So easy to answer this question: no! At least, you don’t need to if you are satisfied with your level of fitness, your doctor isn’t nagging you to get more exercise, and you spend absolutely no time guilt-tripping yourself for not working out.
On the other hand, you might be like me. For years, I felt badly about my lack of exercise. Working out wasn’t non-existent, it was just random and chaotic. I would jump on the exercise bandwagon for a while, working out at the gym or running three or four times a week. I felt great! Then life would slap me around a bit: caring for my elderly mother, trying to grow my law firm practice, and endeavoring to be the best wife, daughter, friend, and mother ever.
I’d fall off the exercise bandwagon, eat a bunch of bad food to punish myself for my lack of willpower, and spend more time than I could calculate each day planning to exercise, promising myself I would exercise, and then beating myself up for not exercising.
On March 5, 2010, I challenged myself to work out every day for 50 days in a row. I love a challenge, and I wondered what would change if I accomplished this goal? Would I feel better mentally and physically? Would exercising every day become automatic? What would happen on Day 51? Would my self-image change? Would I look better in blue jeans? (😊)
I made it through 50 days: walking, running, exercise biking (sometimes while reading trash magazines), lifting weights, and doing core body exercises. The first 20 or 30 days were brutal: deserting my family after dinner to go to the gym, pacing around a baseball field so I wouldn’t miss my son’s game, jogging to my book club gathering, and, once, heading out for a walk at 11:00 at night when I got held up at the office with a client emergency.
On Day 51, I woke up, looked outside and thought, why stop now?
Eight years later, I’m still going strong.I don’t think about daily exercise; it just happens. I have formed a rock-solid habit, and it’s as much a part of my morning ritual as brushing my teeth or walking my dog. But I’ve learned a lot along the way. For example, I learned that moving around every day is more important that busting your butt at the gym seven days a week. If I had known more about the habit formation process, it would have been so much easier. I’d love to share what I’ve learned with you. Stay with me!