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The 38 Best Methods of Successful Exercisers

How do you form the exercise habit — really make it stick?

Take the first step.

Then take another. Make each step so important that you can’t miss it. And enjoy each step.

That’s my method, honed from eight years of forming the exercise habit. It works, for me.

But everyone has a different method, and it’s inspiring and massively useful to learn from others who’ve successfully created the habit themselves.

Today, we’ll look at a great list of those methods, submitted by folks on Twitter who have overcome the odds and successfully formed the exercise habit.

First, thank you, to everyone who submitted their successful methods. It was more than I’d hoped for, and incredibly powerful reinforcement of what works. But there were so many submissions that I had to whittle it down, tossing out good ideas and picking others that I thought were more universally applicable. Many of the ones listed here were echoed many times over in the submissions.

Let’s dive in!

I asked people who had successfully created the exercise habit — what worked for them? They answered (note – ones without a name after them were submitted anonymously):

  1. Stop looking at it as a habit and instead as a lifestyle and an important part of my self-care. ~Lara Rininger
  2. Work out first thing in the morning. You get it out of the way and it provides you with an abundance of energy for the rest of the day. ~Jen Zeman
  3. Crank up your favorite music! I often see suggested play lists for workouts, but just listen to what excites you. It will get you moving. ~Jen Zeman
  4. When I started running I started out at .5 miles and increased in .25 increments (I usually average 4 mile runs). It didn’t happen overnight – give your lungs and muscles time to adjust. Same with weight training – start light and build your way up. Results will start to show in about 3-4 weeks. ~Jen Zeman
  5. Making it my #1 priority and doing it first thing in the morning.
  6. 30 day yoga challenges for myself that I then give updates on my Blog. Accountability. ~Kira Elliott
  7. If I workout in the morning, before my day starts, I “earn: chocolate/beer/carb later in the day. Otherwise, no treats for me!
  8. No excuses. I never miss more than 2 days. You have to insist on it and protect it.
  9. Also: just put your workout clothes on. Once you do that it feels silly not to start. Just commit to 10 minutes. You will probably do more.
  10. Also: no one ever regrets working out. Is there anything else in the world you can do, and know 100% you won’t regret it?
  11. This is the one that’s helped the most: I’ve made a point to really, really, REALLY notice how much better I feel now that I exercise regularly; I’m sleeping better, my mood is better, I’m much less sluggish. It took about 3-4 weeks to see it, but it’s helped a lot. ~Polly
  12. Make it a habit, don’t rely on motivating yourself to workout, consciously think of it as just something you do after ‘x’. This was a huge aha moment for me. ~Mark Feinholz
  13. On that note, do it in the morning, habits are much easier to establish in the morning. the triggers are much more dependable (finish cup of coffee – put on gym shorts). Morning triggers are always there and the day has not polluted your plans yet.
  14. A daily morning ritual to mark the beginning of training. In my case, tying up my bandana on my head meant ‘It’s running time’. ~Alfonso Acosta
  15. I started running consistently the month before I got divorced. In theory it was the lowest part of my life — but I’d never felt better. I couldn’t get over that. I was sold on exercise, though it took me a while to make running the nonnegotiable part of my schedule it is now. After I got married again and when our daughter was a baby I used to run at the high school track near our house. I’d pretend the bleachers were filled with people cheering me on. “Good job!” I imagined them hollering. “Way to go!” And, “It’s great you’re leaving the baby with Dad for a while on this beautiful summer evening to do something nice for yourself.” Well, nice — and hell. It was hell. I wasn’t in shape, I didn’t want to miss a second with our new baby, and that was that. The pretend cheerleaders must’ve helped. Certainly they didn’t hurt. Because eventually, through a series of learning and unlearning and relearning the importance of exercising, it’s what I do. No discussion. No bargaining out of workouts unless I’ve made them up in advance. It’s soothing, really. There are no decisions to be made about exercise. I just do it. To the extent anything else good happens, I attribute it to this: running is magic. ~Maureen Anderson
  16. Fixed a time of the day that HAS to be the workout time. Cleared away tasks around that time to make sure I don’t get stuck with something else. ~Elle Kaiye
  17. Mentally preparing myself during the day for the evening workout helped.Mental preparation was important to prevent talking myself out of workout on the pretext of being “”exhausted”” or having “”more important stuff to do””. ~Elle Kaiye
  18. Sometimes even looking at the pictures of Victoria’s Secret Angels helped ;) ~Elle Kaiye
  19. I don’t have a workout buddy now but that had helped me to stay on track in the past. Support from my Mom helped me a lot! ~Elle Kaiye
