How I (finally) exercise 6 days a week.
By: Ana Alvarez
Tags: Exercise Plan, Exercise Motivation, Start Working Out, Workout

I’m in my 30s and finally reached the goal to exercise 6 days a week like a fitness Instagrammer.

I’m kidding, I’m not like a fitness influencer at all, but I do my workout 6 times a week and I feel proud of it. This took me time and effort, and I want to share these 6 steps that definitely took me to where I am.

1. Start easy

Yes, sounds hackneyed but is the truth. Look, I started by running only 15 minutes every Sunday using the Nike Run Club easiest run (and I allowed me to walk if I felt it necessary). After some weeks, I forced myself to do 10 to 15 minutes of ‘anything’ that demands effort 4 days a week. And by ‘anything’ I mean it; there were days when I danced while watching a Just Dance video. There were other days when I made 90s aerobics, and some days I only walked and walked.

Yes, anything I could enjoy for some minutes. But never something that wouldn’t make me feel like struggling. And it worked! This really helped me out to tell my brain that this was going to be a daily activity. I strongly consider that this first stage was more of training my brain than my body, actually. And also this made me find the most convenient time of the day to do my workouts.

Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash

2. Learn how to workout correctly

It is important that if you do a squat, you do it correctly.

When I was looking to stay steady, I took Barre, Pound, and other functional training lessons. Obviously, this helped me to be constant and forced me to find time every day to train for 45min/1hr daily. But in these sessions, I learned how to not hurt my body and how to work out correctly.

Commonly, starters don’t see results or hurt themselves because they are not exercising in the right way.

So my advice here is: Find someone to teach you how to run, train, or play any sport you’d like. You need not to pay for expensive lessons necessarily. Look for a friend who knows, research, find people who exercise outdoors.

Also, you can have a mirror close to you or record yourself to see your mistakes and improve every day.

3. Go for it, even if you are not in the mood

Even now, there are bad days, and those days I am not necessarily in the mood to workout.

But even so, I turn the treadmill on, I step up and start walking. And I keep walking, then I run and it is a matter of minutes to realize that I am on it already. If my body feels really exhausted, I won’t demand too much from it.

It is fair and valid to have some lazy days. But I learned (and this cost me time) that by the end of the day, I will feel worst when I skip my routine. Trust me, it is preferable to walk only for 10 minutes (and listen to your favorite playlist or podcast), than staying in bed watching your phone.

4. Pamper yourself

This is probably more important than everyone thinks. So many people give up at the time their body hurts after a workout session. And hell yeah, exercising hurts. But this is natural, you are forcing your muscles to do repetitive movements that they are not used to. But I have some little tricks for this.

Before you work out, warm your body. This is essential to not have an injury. Have one or two sessions of stretching/relaxing per week. This will allow your muscles to have a breath. For this, you can do some Yoga, jogging, or just stretches. Help yourself with products that make it easier. There are some products like BCAA that help with muscle pain. I have never tried this, but an Alka-Seltzer after a heavy session diminish by far my muscle sore the next day. Take a relaxing bath at night or after your training sessions, massage your muscles, you’ll be surprised by how this makes you feel better.

5. Measure wisely

I am not talking about stepping up onto the scale. Not at all! That doesn’t even matter for me. I am talking about increasing your effort day by day. And the only way to do progress is by measuring.

For me, having a Fitbit on my wrist makes the difference. With this gadget I can measure the minutes of activity, how much time I reached my cardio zone, calories (I don’t believe this is an accurate measure but is a comparison point), and other things.

An app like Nike Run Club helps to register Kms, pace, time, etc.

A simple watch can help to register time and repetitions and will allow you to know how much you are doing now and how much you have improved.

6. Enjoy every moment

Make your own playlist with songs that will motivate you. Prepare an amazing breakfast to enjoy after your training. Wear comfortable clothes that make you feel attractive.