274. 10+ Strategies to Be More Consistent With Your Exercise

Consistency is the secret to achieving your fitness goals, but staying on track can be a challenge.

In this episode, we explore 10+ powerful strategies to help you build and maintain a regular exercise routine. 

Learn how to set realistic goals, create habits that stick, and overcome common barriers like lack of time or motivation. 

Whether you're just starting out or looking to take your workouts to the next level, these tips will help you stay committed and inspired on your fitness journey

Resources From This Episode

>> Insulin Resistance Diet Blueprint - https://www.zivli.com/blueprint?el=podcast

>> Free Low Insulin Food Guide - https://www.zivli.com/ultimatefoodguide?el=podcast

>> Join the Zivli Program Waitlist - https://www.zivli.com/join?el=podcast

>> Test Your Insulin at Home - https://www.zivli.com/testing?el=podcast

Have a question? Email us at: support@zivli.com

Transcript

You want to be consistent with your exercise or consistent with your strength training or walk 30 minutes a day or stretch more. And this episode is for you.

Hi, I'm Dr. Morgan Nolte, founder of Zivli. As a geriatric physical therapist, I saw the heartbreaking effects of insulin resistance. At Zivli, our mission is to help you prevent and reverse insulin resistance for long-term weight loss and disease prevention through a low insulin and inflammation lifestyle. Each week on this podcast, you'll learn simple, actionable tips to lose weight, keep it off, and get healthy. If you're ready to create a body and life you love,

you're in the right place. Let's get started.

Well, hey there and welcome back to another episode of the Reshape Your Health podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Morgan Nolte, and I know that this one is going to be extra great today because so many of you, I'm guessing, made a New Year's resolution or a goal to work out more this year. You wanna be consistent with your exercise or consistent with your strength training or walk 30 minutes a day or stretch more, and this episode is for you. Now, I have a lot of experience in this area.

I have been a regular exerciser since sixth grade, Sixth grade. Why that early in life? I don't know, but I have explicit memories of intentionally going outside for a run in sixth grade. And I ran so much just like in place in my bedroom in Nebraska in the wintertime when it was cold, that one day I heard this like bang downstairs and I thought, no, I'm in big trouble. And I had ran.

like so much and so hard that I had like broken the light in the kitchen below my bedroom. So I kind of got in trouble for that one, but hey, at least I was being active, right? So there's like a framework that I like to use when it comes to building new habits. And it's from James Clear's book, Atomic Habits. It's a wonderful read. And if you are focusing on your habits, I recommend it to everybody. If you're a Zivli member,

and you have access to the master classes, then you will definitely want to rewatch or re-listen to the Mastering Your Habits Masterclass. It's based on that book, Atomic Habits, and it's all through the lens and the angle of building better health habits, obviously one of which is exercise. So in his book, James outlines four steps or four processes or

Four things you can consider when you're trying to build a new habit. Number one is you wanna make it easy. Number two, you want it to be obvious. Number three, you want it to be attractive. And number four, you want it to be satisfying. So as I was reflecting and preparing for today's episode, I made a list of all of the things that I do to check off those four criteria so that I am very consistent with moving my body and exercising regularly.

And I just wanted to let you know a lot of what I'm sharing is going to check off more than one of those boxes. It's not only gonna be easy, it's not only gonna be obvious or attractive or satisfying. I do think they meld together a lot, so don't get caught up too much on what category a strategy is in, just pick your favorite strategies and go with it. So I made a list for easy, obvious, attractive and satisfying, and I'm just gonna go down my list and I hope that you can steal these strategies.

So the first thing I do to make exercising easy is I have invested in home workout equipment. When we moved to the farm, we were 30 minutes away from the closest gym and I am not about to drive 60 minutes to work out for like 30 or 45 minutes. So we spent $1,800, yes, $1,800 on a home gym. And I justified the expense that it's about three years of a gym membership for our family.

at the nearest gym. So that gym is going to break even for us in three years. And I use it so much more and I save so much drive time and money from gas. having that home gym is a lifesaver for me, honestly, as a busy working mom, I can just pop down to the basement any old time I want and lift my weights. We got the Marcy like Smith machine set up from Sheels and we got it around

I don't know, some sort of sale. So we got a little bit of money off of it, which was nice. And then I found a bunch of weights to go with it on Facebook marketplace for about $300. So yes, you need to invest in your health. It's not always going to be cheap, but being sick isn't cheap either. And I think that it's actually more expensive to have bad health, more expensive financially, emotionally, physically, mentally. So

man, please invest in your health this year and especially invest in your workouts. So that's been the first thing, a home gym in the basement. We also have a treadmill down there that my mother-in-law left. We ended up buying her a different treadmill for their new house because it was just easier. And then my husband rigged up something, I guess this goes under the attractive or satisfying category. He put a TV up there because

I was training for a half marathon and I said, Justin, man, I can only stare at a brick wall for so long. And so having a TV down there to watch some shows either, you if I'm on the treadmill or lifting weights, we got a $75 bike from Facebook marketplace. Since I've been pregnant, that just feels better for cardio. Um, so again, it doesn't always have to be this $1,800 fancy workout thing. You can go on Facebook marketplace and find a deal.

but having a TV definitely makes it more attractive and satisfying for me to go downstairs and work out. Okay, the second thing that makes it easy for me to move my body more is to have a standing desk. At our old home, it was not big enough for me to have a standalone office, but when we moved to the farm, there was a space that I could turn into a home office. And I knew right away, I'm like, I want a standing desk because I just like to be upright. I wanted that flexibility.