  20. Doing a sport that you love and try new types of exercise/sports. ~Chris B.
  21. Do it a few days in a row, you – your body and mind- will get used to it. ~Chris B.
  22. Enter a race or contest. ~Chris B.
  23. I had to stop setting goals – as is advised by pretty much every source out there! I just got discouraged that I wasn’t moving as fast as the ‘programme’, or that I still felt no closer to running a marathon I seriously didn’t want to.
    >What works instead: feeling great about just turning up. I do what I feel able to when I’m there, and if it’s not much or not as much as last time – fine. I showed up. I get to say “I went to the gym” which impresses on its own, without me detailing what I did! ~Sarah
  24. A lot of people take days off when they’re exercising, which I think is great and important for your body to recover. However, I’ve found the habit of going to the gym (or wherever you go to workout) is important for me to do EVERY DAY. I run and do some strength training most days, but when it’s time for a recovery day I still go to the gym- to play racquetball, take an easy walk, shoot a few baskets, whatever. ~Dave Hall
  25. What worked for me was strong commitment to myself that I do exercise on these days on this time NO MATTER WHAT. I do not accept situations I wouldn’t exercise on my planned day if for example I felt tired, or couples of friends invited me for a meeting, or it was raining (running is essential part of my routine) or anything else. These are all small excuses that we have to actually struggle with. They are too small to prevent us from fulfilling the plan. I only omit my exercise session if I’m on vacation or if I’m seriously ill. In other cases there is no way to break the habit. ~Przemyslaw
  26. Don’t think about it, just do it. Even though I’ve consistently worked for over 15 years, it doesn’t mean I don’t have days that I just don’t feel like working out. I do have those days, but I push through it and do the work out anyway. ~Caroline
  27. Schedule time for exercise and keeping to it like you would any other appointment or meeting. ~Katie
  28. First I picked some awesome skills I wanted do be able to do from this website for motivation. While working towards them I basically only had a single goal: Do at least a single exercise every day, one pushup, pullup, sit up, … If I didn’t feel like it, wouldn’t do more, just a single one. Now I’m can do one armed pushups, one legged squads, l-seats and quite a few pullups. What also probably helped was that I didn’t need a single piece of equipment. ~Michael
  29. I exercise every single day. Every. Single. Day. That’s my secret. I don’t give myself the choice of whether to exercise or not. Every time that you give yourself a choice, you give yourself the opportunity to decide not to do something. ~Mark Cancellieri
  30. Sleep in my exercise gear (makes me feel mentally ready for action the next day). ~Ruth Seatter
  31. Plan to exercise with a friend (running or gym class etc). $20 wager if you don’t make it. ~Ruth Seatter
  32. Make it into a game or do it as a social activity with a friend. the more enjoyable it is the likelier you are to continue it. ~Matthew
  33. Accountability. I am a very lazy person and I hate being answerable to people. I like to do things at my pace which is why I never stick to anything for long. But this time when it came to eating healthy and losing weight, I made myself answerable and accountable to my cook! I asked my cook to keep a check on what I eat and not offer me any junk or fried. So each time I entered to kitchen to grab some snacks, I saw him standing there and to avoid answering to his questions, I would step out with eating. This worked for me and now I am used to ‘not’ eating when I am not hungry. ~Surabhi Surendra
  34. Focus on effort: Set yourself goals around effort, not around results. ~Chiranth
  35. Don’t let weather deter you. Once you do one or two runs in the rain you’ll see that they are liberating. ~Patty
  36. I started very small. Starting small cancelled any excuse not to practice daily. I have refrained from overdoing in the first two weeks. This left me more energy to become more stable in practicing daily. I have committed with my girlfriend on a feasible outcome in a medium term, like being fit for our summer vacations. After some weeks the reason of my motivation shifted from being willing to satisfy the external source (girlfriend’s expectations) to being more confident and happy with myself. Starting one single habit is giving me the confidence to change other habits and the clarity to identify which other habits do I want to develop. ~Niccolo’ Stamboglis
  37. No more than 1 day off in a row. Find an exercise you really enjoy (I love lifting weights!). Try new types of exercise. You will be tired when beginning a new exercise program so eat well to fuel exercise and get enough sleep. Religiously stick with it for the first two weeks, then you will begin to notice an improvement in your energy levels that is very motivating. ~Patty
  38. I joined a sports team (soccer), which is a fun way to exercise and ride my bike to work daily. This way I am physically active without really realizing it. I lack motivation to do exercises on my own. I almost need a team or coach or class to do well. (i.e. if I go to the gym solo, I get less results than if I joined a class). ~Bradlinn

