How to Make Exercise a Daily Habit

养成习惯很重要，尤其是养成每日运动的好习惯不仅有利于身体健康，而且可以锻炼意志，同时习惯于养成好的习惯能够为今后的发展铺平道路，很喜欢这篇博文，可操作性较强，于是乎自己瞎翻译了一下，喜欢看原文的朋友可以直接跳到后面看到或者链接原文：

 

   近来我的朋友，就是下面这位博主Scott Young(斯科特.杨)，写了一篇名为“锻炼的新手？那就天天锻炼”的很棒的帖子。那真是一篇相当不错的帖子，并且完美印证了我近些时来将锻炼作为每日习惯的努力。把锻炼养成习惯遇到的问题是我们所有人都会面临的，那就是，你通常试着一周锻炼3-4次，然而那导致养成新的锻炼习惯变得困难。原因就在于一种行为越持续，那么它越可能养成一种习惯。因此，就如同斯考特指出同时也是我十分赞同的的那样，每天锻炼更可能养成习惯---这种习惯成为几乎是自发的、同时也是更加容易的，替代了无休止的（自我）挣扎。

   我已经在我近来的日常生活中使用了这个方法，每日在不同的锻炼中交替：跑步、游泳、骑自行车以及力量锻炼，作为今年我完成奥林匹克距离级别铁人三项运动目标的一个途径。我将继续将这个习惯变成胜利的五月.去年为了我的第一个马拉松训练时，我把每日跑步养成了习惯，然而今年当我生病时我停了下来，因此我将重新养成习惯。如果你想将这个变成一个习惯，做一个30天的自我挑战，在挑战结束后，你的习惯将根深蒂固。这里有一些实用的建议，它们都是我在促使把锻炼养成每日习惯的过程中学到的：
1、设定一个时间.
 决定于是否你更加适合在早上或者中饭时间抑或晚上坚持锻炼，并且在那个时间坚持下来。我设定在每天的上午5:30，并且我尽最大努力不改变这个时间。如果你不设定一个时间，你更可能将其延期直到你有更多的时间或者精力，然而到那个时候又将其延期到第二天。很快，它将不再是一个习惯了。

2、为你自己发一个提醒。
我使用Memo To me这个工具，同时有很多种方式发给你自己一封邮件或者文本的提醒，因此你将永远不会忘记。当你弄了一个提醒的时候，就按正确的方式来做。不要忍受任何拖延。

3、从小处开始.
 这个可能是所有建议中最有效的了。当我开始锻炼的时候，我总是满怀精力、激情、雄心壮志地开始。我想我能够做的比我能做的要多。但是，一开始做的太多导致人精疲力尽，也导致你放弃运动习惯。当你第一次试着将每天锻炼养成习惯时，其风险在于，你的身体将不习惯那种程度的压力。诀窍就是：在开始的时候只做20分钟的锻炼，并且做的惬意简单。不要任何难度。如果你只是刚刚开始，甚至于第一次锻炼10-15分钟也是可以的。关键就是跳出那里，让你的身体习惯于每日的锻炼并且将其养成习惯。

 

4、迟点提升.
一旦你的身体习惯了每日的锻炼，你可以慢慢开始提升你运动的量和强度。在开始提升前至少等两周---那是你身体最小调整所需。一旦锻炼开始感觉十分简单，你就可以开始提升你锻炼时间的长度到30分钟，然后再到40分钟，最终达到一个小时。一旦你那样做了，你就能够逐渐提升运动强度---例如：跑快点或者卖力点。不要试图同时提升运动量和强度。

 

5、让锻炼变得有乐趣.
如果你的习惯让你痛苦，你将远离它。但是如果它有趣，你将期望去实践它。那就是为什么，在我新习惯的开始阶段，我专注于乐趣。我慢慢运动，欣赏周围的景色、呼吸早晨新鲜的空气、欣赏当太阳升起时的美丽天空、享受独处的宁静以及沉思。那些确实是我所享受的。一个装了些很棒音乐的mp3播放器也帮了不少忙。

