The Best Way to Develop a Consistent Exercise Habit

 If you're struggling to exercise consistently, I suggest the following:

Train – a little bit – every day.

Make exercise convenient and sustainable.

Keep the training sessions brief. 15-30 minutes per day.

Don't worry about going near failure.

Don't worry about doing lots of volume.

Just focus on showing up and checking the box of exercising for 15-30 minutes every day.

If you train daily for 90 days, you'll develop a habit – or a positive addiction, even.

THEN you'll have more luck training hard 3-5 days per week without constantly falling off the wagon.

Going from the couch to hardcore gym rat can be overwhelming.

Rather than taking that huge leap, break it up into shorter, more sustainable daily habits.

A 7 day schedule could be something like the following:

Day 1: upper body – 2 sets of pushups, dumbbell bench press, or overhead press; 2 sets of pullups, pulldowns, or rows; 2 sets of bicep curls; 2 sets of tricep extensions 

Day 2: legs – 2 sets of body weight squats or goblet squats; 2 sets of kettlebell swings or leg curls; 2 sets of lunges; 2 sets of calf raises

Day 3: upper body again

Day 4: legs again

Day 5: upper body again

Day 6: legs again 

Day 7: ride a spin bike.

This is just an example. The point is this:

Do something every day. Keep it short. Don't worry about taking your sets near failure at this stage in the game. But, definitely do so if you feel like it. 

Then, come right back to workout the next day, even if you're sore. Just take the following day lighter/easier.

What we are trying to do in this situation is build the habit of exercise so that you stop jumping off and on the wagon so many times without making real progress.

Ease yourself onto the wagon and stay comfortable there by showing up daily and building confidence and enjoyment while simultaneously building the habit.