Zen Habits

Leo Babuata
Chapters
Neither Averting Nor Craving in Each Moment How Taking Care of My Finances Changed My Life Tips for Traveling with Kids My Grand Travel Experiment The Parent I Aspire to Be The Best & Less-than-Best Motivations for Learning The Miracle of Suspending Mis-Belief 7 Strategies for Dealing with Toxic People Finding Motivation on Important But Non-Urgent Tasks Learning Tips for the Top 8 Learning Challenges The 30-Day Learning Challenge The Place Where You Are Feeling Determined to Change Practicing Non-Judgment Hold Your Own Feet to the Fire Don’t Waste Your Opportunity How to Beat Procrastination with Daily Training The Time When We’ll Be Present & Content A Simple, Powerful Self-Compassion Method When Others Frustrate You Your Internet Habits Create Your Reality The Case for Replacing Exercise with Play Leave Yourself Wanting More Fail Faster at Habits The Anti-Bucket List Getting Started with the Discipline Habit The Case for Caring About Your Work Questions of Priority The Futility of Always Pushing Myself to Be More Pare Down with the Declutter Habit You’re Not Doing Life Wrong Getting Lost in Just Doing An Addict’s Guide to Overcoming the Distraction Habit The Source of Contentment Savor Discipline: Merge the Interests of Your Future & Present Selves What You Can Say Instead of “I Don’t Feel Like It” The Things That Get in the Way of Doing The Girl Who Saw Through the Illusions A Gradual Approach to Healthy Eating Unconditional Acceptance of Yourself My Typical Day: How I Get People to Think I’m Productive The Contentment Habit The Delightfully Short Guide to Reading More Books In Praise of Limits The Art of Being My Dad 5 Ideas to Create an Amazing 2015 Essential Zen Habits of 2014 Karate Chop Practicing Slowness & Being Present Overwhelmed by All the Changes You Want to Make My 2014 Successes and Failures Finding the Motivation to Change Your Entire Life When You’re Lonely The Brain’s Fast Mode 5 Questions to Simplify Your Life During the Holidays The Zen Habits Holiday Gift Guide The Four Hidden Habit Skills The Power of Delay Overwhelmed & Rushed? Do a Stress Assess Writer as Coder: The Iterative Way to Write a Book Please Support the Zen Habits Book Are You a Lift or Drag Force? When Resistance Smacks You in the Face When Your Plate is Too Full The Quickstart Guide to Quitting a Bad Habit The Zen Habits Book is Almost Done A Quick Guide to Gaining Confidence When You Socialize The Empty Container The Realization A Guide to Changing Self-Destructive Behaviors Pushing Past the Terrifying Dip in Motivation It’s Not Too Late to Change Bad Habits The Smart Way to Stick to Habits My Most Effective Learning Tools What I Do When I Fail How to Put Your Writing in Public The Productive Sprint The Biggest Reasons You Haven’t Changed Your Habits Seized by the Thunderhold of Fear What to Eat for Fat Loss The Heartbreaking Cruelty of Comparing Yourself to Others A Brief Guide to Overcoming Instant Gratification How to Get Motivated After a Vacation 7 Strategies for Facing Your Internet/TV Addiction How to Breathe 7 Discipline-Mastering Practices 7 Rules That Keep My Life Simple An Education in the Majestic Sierra Nevada The Lies Your Mind Tells You to Prevent Life Changes How to Believe in Yourself Don’t Waste a Moment How to Find Your Life Purpose: An Unconventional Approach How to Be Great Making Yourself Work Inhabit the Moment How to Master the Art of Living The Delusional Fantasies We Live With Each Day Living the Simple Life How to Be Prepared for Anything Turn Toward the Problem The End of the Day Philosophy The Painful Beauty of Impermanence How to Change Other People Pursuing Happiness When It’s Already