8 Simple Hacks To Fit In More Exercise In Your Life || WBWL Ep 58

Here's another episode that I have done in the past that a lot of people got a lot of value from. I wanted to just put this one back on just in case you have missed this.

I'm sharing 8 simple hacks to fit in more exercise in to your life with very minimal effort.

Too many people know that exercise is important for longevity and health but we always put it off to the side.

In the short term, it might be okay. But long term, this dramatically increases our chance of disease, pain, and early comorbidities.

We can obviously will ourselves to say "new year, new me", and drag ourselves to exercise.

But you know very well how that always turns out ;)

This action-packed episode will give you 8 easy exercises to fit in exercise daily even if you're super busy.

I encourage you to take notes on this one, then take action!

Transcript

0:02

Welcome to the Won Body Won Life Podcast. Hi, I'm your host, Dr. Jason Won lifestyle physical therapist. I talk about everything health and wellness related. So you too can have a more resilient body and a more fulfilling life. If you haven't yet, please support this channel by hitting that subscribe or follow button. So you never miss out on another podcast episode. Also, if you could please leave a review or a ranking on your favorite podcast app or website, that way more people will be able to benefit from the content of my podcast. Today, I wanted to highlight eight simple hacks to fit more exercise into your life. There obviously is a plethora of benefits to exercise. Including improved strength, increased flexibility, decreased pain, improved mood and happiness, and increased self confidence, esteem, and self worth. And I think majority of people that I speak with do agree that they do perceive exercise as important. They contemplate doing it all the time, but we're just far too busy. Even though majority, would say that, hey, I want to exercise. I want to make changes in 2023 or whenever you're listening to this. But it's just too damn hard to fit exercise into my life. Now, this comes down to priorities. It comes down to what sort of time you do make for exercise. But I do want to say, it doesn't just mean that in 2023, you have to will yourself in order to get out of bed, get your running shoes on, start exercising more. I want to share with you. Eight simple hacks actually mindset hacks and strategy hacks in which you can actually create more time to exercise and it'll be a lot easier to fit it into your daily life. So the first one I wanted to give to you is called a habit stack. Now I actually got this from a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear and habit stacks, what they do is they associate certain things that you already do with a certain exercise. Now let's say you say after. habit that I already do, I will do some form of exercise. So I'll fill in the blanks for you. One of the easiest things that I say is after brushing my teeth, I will perform X amount of squats. So think about just the daily things that you already do in life, whether that's brushing your teeth, putting something in the microwave, grabbing your cup of coffee even if it's turning on the TV. It doesn't always have to be after habit. I already do. I will blank. Sometimes it coincides with a certain activity. Sometimes you will say, Before I do something, I will blank. So one of my rules of thumb is that before I eat any meal, I will perform at least 50 to 100 push ups. And that's just a rule of thumb, because it's almost like my way of saying, I will earn my meal. And if I don't do a certain exercise, I will have the consequence of not being able to eat my food. So hopefully that makes sense. So the first one is called a habit stack. Think about certain ways in which you can incorporate an exercise and associate that with something that you naturally already do. All right. So number two is to use auditory tactile or visual triggers. Which are externals who automate more movement into your life. So auditory being the things that you hear, tactile being the things that you feel, and then visual being the things that you see. So we oftentimes will respond to a bell, a ring. Or a notification that pops up on our phone, and guess what we do? The automated behavior is to pick up our phone and see what's going on. And we want that sort of reinforcement to say, we don't want to skip out on seeing what's the latest Facebook notification, or if somebody commented and liked on my post. So use those sort of triggers as a means to automate more movement into your life. Now a good example with auditory, Is for me, if you want it to get to bed at a certain time, I actually said something. off on my phone called a reverse alarm. And the reverse alarm, you want that alarm to sound not like your usual notifications because you might just ignore it. It may be a calendar event that says, go to sleep on time. But if you want to actually create and rely on that trigger, And reinforce it, that trigger has to be something that's very unique and obvious. The auditory trigger that I have is actually my wife recorded her voice on my cell phone. And she says, go to sleep, chop pork chop. And it's funny it's hilarious to actually hear that. But I actually do abide by it because it's something that's very obvious. It is a unique trigger. And it is my wife. And I do want to say that I do listen to my wife at all times. So tactile being just things that you feel. So it could be a vibration of a watch. That could be something like you create a search and trigger, which a certain specific vibration will trigger you to get up off of your desk. And lastly, visual triggers. This can come in many different forms, whether it's a pop up on your desktop. Or let's say it's a