Five minutes of exercise that actually gets done is much better than a planned two hour session that does not. Lately, I find myself emphasizing this point to many people. Right now, many have either dramatically scaled back their New Year's efforts, or quit altogether now that we are heading into the third week of February of the new year.
My best professional and personal advice is that manageable chunks of exercise time will get done, while extremely challenging and lengthy sessions will not. Into my twentieth straight year of working out, I understand very well what works, and what does not. I know I sound like a broken record, but it is absolute gospel: This is a lifestyle! Like most other things that we consider part of our lifestyle- a certain balance is required. For instance, if we were required to brush our teeth daily for two hour sessions every time, then in a very short period of time, we would all be falling short on dental care wouldn't we?
Struggling exercisers of the world, please take note. If you just did five minutes of exercise a day, then in thirty days you would have banked over 150 minutes. The benefits of exercise are cumulative, and this is an important fact. Five minutes per day is achievable for EVERYONE, and if you dare to say it isn't, then please contact me so we can discuss where to carve out that well needed five minutes. I assure you that I can find it. Five minutes effort with regular consistency will yield benefits because it is getting done. Getting it accomplished is what really matters, and you can forget about well intentions to do "whatever" that involve either really complicated or lengthy efforts. It is quite easy to talk one's self out of rigorous and time consuming efforts if we get honest with ourselves.
Folks, you gotta make it work. Taking the smallest of baby steps might be the biggest change you need to implement as you try to pave the way to exercise adherence. There may come a time, or several times along your path that you can and will do more, but it is ok to keep efforts broken down to a micro-level if that is the fine line between doing something and nothing. Remember that in this game, doing something is light years ahead of doing nothing.
So, steer your approach to the utmost manageable level and go for it. If your life gets turned upside down due to the unexpected, keep your focus and just take five.