Within You The Quickstart Guide to a Decluttered Home Parental Zen: How to Keep Your Cool as a Parent Looking for Love How to Stop Your Habit Changes From Getting Derailed Why We Have Regret The Essence of Fatherhood: 6 Simple Lessons A Call for Revolt: Advertising is the Anti-Minimalism The Frustratingly Slow Pace of Making Changes My Struggles with Eating Boring Food The No Procrastination Challenge Creating a Lovely Morning A Father’s Manifesto: Raising Young Men Who Respect Women Turn Inspiration Into Action Coming Back From a Setback The Gift A Guide for Young People: What to Do With Your Life No Excuses: Minimalism with Kids How to Make a Marriage Work Love Notes Flavorless: My Month of Food Boringness The Letting Go Ebook, Free The Miracle of the Self-Compassion Habit How I Tackle a Big Writing Project The Habit Action List The Reality of This Moment Confidence in Your Business 10 Ways to Do What You Don’t Want to Do On Making It Through Tough Journeys The Hard Stuff Often Matters Most What to Think About During Exercise You’ll Be OK The Most Important Two Minutes of Your Life A Call for Compassion for the Defenseless The Cure for Your Distraction Syndrome You’re Not Worse Than Other People Being Mindful of Your Stress What if You Didn’t Have to Worry About Yourself? The Universe of a Single Task Simplifying Is Painful Becoming Emotionally Self-Reliant How I Cleaned House & Simplified My Work Life The Busy Person’s Guide to Reducing Stress My Month Without a Smartphone What I’ve Learned as a Writer What the Exercise Habit Did For Me Fear is the Root of Your Problems This Moment 36 Lessons I’ve Learned About Habits The 3 Do-What-You-Love Conundrums How I Conduct My Business Constant Task Switching The Habits of Five Amazing Founders The Incredible Importance of Sleep for Habits & Motivation What Really Motivates Us to Stick to a Project? I Tried to Quit & It’s Too Hard! Unwired: A Month With Limited Internet, & Now No Cell Phone Procrastination is a Mindfulness Problem Letting Go of Judging People Don’t Scratch the Itch Become Happy in the Face of Physical Misery How Repetition Can Kickstart a Habit Zen Productivity When You’re Feeling Self-Doubt & a Lack of Motivation The Child That Holds Us Back Stateless Mindset My Month of (Almost) No Internet 12 Changes for 2014 Essential Zen Habits of 2013 The Fear of Being Alone The Calm Approach Things Every Man Should Own Family Gatherings: The Ultimate Mindfulness Training Ground Letter to an 18-year-old on the Career Path Less Traveled A Method to Find Balance 16 Surprising Lessons from My First 50-Mile Ultramarathon The Simple Fitness Habit Holiday Challenge Struggles with My Morning Internet Fast Surrender, Mindfulness & Entrepreneurship How I Learned to Stop Procrastinating, & Love Letting Go Finding Focus When You Run Out of Ideas The Necessary Art of Subtraction Jealousy & Suffering How Creativity Works, & How to Do It Self-Discipline in 5 Sentences Make It Your Job Developing Selfless Compassion Lyrical Learning, & Why We Learn Habits Wrong A Month Without Sugar Why I Read (+ a Dozen Book Recommendations) 12 Indispensable Mindful Living Tools Burn Down the Farm My Most Minimal Travel Setup Yet The Exquisite Habits of the Founder of Blue Bottle Coffee 3 Little Tricks to Deal With People Who Offend You My Healthiest Travel Routine Yet Startup Founder Megan Casey’s Habits of Priorities My Pursuit of the Art of Living A Month Without TV or Video The Way of No Debt Letting Go: How to Live With the Loss of a Loved One The Way to Be Ramit Sethi’s Entrepreneurial Habits The Time to Shut Down The Pain & Beauty of Life Changes 8 Creativity Lessons from a Pixar Animator Zen Mountain: Leave It All