You can get your favourite ice cream in 10 minutes to 30 minutes. But introduce a constraint. Make it that you need to travel 30-40 minutes to have that indulgence. Put a label on the bar marking when you are going to have it.
Make it inconvenient to consume those 100-500 calories. You pause to consider the commute before you choose to consume.
You can treat this as a metaphor and think hard about consuming easy calories. That’s the principle. Or make it a literal rule. I will only consume the minus 30 mini vanilla bar on days of the week starting with M or W purchased at a shop 5 kms from home. As absurd as it seems, rules can be useful.
Flip those constraints for working out
Have a pull up bar at home. Hang for 15 seconds every time you pass by. Make it easy to get a good dose of skilled, thoughtful movement everyday.
Aim to practice your push up for 10 minutes everyday at 7 am. Make it a ritual. Make it convenient to get a quick, intense dose of movement.
The national weekly recommendations of between an hour and 3 hours of strength training can be better visualised as 100-120 squats per week (or any knee-dominant exercises), daily doses of pushing, hanging, pulling, reverse planking, carrying things or hanging, hip rotations, bending the spine or a whole gamut of moves any reasonable, pragmatic coach can prescribe that suits your strength and constraints. It should take no more than 5-10 minutes a move. You can spend longer on each, pair them up or circuit them as you get stronger and more disciplined.
You can finish your workout in 10 minutes if you have only 10 minutes. Or 30 minutes if that’s what you have.
And it should take an hour to get your favourite ice cream and 10 minutes to get a reasonable workout. Physical exertion should be convenient. Indulgences and easy calories should take some jumping through hoops.
Make it inconvenient to consume those 100-500 calories. You pause to consider the commute before you choose to consume.
You can treat this as a metaphor and think hard about consuming easy calories. That’s the principle. Or make it a literal rule. I will only consume the minus 30 mini vanilla bar on days of the week starting with M or W purchased at a shop 5 kms from home. As absurd as it seems, rules can be useful.
Flip those constraints for working out
Have a pull up bar at home. Hang for 15 seconds every time you pass by. Make it easy to get a good dose of skilled, thoughtful movement everyday.
Aim to practice your push up for 10 minutes everyday at 7 am. Make it a ritual. Make it convenient to get a quick, intense dose of movement.
The national weekly recommendations of between an hour and 3 hours of strength training can be better visualised as 100-120 squats per week (or any knee-dominant exercises), daily doses of pushing, hanging, pulling, reverse planking, carrying things or hanging, hip rotations, bending the spine or a whole gamut of moves any reasonable, pragmatic coach can prescribe that suits your strength and constraints. It should take no more than 5-10 minutes a move. You can spend longer on each, pair them up or circuit them as you get stronger and more disciplined.
You can finish your workout in 10 minutes if you have only 10 minutes. Or 30 minutes if that’s what you have.
And it should take an hour to get your favourite ice cream and 10 minutes to get a reasonable workout. Physical exertion should be convenient. Indulgences and easy calories should take some jumping through hoops.