6、摊开你的装备.
 在你养成新的习惯时遇到越少的障碍和阻力你越可能成功。如果你不得不不仅要早起而且还要在半醒状态背起一捆装备，你可能就只想回床睡觉了。但是如果你摊开你的运动装、鞋子、手表以及mp3播放器，或者其他你在运动时候需要的东西，你将准备好运动而无一点不顺。

 

7、只是要出门而去
我的习惯就是穿好鞋出门而去。我不担心我必须得走多远或者要有多艰难。只是出去开始运动。一旦我已经这样做了，那就是小菜一碟。

 

8、将运动混合起来
我喜爱铁人三项训练的一个原因就是那种日常训练不枯燥---替代了每日的跑步，现在我有多重不同的运动要做，并且运动变得更加有趣，可能是对于各个运动都很重要的一点是，我用到了不同的肌肉，尤其是游泳的时候。无可否认的是，有一些相同的肌肉被使用了，但是他们都是在不同的压力下使用的。那就意味着我每天没有重击同样的肌肉。那就给了他们恢复的机会，因为没有恢复，你就只是一次又一次地毁伤你的肌肉罢了。

 

9、有一个相对休息的日子
再次要说明的是，恢复十分重要。那也是为什么你要给你的身体一个休息的机会。如果你很放松，并且只做20分钟的锻炼，你没有休息日也是可以的。但是你依然最好是有一个休息日，不必与其余的六天做相同的锻炼。你完全不想跳过一天，因为那样的话你将不再坚持你的习惯。那也是为什么我做一天的力量练习而不和游泳、骑自行车、或者跑步那样用相同的肌肉。如果你需要更多的休息，你可以只散步20分钟，或者甚至只是一个冥想。关键在于在于每天做些什么，更好是那些能够让你动起来的事情（冥想虽然不是最好的例子，但是至少你做了些事情）并且保持你习惯的养成。

 

10、不要跳过哪怕一天
很容易说：“没什么问题，我已经锻炼了五天，...我只跳过今天而已！”但是那将使得你习惯的形成变得困难。持之以恒是关键所在，因此不要试图跳过哪怕是一天。如果你跳了，也不要捶胸顿足，不要自责，不要感觉糟糕---每个人都有糟糕的时候，并且习惯的养是一种技巧也需要练习。只要再次开始你30天的自我挑战，并且试着认清导致你跳过一天的障碍这次为之做好准备。

 

 

原文如下：

Recently my friend and fellow blogger Scott Young did a great post entitled, “New to exercise? Make workouts daily“. It was an excellent post, and perfectly timed as it mirrors my own recent efforts at making exercise a daily habit.

The problem with trying to make exercise a habit, and it’s something that we’ve all faced, is that you usually try to exercise 3 or 4 times a week … and that makes creating a new exercise habit difficult. The reason is that the more consistent an action is, the more likely it is to be a habit.

Therefore, as Scott points out, and it’s something I fully agree with, exercising every day is more likely to result in a habit — something that becomes almost automatic, and much easier, instead of a constant struggle.

I’ve been implementing this idea in my daily life recently, alternating every day between different exercises: running, swimming, biking and strength workouts, as a way of reaching my goal of completing an Olympic-distance triathlon this year. I’m going to continue this habit change into the month of May. I made daily running a habit last year, when I was training for my first marathon, but this year I stopped when I got sick, so I’m re-starting the habit formation.