sticky note that stays on your computer screen at all times. Visual triggers are very powerful. In fact, visuals is probably the most powerful trigger that when we see something, we oftentimes can associate that with certain things. So just think about, for example, if you see your microwave going off, right? When you put something in the microwave and that your food is spinning or your, let's say you're heating up your coffee, I see my food spinning, so while I see that microwave, then I'm going to stretch my back at the counter. And these are things that I actually do. Whenever I put something in the microwave, that is actually my time, at least 45 to 60 minutes, or however long that you heat up your food, to perform certain exercises. Okay. So number two is about using triggers. Number three is to keep exercise equipment or apparel convenience. One of the four laws of habits is actually keep it convenient. Examples of this is you can keep. Your rubber bands or your resistance bands or kettlebells, any sort of workout equipment right near, near your desk. And if you keep it within your line of sight and it's convenient to you, then you're more likely to use it. So this is the same way goes that if you wanted to create more convenience in your life, if your kettlebell or your dumbbells are downstairs in the garage and you're spending majority of your time in your office, how likely is it for you to go all the way downstairs. And to grab that equipment, actually use it. Same thing goes that if your gym is just, let's say, right downstairs in your garage versus if your gym is 10 minutes away and you're paying for membership, it's more likely that you're going to breed more convenience if your gym is in your house versus if you have to travel out. So I'm always telling people, if you have gym membership and you're going to use it, try to find a gym that's closer to you because it is more convenient. It's less out of your way. So when you're looking at exercise, what's more convenient that if you spend eight hours at your desk, that you at least put some bands or foam rolls and surround yourself with workout equipment, because when you see it, or if it's really close to you, you're more likely to use it more often. And that can steer pain out of your life. Too many people will wait at the end of the day to do some sort of stretches when their body's already hurting. But if you do exercises throughout The work setting throughout your classic nine to five, that will actually allow you to feel better. So apparel, when I'm talking about apparel, I'm talking about, can you keep your running shoes in your line of sight? So before you leave the house, whenever you're downstairs and you're going to leave the house, can you leave your running shoes down there? So that way encourages you to run. Or if you are not in the habit of working out and you want to build more workouts into your life, can you keep a pair of shorts and tank tops? Out in your bedroom. Don't put it actually in your dresser. They actually keep it in your line of sight. So for me, if you see my style, you see my social media, there's no doubt I am always in workout equipment because I always want to be in the habit of working out. So classically my, the way I present myself on social media and many other places is I have a tank top or a workout shirt and I always have shorts on. So breed that sense of convenience into your life and it'll make it much easier and less resistance. to getting yourself to work out and to move more. All right, so number four. Number four is don't be afraid to be the elephant in the room. So this is something I say constantly to my clients. Don't be afraid to be the elephant in the room. I think too many people are too self conscious to work out. So sometimes they'll want to go to the gym, but they'll try to work out in a place where they're not seen because they're embarrassed of their body image or they're embarrassed that if they do a certain workout that they know their techniques off, so they will just avoid the gym altogether. And that's unfortunate. You want to have a certain starting point and not being afraid to just be the elephant in the room. If there's a certain workout that benefits you. But you feel like you're being like observed by other people, try not to be that be the elephant in the room or be even the peacock in the room with the colorful feathers. So for me, example of that is whenever I go to Trader Joe's or Safeway or some sort of grocery store. It's very common that. In the middle of the aisles and I'm with my wife, I would just use the shopping cart as a means to get squats in or to stretch my back on the cart and I've been in line waiting and there's a long line at Costco, for example, I will not be afraid to use. Parts of the shopping cart to stretch my calves or to use it as a balance beam or to stretch out my upper back and my lower back. So just pull myself and pull my butt back. There are a plethora of exercises that you can get done anywhere you want. Now, other people are going to stare at you. They understand what you're doing, but if you're not afraid to be the peacock in the room, that's the difference between you being at Costco and your back hurts because you've been standing too long. And if you just be the peacock or the elephant in the room. Simply just stretch it out right then and there, that's going to allow you to live a more pain free life because you're incorporating more exercise into your life. So just think about places that you are, places that you have idle time places where you might feel like you're being observed, you feel judged, try to throw a lot of that judgment and self doubt. Out of your life, try to be confident and just say, I'm going to move at all costs. And if you use more of the idle time in