Behind Overcoming the Social Costs of Being Different Finding Quiet and Mindfulness Through Food My Failed Month of ‘No Sitting’ The Thinking Habit That Changed My Life Liking Healthy Foods is a Choice Unschoolery: My New Blog on Unschooling My Advice for Starting a Business Creating Your Habit Environment Travel Lessons with My Family Easier Decision-Making: Conduct Experiments Simplify: Let Go of Your Crutches The Fear of Being Found a Fraud The Flexible Mind Declutter Your Life A Month Without Coffee The Healthful Vegan Diet Living the Quiet Life The Art of Tasting Chocolate Mindfully Why Fear of Discomfort Might Be Ruining Your Life The Habits of Happiness How to Keep Habits Going During Travel A Year of Living Without The Key Habits of Organization I Failed Vegan Guide to San Francisco The Futility of Comparing Yourself to Others A Secret to Dad Greatness Habits: A Simple Change in Mindset Changes Everything The Worry That You’re Doing the Wrong Thing Right Now 6 Steps To Being More Creative How I Finally Faced My Weight & Debt Problems Working with the Obstacles in Your Path 9 Rules for a Simpler Day The Little Book of Contentment The Obstacle is the Path 5 Lessons in Contentment from Billionaires Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger Smile in Each Moment A Guide to Practical Compassion 6 Steps To Healing Yourself The 7-Day Vegan Challenge Why You Should Write Daily Achieving Without Goals Flowing with the Stresses of Kids (or anyone else) Habit Mastery: Creating the New Normal Defeat Distraction: Refocusing with Purpose Expanding the Envelope: A Method for Beating Anger A Guide to Practical Contentment The Practice of Work Mind & Vacation Mind, Simultaneously How to Eat Real Food Without Spending Hours in the Kitchen Quitting Your Habits The 38 Best Methods of Successful Exercisers How To Make It Impossible To Fail The Not Knowing Path of Being an Entrepreneur How to Change Your Life: A User’s Guide Getting Your Family On Board with Life Changes How to Stick to a Habit When Life Falls Apart Zen Mind in the Middle of Chaos & Stress Create a Sacred Space in Your Heart Meditation: The Most Fundamental Habit Creating the Genuine Connections We Long For Tremors of Psychitude: One Little Trick to Find Purpose and Motivation Create the Habits of Being Lean, in 7 Years Walled-in: Life Without Facebook The 7 Habits of Calmness The Four Habits that Form Habits Advice to My Kids My 10 Essential Email Habits The Daily Checklist Sticking to a Habit: The Definitive Guide The Meditation Diet: How I Lost 60+ lbs. by Savoring The Power of Habit Investments Discomfort Zone: How to Master the Universe The Most Successful Techniques for Rising Early Do Less: A Short Guide How to Savor Life What We Lack in a Hyperconnected World Simplify the Internet 12 Rules to Live By The New Rules of Fitness for 2013 52 Changes for 2013 The Unprocrastination Month, and the Relaunch of the Sea Change Program Essential Zen Habits of 2012 The Other Person is Never the Problem The Do Plan, or Why We Know But Don’t Do 28 Brilliant Tips for Living Life The Clutter-free Holiday Guide The Little Trick to Make Any Moment Better Tim Ferriss vs. Leo Babauta Showdown: On Whether Goals Suck The Work You Love is Waiting For You The 7-Step Method to Find Focus for Writing The Buy-Nothing Holiday Survival Guide Challenge: Buy Nothing Until 2013 How to Learn Anything Shaken By Life’s Beauty, Shaken Untrack: Letting Go of the Stress of Measuring 15 Great Excuses Not to Form the Fitness Habit How to Make Health Insurance a Bad Bet Why the Fitness Habit is More Important Than the Plan The Willingness to Think Differently Create a Superhealth Community A Vegan Tour of NYC