If you’re going to make this a habit, do a 30-day Challenge, and by the end of the challenge your habit should be pretty well ingrained. Here are some practical suggestions I’ve learned along the way to help make exercise a daily habit:

1. Set a time. Decide whether you’re more likely to stick with it in the morning or lunchtime or evening, and stick with that time. I’ve set the time of 5:30 a.m. every day, and I’m trying my best not to vary from that time. If you don’t set a time, you’re more likely to put it off until you have more time or energy, and then put it off until the next day. Soon, it’s not a habit at all.
2. Send yourself a reminder. I use Memo to Me, but there are a number of ways to send yourself an email or text reminder, so you’ll never forget. Then, when you get the reminder, do it right away. Don’t brook any delays.
3. Start small. This is perhaps the most useful suggestion of all. When I start exercising, I always start with lots of energy, enthusiasm and ambition. I think I can do more than I can. However, doing too much in the beginning leads to burnout, which leads to quitting your habit. When you first try to make exercise a daily habit, chances are, your body won’t be used to that kind of stress. The key: only do 20 minutes in the beginning, and do it nice and easy. Nothing hard. Even 10-15 minutes is fine at first, if you’re just starting out. The key is to get out there, get your body slowly used to daily exercise, and form that habit.
4. Progress later. Once your body is used to daily exercise, you can slowly start to increase the amount and intensity of your exercise. Wait at least two weeks before starting to increase — that’s the minimum your body needs to adjust. Once it begins to feel way too easy, you can start increasing the length of your workouts, to 30 and then 40 minutes, and eventually up to an hour. Once you do that, you can gradually increase the intensity — running faster or harder, for example. Try not to increase both distance and intensity at the same time.
5. Make it pleasurable. If you associate a habit with pain, you will shy away from it. But if it’s fun, you’ll look forward to doing it. That’s why, in this beginning stage of my new habit, I’ve been focusing on pleasure. I go slowly, enjoying the scenery, the fresh morning air, the beautiful sky as the sun rises, the quiet time of solitude and contemplation. It’s actually something I enjoy doing. An mp3 player with some great music helps.
6. Lay out your gear. The fewer obstacles and less friction there is in forming your new habit, the more likely you are to be successful. If you have to not only wake up early but get a bunch of gear together while half awake, you might just want to go back into bed. But if you lay out your workout clothes and shoes and watch and mp3 player, or whatever you need for your exercise, you’ll be ready to go with no friction at all.
7. Just head out the door. My rule is just to get my running shoes on and get out the door. I don’t worry about how long I have to go or how hard it will be. Just get out and get started. Once I’ve done that, it’s a piece of cake.
8. Mix it up. One thing I like about triathlon training is that daily exercise isn’t boring — instead of running every single day, now I’ve got a variety of sports to do, and that makes it much more interesting. But perhaps just as important is that with each sport, I’m using different muscles, especially with swimming. Sure, some of the same muscles are used, but they’re used differently with different stresses on them. What that means is that I’m not pounding the same muscles, every day. That gives them a chance to recover, because without recovery, you’re just breaking your muscles down over and over.
9. Have a relative rest day. Again, recovery is very important. Which is why you need to give your body a chance to rest. If you’re taking it easy, and only doing 20 minutes, you should be OK without rest days. But it’s still good to have one day of rest, where you’re not doing the same exercises as the other six days. You don’t want to skip the day completely, because then you’re not being consistent with your habit. That’s why I do one day of strength training, where I don’t use the same muscles as swimming, biking and running. If you need more rest, you could just do 20 minutes of walking, or even just a session of meditation. The key is to do something every day, preferably something that gets you moving (meditation isn’t the best example, but at least you’d be doing something) and keeps your habit formation going.
10. Don’t skip a day. It’s easy to say, “No problem, I’ve been doing it for five days … I’ll just skip today!” But that will make your habit formation harder. Consistency is key, so try not to skip a single day. If you do, don’t beat yourself up, don’t judge, don’t feel bad — everyone messes up sometimes, and habit formation is a skill that requires practice. Just start your 30-day challenge over again, and try to identify the obstacle that led to your skipping a day and prepare for it this time.

引用链接：http://zenhabits.net/2007/04/how-to-make-exercise-a-daily-habit-with-a-may-challenge/