how to make sure your sporty new year’s resolutions last far longer than January – and how to achieve your fitness goals with ease.
Why many fitness goals fail
“Setting yourself realistic goals is the key,” says sports scientist Claudio Nigg. Most of us set ourselves goals that are far too high, with expectations that are too great – and that we cannot possibly achieve. “Then frustration sets in and we give up.”
So it’s important to start small and give yourself enough time to achieve your goals. “Sporting progress happens much more slowly than you think,” says Nigg.
For example, if you want to lose weight, set yourself an initial target of losing two kilogrammes. And give yourself a month to do it. Nigg recommends that if you want to lose weight healthily, you shouldn’t lose more than 0.25 to 1 kg a week. Anything more is unhealthy and, above all, unsustainable.
These tips will help you remain motivated – and sporty.
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What motivates you?
Think about your reason for exercising. What’s your why?
For example: you want to lose weight. Instead, aim to feel better through exercise. This creates much greater motivation than simply wanting to lose a few pounds.
“The only way to keep exercising in the long term is to find out what motivates you,” says sports scientist Claudio Nigg.
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Set mini goals
Changes in life happen slowly and take time – this applies to sporting goals, too.
For example, if you’ve never exercised before and now plan to work out an hour every day, you’re “doomed to failure,” says Nigg. You don’t have the time or routine.
Nigg therefore recommends simply adding one more session to what you currently do. For instance, if you were active once a week last year, then set yourself the goal of exercising twice a week. “No matter how active you currently are, simply add one session – that’s enough to get you started,” explains Nigg.
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Create a schedule
Don’t exercise just when you feel like it, set specific times. “It’s easiest to incorporate sport into your daily routine,” says Nigg.
For example, go for a walk after lunch or do strength training before taking a shower. This is known as the “When-then” principle in sports science: When I’ve eaten, I’ll go for a 15-minute walk.
This makes it easier to achieve sporting goals. “In this way, we combine exercise with established habits, which requires much less willpower," says Nigg.
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Find a buddy
Find a training parter or a group to exercise with. Social motivation has been proven to help people stick with sporting activities for longer,
partly because we feel a greater sense of commitment towards others.
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Choose a sport you enjoy
The only way to stay motivated in the long term is to choose a sport you enjoy.
“When sport and exercise are fun, the body releases happiness hormones more quickly. This helps us to stay motivated,” says Nigg.
Furthermore, varied exercise helps you to enjoy and have fun with sport – and to maintain that feeling.
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Change your mindset
Most of us don’t consider ourselves to be particularly sporty, active or healthy. Change your mindset to: “I am active and I live healthily”.
“This creates a new identity, a new way of life that goes far beyond sporting activity,” says Nigg. If you can adopt this attitude, you’ll make different decisions in life. For example, you’ll take the stairs instead of the lift, cook with fresh food instead of eating junk food, go to bed earlier instead of watching TV until midnight.
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See every day as a new opportunity
Just keep going is the motto you need to adopt if you want to stay active in the long term.
This means that even if you weren’t able to train as planned, were suffering after a party or were simply too lazy to go to the gym – don’t give up.
Every day is a new day. Get back into it. “Don’t let resignation slip in. If you give up mentally, you won’t continue,” says Nigg.
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Reward yourself for successes
Treat yourself when you achieve a sporting goal. For example: get a massage once you’ve done ten sessions as planned.
Give yourself a period of at least two weeks in which you can achieve your goal before rewarding yourself.
Tips for exercising in everyday life
It’s not hard to get more movement into your daily life: “Simply make your familiar routines more active,” says Claudio Nigg. It’s about changing up the activities that you do anyway – whether at work or at home.
These are known in the industry as “exercise snacks”. For example, instead of a having a coffee break, you could do a few squats or jumping jacks, or go up and down the stairs twice.
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In the office
At work, there are numerous ways to incorporate short breaks or make familiar processes more active:
- Mobilisation breaks: stand up briefly every 30 to 60 minutes. Go get a glass of water, take a walk around the office, do a few jumps or go on tiptoes to the printer.
- Standing breaks: do work that lends itself to it – such as thinking breaks – while standing. Hold short meetings standing up.
- Walking meeting: go outside with your colleagues for meetings. It’s healthy and also promotes creativity. Studies show that walking stimulates the free flow of thoughts and enhances the generation of creative ideas.
- Up your step count: take the stairs instead of the lift. Get off one stop earlier and walk the rest of the way to work. Or park your car in the parking space furthest away from the office entrance.
- Office yoga: do simple yoga exercises at your desk. Watch our video for ideas.
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At home
It’s easier to incorporate more exercise into your daily routines at home, too:
- Activate static routines: while you’re brushing your teeth, stand on your tiptoes and lift and lower your heels. You can easily fit in up to 60 heel raises during this time. Or do a few jumping jacks or squats while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil. When you’re on the phone, walk around.
- Change your seat: use an exercise ball instead of a chair – when you’re working from home, making phone calls or doing other activities that you usually do sitting down.
- Play with kids: whether they are your own children or those of loved ones, play with them: Ball games, hide-and-seek or going out on scooters are ideal forms of exercise to activate the body, improve balance and get outside in the fresh air.
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For elderly customers
There are also ways for older people to make everyday life more active:
- Take breaks from sitting: as we get older, we spend more time sitting down. Make sure you stand up briefly at least once an hour. This reduces back pain caused by increasing inactivity in old age.
- Take a short walk: go around the block or take a short walk through the park once a day. This helps to boost circulation, lift your mood and recharge your batteries.
- Gentle stretching: take a few minutes every morning to do some gentle stretching or yoga to loosen the muscles. This reduces pain, increases well-being and protects against injuries.
- Keep active with your grandkids: Look after your grandchildren or the kids in your neighbourhood. This keeps you fit, promotes your concentration, and improves your social relationships and your well-being.
How do I get started again after a longer break?
It is important that you approach every restart as a new beginning. So, simply start with one additional session per week. Start small and give yourself enough time to achieve your goals so that you stay motivated.
When getting back to it, choose activities you enjoy. That’s one thing that’s easier when you’re starting again: you already know what you like and what you don’t.
Faster results thanks to muscle memory
If you were very active before taking a break, you’ll improve faster when you start again thanks to muscle memory. “For muscle memory to kick in, you need to have exercised regularly over several months in the past – usually at least two or three times a week at a sufficient intensity,” says Nigg.
If this is the case, the muscles remember the movement sequences even after a break, so it’s easier for the body to regain its muscle mass, strength and mobility.
This is possible because sporting activity, such as playing tennis, surfing or athletics, changes the muscle cells and the nervous system. These changes continue even after a break of several years.
For example, people who have trained intensively in the past often achieve their old performance in weeks instead of months. This effect also applies to senior citizens and helps them return to an active everyday life.
Conclusion
To ensure that your sporting resolution lasts the whole year, you should set yourself small goals and give yourself plenty of time to achieve them. Realistic goals are easier to achieve and motivate you to keep moving forward step by step.
You don’t have to go to the gym or the race track: change up familiar routines, such as brushing your teeth or making coffee, to make them more active.
And incorporate new activities into familiar routines: take a walk after eating or go to a yoga class after work.