But then here's something really cool that happened. One of my colleagues with Zivli, Beth, she's one of our health coaches. She got this walking pad to go under her standing desk and she loved it. And I was like, my gosh, that sounds amazing. And my team actually went together and got me one of those like walking treadmills to go under my standing desk for Christmas. I love it so much. I don't remember what the brand is. There's all sorts of different brands.

Again, you could search Facebook Marketplace and probably find a deal. But just this morning, I got like an hour and a half of walking in, which was two miles, going pretty slow, but it's still mobility, it's still movement, it's still getting the blood flowing and it's good for my blood sugars. So having a standing desk and a walking pad has been other ways to make exercise easy. Now, if you don't have a space in your home for a home gym, dumbbells work

just fine. I think for me personally, I can only challenge myself so hard using dumbbells and I kind of get bored with just dumbbells. But hey, that was my primary workout a lot, especially postpartum. I would do fit on so FITON it's a free app and they have really good workouts on there. Or I would do old Jazzercise DVDs because I used to teach Jazzercise. Or I really like the Jillian Michaels ripped in 30 HIIT workouts.

Those only took dumbbells. So I don't have the time or I don't have the energy or I don't have the space or the equipment or the resources. All of those are honestly just excuses that they are habitually telling themselves. And maybe you are one of those people that has habitually told yourself an excuse that you don't have the time, the resources, the energy, the money, the equipment, the space to exercise. I ran in my bedroom in sixth or seventh grade whenever it was and broke the light beneath it like that was free.

That took about three square feet and no equipment. So please just, one of our members said once during a coaching call that I love, she goes, I neither make nor accept excuses for myself and from myself. So she doesn't make excuses for her behavior and she doesn't accept her own excuses to not do what she said she's gonna do. And I love that. So neither make nor accept excuses. Always find the solution because there is one.

All right, here's some other things that I do to make exercising easy, especially if you're a morning exerciser. So my preferred time to exercise is in the morning. My beautiful morning mindset routine is to get up early, like have some decaf coffee, and then go work out before the kids wake up, or Justin can kind of get the kids up and going. And then I can come upstairs and help. I just like getting it done. like...

it not being something that's like hanging over my head for the rest of the day. I like not really planning my day around my exercise. So I just like getting it done. However, I am entering my third trimester in this pregnancy. And I have to prioritize sleep for my body. I think it's always a tricky topic when people are like, I'm getting up at like four or five to exercise, and I'm exhausted and blah, blah. And it's like,

Maybe we could work in a different time to exercise that's not compromising your sleep because sleep is so important for your health. And it's really important for your muscles because that's when they build and repair. So that's a fine balance if you're a morning exerciser. Now that being said, when I exercise in the morning, I put my clothes out the night before. I usually put them like on the stairs so I can come down in my jammies and be nice and warm when I'm having my coffee and then

you know, change into workout clothes and head down to the basement. The other thing I like to do is fill my water bottle the night before, make my coffee the night before and like set the preset thing so that it just is ready when I need it to be ready. I like to get my vitamins out, my cup, like literally anything that I can do to make my morning easier so that my brain has less excuses to stay in bed and press snooze, the better.

Another thing that I like to do is make my protein shake the night before. I just put some whey protein in water typically and have that during a strength workout. And you can do that the night before too. Just put in a bottle, shake it up and it's good to go. All of those are ways that I have incorporated or things that I've incorporated into my lifestyle to make exercising easier, to make just general mobility easier. I love it. So I hope that you steal some of those.

All right, let's talk about the second one. Making it obvious. I think this is the next most important one, at least for me. So if exercise is not already a part of your lifestyle, if you don't have like a consciousness towards how active you are during the day, writing down daily exercise as an action item during your morning routine is critical. And

I think you can tell like it is part of who I am and I still write it down every day as an action item. What my intentions are for that day for exercise, because that gives my brain clear instructions to follow through. So writing down your workout intentions as a daily action item is a great idea during that morning mindset routine. The second thing to make exercise more obvious is to have a floor. And what that means is have a baseline

non-negotiable amount of movement that you're going to get every single day, no matter what, no matter where you are, no matter how much stress you're under, this is your floor. And for me, that's 10 minutes a day. So why is that my floor? I can stretch for 10 minutes a day watching TV at night. Like if I have no other energy, if I haven't slept well or I'm exhausted for whatever reason, I can stretch.

for 10 minutes a day. That's my personal floor. Yours might be different, but definitely have a floor. And then I like to say also like have a hard cutoff of how many days will you go without exercise? So I have like a floor for mobility, which is 10 minutes a day. And then my hard cutoff is no more than three days without some sort of structured...

preferably like intense exercise, whether that's weightlifting or a HIIT exercise or some cardio. So I typically get exercise like that in like five to six days a week, but there are seasons in life that, you know, might be busy or I might be more tired or postpartum. So I focus more on mobility, but I still have that like hard cutoff of no more than three days between workouts. Okay, the next category of make it attractive.