your life, that will allow you to feel a lot better throughout the day. So number five is to associate movement with environment, location, or time. This is quite simple. We oftentimes will associate, we don't even know it, but we associate. Certain things or certain actions with environment, location or time. So every day, classically for most people, and I think you can agree with this, is every morning when I go to the bathroom being the location, and at the time, which is 7am when you wake up, I will use the restroom and then I will brush my teeth and wash my face. So we don't even think about it, it's so automated into our life because we've been doing it since However long is that we associate environment, location and time with doing things. It's not like we have to consciously brush our teeth or consciously go to the bathroom. It's just something that we innately do. So if you can think about, okay I know that Dr. J has shown me some foam rolling exercises for my back and my neck, and I know it helps, but it's just very hard to find the time to do so all you think about is, okay, every time I go to Every time I go to the kitchen. Now before I go into the kitchen and grab my coffee, kitchen and coffee and that search in time, that is the location. So I'm going to keep the foam roll nearby and I'm just going to simply foam roll in the kitchen before I get my coffee. So this is combining a little bit of habit stacking with the environment and the location in time. And for me, a good example of what I do is before I enter into the family room, which is where my son's And if I want to play with my son in the playpen and read him books, I'm going to first use the pull up bar that is right at the door before I enter into the family room. So that family room and that time of which I'm always playing with my son, that is associated with doing at least 8 to 15 pull ups. So I am getting more back strength and more push ups and more of all the exercises that benefit me because I am associating specific locations and specific times of the day with an exercise. Hopefully that makes sense. So number six. Number six is a really important one, and I want you guys to write this down. Number six is to hold yourself to a certain standard. Now, this comes into the psychology of things, because when we want to exercise consistently, let's say it's new year, new me, January 2023, I'm going to make huge changes in my life, is that we don't identify with who we want to be. Instead, we're almost willing ourselves. Let's say if you are overweight and you have a lot of discomfort in your body, I want to be in shape and I want to feel better. I want to feel younger. You can try to will yourself to go to the gym. You can will yourself to eat less. You can will yourself to eat healthy foods. You can will yourself to add in more meditation in your life and breathing because you know it's good for you. But if you don't identify. That person that you want to be. And if you don't hold yourself to a bare minimum standard, then you're always going to fall back into your faulty ways. And a good example is you can have McDonald's. A lot of people love McDonald's. It's all, all around the place in San Francisco. McDonald's is like literally every single mile. If not more, so let's say McDonald's is fast food and you don't want to eat McDonald's anymore. So you could tell yourself, I don't want to eat McDonald's. Every time I see McDonald's, I'm just going to drive by or walk by. I'm not going to eat it, right? We know that sometimes when you're hungry, you're tired, you want that McDonald's. So instead of just saying, I don't want to eat McDonald's, start to tell yourself. I am a person that does not eat McDonald's. I am a PR and conversely, I am a person that consistently exercises three days a week. I am a person that has goals. And I will complete them with certainty. It's not like I set a goal and I'm going to try to will myself to get there, but if I don't get there, it's okay. So you identify and you hold yourself to certain standards. So my standards for me is I work out six days a week, seven days out of the week, I am consistently Stretching and mobilizing my body at least five to ten times a day because I want to stay pain free. I want to stay flexible. I don't want to lose my mobility or strength. And so I identify as that person. I exemplify that on all my platforms that I do social media. So you hold yourself to a certain standard. You identify as the person that you want to become. And therefore, once you identify, that's a much stronger stance than just saying, I am going to do this. Okay. You identify once you identify, you are going to start taking stronger actions towards the goals that you intended. Okay. So let's go into number seven. Number seven is more of a practical one. Super easy. Simply drink more water. Why is drinking more water going to help you to exercise more? Let's say if I were to tell you that walking helps with your low back or your neck pain. Then you know that you need to walk, but sometimes the weather doesn't permit. Sometimes you're making a bunch of excuses like I have a lot of projects to do. So I got to sit at my computer and I'm going to skip my walking break. But if you just simply think about drinking more water, so you drink water in the morning, you drink one to two glasses before you even sit down at your desk. Let's say you drink more water before you sit for any meal. So as long as you incorporate more water through the day, One, your body appreciates that it's rehydrating musculature. Your body is actually getting more dehydrated as you're just breathing, you're actually breathing out like water molecules. So if you want more energy and you want your body to feel less stiff, you got to rehydrate it. That's one. Number