Making Exercise Easy Will Make You Stick to It

 How do you encourage new runners? How do you convince them to take that first step out of the door? It’s not easy but hundreds and thousands of people have taken that first step, otherwise we would not see as many as 30,000 (and upwards) runners participating in marathons. That first step is the hardest and the next few steps over the next few days and weeks can be tough too. Motivation is something you can’t buy on the Internet, encourage people to run. Most important, encourage them to start.

Part of what makes running so great are the conversations (or runversations) that you have during it. If one couldn’t talk for the vast majority of their training, running wouldn’t be as much fun. So, when a novice says it’s tough, they need to slow down to converse.

Exercising hard will feel hard. We relate the feeling of exhaustion and sweat as signs of a good workout. Want to lose weight? Increase fitness? Run a faster kilometer? Lift heavy weights? Train hard. No pain, no gain. But as a runner, if running or any exercise for that matter was as hard as we make it out to be, many wouldn’t have done it and many wouldn’t still be doing it. The idea that exercise should almost always be hard is a MYTH, one that harms beginners more than anyone else and that’s the mistake novices often make. 

When people start running, they often complain how difficult it is. Every day they walk out the door and it’s a grind. They toil through their run and gym. They feel good completing it, but it took a lot of mental effort just to get started. So, when a friend starts running and complains about how difficult it is, is because what they are doing is difficult. But the way through isn’t to keep grinding. It’s to stop making the majority of it difficult. If you find jogging for 30 minutes every day tough, then slow down and walk. If picking up a heavier dumbbell is hard and you can’t sustain it, move to a lighter weight.  If every day you were going out of the door knowing it will be tough, you’d probably quit. 

The same logic applies to runners at all levels. One proven approach to training is to move from hard to easy, then back to hard. Coaches refer to this as ‘periodization’. You train relentlessly in pursuit of an important goal, then relax and cut mileage to gather strength for the next pursuit upward. It’s the logical way to train. Every workout does not have to be a killer. You need easy days to prepare yourself for the next hard day. This hard/easy approach is the key to becoming a successful runner. 

When it comes to developing a lifelong exercise or a “movement practice”, don’t fall into the trap of grinding. Lots of easy movement combined with a dash of hard work goes a long way.