This one is, I have a couple strategies here. The first is to track your progress with a log. I used to write down like my lifting workouts every day and I got tired of the repeat writing. So I just made an Excel spreadsheet because I'm a spreadsheet kind of gal and I have a tab for Monday, a tab for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And on each of those days, it's a specific muscle group. For example, Monday might be

you know, back and shoulders. Tuesday might be legs. Wednesday might be biceps and triceps and core. I think Thursday is chest and shoulders again. And then Friday is legs again. So I have at least 24 hours of rest for each muscle group between the times that I work them. And I find it very kind of attractive and satisfying to track my progress on the log so that I can see

Am I doing more reps? Am I able to lift more weight? Those kinds of things. So tracking your progress is great. James Clear has a quote in his book, Atomic Habits Never Miss Twice. That kind of goes into the last point that I was talking about, like have a hard cut off of, you know, no more than three days or no more than two days or no more than four days without exercise. He says never miss twice. So I guess his hard cut off is one day. The next thing for making it attractive,

is to pick something you don't dread doing. If you didn't grow up doing sports, or if it was like taboo when you were growing up to do sports or to be athletic, you may not have this habitual pattern of working out like I do. But that doesn't mean that exercise can't be enjoyable and can't be a joyful activity. I think that for many, many, many people, they do it not just for the physical benefits, but also

the mental benefits, like people who exercise get a rush of endorphins and they feel good and they are less likely to struggle with anxiety or depression. It's actually a really great treatment modality for anxiety and depression. So pick something that doesn't give you anxiety to do, right? Like if you like walking, go for a walk. If you prefer to swim or dance, do that stuff, but.

especially if you're just getting started and you're just kind of introducing your body to movement. Don't like jump into these plans that are just hard and they hurt your body and they're way too intense for you. Like be gentle and give yourself the space and grace and time that it takes to develop a habit of regular movement. So pick something you don't dread doing. That doesn't mean that you're always going to want to do it by the way. I would say at least

I don't know, at least like 50 % of the time, I don't really feel like going to work out. I would rather do something else. I'd rather get more work done or get something else done around the house, but I'm committed to it. And I think that goes back to my podcast last week about discipline and you have to be disciplined and you have to be committed about a few key habits. And this is a habit worth being disciplined about and committed to.

but it is easier to do that if what you're trying to commit to is attractive to you. I think another strategy to make exercise attractive is to find some sort of exercise buddy or accountability partner. But this one's a little bit of a slippery slope because if they stop going, you're gonna be at risk for stop going or if you move away from them or if a situation changes. So I don't want you to rely on anything or anyone external for your motivation.

but that could be a nice bridge to get you going. Just be cautious that you're still internally motivated and you're not just doing it for the other person. The last category is satisfying. And I have a couple of examples here. I've already shared the first one of pairing your workout with something that you enjoy like a TV show or a podcast. Maybe you're listening to me while you're working out right now. I don't know. That would be cool. But I personally just either do a podcast or a TV show.

or an audio book. I like audio books too. And then the last thing to make it satisfying is I like to save a cup of coffee for after my workout. So I might have like one or two cups of decaf before my workout and then I'll save that last cup for after my workout. just, I like, I like that. Food, you know, I get joy out of eating and I get joy out of my coffee. And if I can have something like Habit Stacked after exercise as like a little motivator.

I'm all about that. My friend, she used to put like this, those nature valley yogurt filled granola bars at the end of the sand pit on the triple jump in high school to help me jump farther. Like I was jumping for the food. So for me personally, food has always been a big motivator. I've had to change the type of food that I used to motivate motivate myself with, but hey, if it works, it works. It makes exercise satisfying knowing that you can

have a yummy drink or a nutritious breakfast afterwards, like you do you. I know there's a lot of gyms who do incentive programs as well. So if you make it to 25 classes, your name gets on the board or 50 classes, you get a t-shirt. And you can do that for yourself too. You can have some sort of streak and then a reward at the end, like a new shirt or a massage or a manicure or a pedicure. I hope that you enjoyed this podcast episode. You might wanna re-listen to it, take some notes.

I hope you take some strategies that you actually implement because remember, knowledge is not power until it is applied. And then I want you to continually reflect on your experience so that you learn from your experience. And come, you know, November, December of this year, you can look back and say, wow, I am so proud at how consistent I was with building this exercise habit. And that is going to start your next year with so much momentum.

All right, I will talk with you at the same time, same place next week. Bye for now.

Thanks for listening to the Reshape Your Health podcast today. To learn more about Zibli, our online course and coaching program to reverse insulin resistance for long-term weight loss and disease prevention, check out our website at www.zibli.com. That's z-i-v-l-i.com. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please leave a rating and review on your listening platform and share it with a friend.

I'll talk with you at the same time, same place next week. Bye for now.