two, the benefit of drinking more water is you're going to take more bathroom breaks. When you take more bathroom breaks, you actually have to respond, get up off your butt, walk to the bathroom. That gets in even little bits of walking and movement throughout your day versus sitting at the desk for endless amount of hours. So I can do a whole entire podcast on drinking more water, but one at the minimum, it gets you up and it gets you walking. Number two, it rehydrates every cell of your body. So I will allow you to have a little more energy and a little bit less fatigue throughout the day. Okay, so lastly, number eight is super important, and it's called the rule of one. The rule of one is however you want to interpret it. It could be just simply starting with one minute of exercise. It can be as little as even just one repetition. So let's put it this way. If I put a. Five to 20 pound dumbbell in your hand, and I tell you to lift it up towards your shoulder and you're doing a bicep curl, that bicep curls, they're going to help get you stronger and a dumbbell lifting it in any form or fashion is likely to get you stronger, but sometimes what you think about is, wow I know that I'm usually used to doing 30 minute workouts, so if I don't have to 30 minutes, I'm not going to do anything at all, or if I used to usually doing 10 repetitions, And sometimes it feels like I don't have the time to get in that set. Then that's fine. But all you do is you start off with just the rule of one, the rule of one states that if you just do one minute of walking, give yourself that permission to go back home and to simply just take off your shoes and go back to what you're doing. If you do one repetition of a bicep curl or a squat or any other exercise. That's fine. Give yourself that permission that after that one rep after that one set or that one minute of exercise, you can do whatever the heck you want. But the likelihood, though, is that if you do one rep, you're likely to do two. And then after two, you're likely to do three. And after three, you're likely to do five, then ten, then twenty. And maybe that one rep or that one set led you to create momentum that allowed you to do a full workout and to feel even better. And as long as you start with the rule of one, that's sometimes all you need to start off with. So a little hack that I want to leave you with is Go ahead and get your phone out right now or get your smart speaker. And set a timer for one minute right now. Pause this video if you need to, set your timer for one minute and all you're going to do for that one minute is not check your text, not do any housework or any of your work right now. One minute. Move away and simply just move. Do any stretch that you've learned, any strength training exercise that you've learned, and do that for one minute. After that one minute, I give you permission to do whatever you want after. The likelihood though, is that oftentimes if I do a minute of exercise, I want to do more. I've secreted some endorphins and oxytocin and dopamine, and I've secreted a lot of good hormones after just doing one minute of exercise. I might crave more. And it's the likelihood is you might crave more and do at least one more minute than that. So this is a momentum starter. This rule right here has changed the game in so many ways, not just in aspects of exercise, but if there was a project that I kept putting off because I was uncertain of how to do it, or if there was a certain important to do that you've been putting off because you're uncertain of how to do it, or it's just something that you just keep brushing off to the side, start a one minute timer, or just one second of it, and just complete it. If you do one minute, likelihood is going to continue down a path that you want to go down, and you're actually going to start taking action. Okay? Just to recap on all the eight hacks that I gave you to make exercise more automated and to fit in more exercise. Number one is called a habit stack. After a habit that I already do, I will Blank, do a certain exercise. Number two, use triggers. Triggers, the three types are auditory, tactile, or visual. Number three is to keep exercise equipment or apparel convenient in your line of space. Number four is don't be afraid to be the elephant or the peacock in the room. Simply just move at all costs. Number five is to associate movement with environment, location, or time. Number six is to hold yourself to a certain standard and to identify as the person that you want to become. Number seven is to simply drink more water. That's going to get you up your butt and it's going to get you to move. And lastly, number eight is called the rule of one. The rule of one starts off with just one minute, even just one set, or even just one repetition of an exercise to create momentum in the right direction. So that's what I got for you today. If you enjoyed this episode, definitely hit that subscriber follow button. I release new episodes every morning on Wednesdays, and I'd love if you can leave a rating in your podcast app. So my content will reach more people who could benefit from the tips that I put out. If there's any feedback about the content I'm putting out, good or bad, or if there's specific things that you might want me to cover in future episodes, send a quick text. To 415 965 6580 or email me at jason@flexwithdoctorjay If you're interested in working with us directly in any coaching programs, definitely also use that to send a quick text to 415 965 6580. Let me know that you're interested. I reply to all my messages personally. So that's it for it today. And I'll leave you always with these last words of advice. We only have one body, one life. Make every action you take the one that makes you a better version of you. Take care.