Something is Better than Nothing

Something is Better than Nothing

For most of my life I’ve been really consistent with exercise, but ever since I moved to the mountains I’ve had a hard time staying on track. It doesn’t help that my gym is 45 minutes away and that most of my free time has been used to work on the van, but I’m not here to make excuses. 

I do naturally maintain a fairly active lifestyle, which helps keep me in decent shape, but unless I’m lifting weights or doing targeted bodyweight workouts I notice my strength and muscle mass deplete frustratingly fast. 

I’ve tried all kinds of different approaches but nothing was sticking.

However, a couple months ago I began trying something new and it’s actually helped a lot, although I guarantee it’s not what you’re expecting.

Promise not to laugh? 

My new exercise program is…

**drumroll**

10 push-ups per day. 

Yes, you read that right.

10 push-ups per day, non-negotiable.

But there's more to it than meets the eye.  

Because on a day in which I’m feeling strong, energetic and motivated, the 10 push-ups is practically nothing and I blow right past it, often piling on a handful of extra sets and incorporating other exercises as well—lunges, squats, planks, burpees and leg raises—even adding in stretching and mobility drills. On these days, the 10 push-ups is not the workout, it’s the nudge I need in order to begin the workout. It’s the match that lights the fire. 

But yes, there are plenty of days in which I have to convince myself to even do my daily 10. But that’s the sneaky part. I convince my mind, which doesn't want to do a single push-up, that I only have to do 10, however, once I’m on the ground doing them, my mind shuts off and my body wants to do more than 10. So even on my most unmotivated days I often end up doing at least 20 or 30 or 40 push-ups. I would hardly classify this as a workout, but still it’s 20 or 30 or 40 push-ups more than I would have otherwise done. 

Either way, I know that something is better than nothing.

There’s a common understanding in fitness that the hardest thing about going to the gym is simply getting to the gym. But once you’re there the workout practically takes care of itself. And that’s how I feel about my 10 push-ups. It's what gets me to the gym; the rest tends to just fall into place.

“Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it.” – Horace Mann

P.S. Do you have any rules, tricks or guidelines that you use to help keep yourself on track?