I was physically destroyed the first time I
rode my bike home from Costco lugging a trailer full of groceries. The 11-mile
round trip left me with dead legs, a sore back and the sneaking suspicion I had
made a mistake.
اضافة اعلان
A month earlier, my 23-year-old minivan broke
down for the last time. Rather than replace it, I decided a new “car-free”
reality would encourage a healthier lifestyle. My aching muscles questioned the
viability of this plan.
Three years later, I now know that giving
up my car was the first step toward solving a lifelong struggle: maintaining
consistent physical activity. What started as a necessity — I had no car, so I
must bike — became a strategy: errands are an opportunity for exercise.
This reframing turned out to be a
motivational bonanza. I began seeking out new errands just for the exercise
they would provide. A need for new socks became an opportunity to walk to
Target. Running low on Sichuan peppercorns spurred me to cycle the 14km round
trip to the Chinese supermarket. This year, I learned that the public library
stocked a book about an ancient tomb I was researching, and my first thought
was: Excellent, that’s a 4,000-step round trip!
Rain or shine, I became an errand-running
machine. My mood improved, my grocery runs got easier, and I had to buy a new
belt for my shrinking waistline. For most of my adult life, I’d been trying,
and failing, to consistently exercise. Only now, as I hit my 60th birthday, did
I feel I’d cracked the code.
Experts who study exercise psychology say
it was no accident my new errands-based regimen had lasting results. Better
yet, what worked for me can work for others.
Find the right motivation
I am no stranger to motivational gimmicks.
After my marriage broke up in the early 2000s, I told myself losing weight
would make me more attractive. Mindful of my doctor’s advice about cholesterol,
I told myself I was only allowed French fries with dinner if I biked over the
nearest hill.
But nothing stuck. Michelle Fortier, a
physical activity psychologist at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, said
that outside motivations, like doctors’ warnings and weight insecurities, do
not result in lasting behavior change.
“That can get people started,” Fortier
said, “but it will not maintain their physical activity. It doesn’t lead to
positive consequences or positive emotions.”
Intrinsically generated motivation, which
is driven by a sense of accomplishment or satisfaction, is much more powerful,
she said. “You do it because it’s enjoyable,” she said, “And the research shows
that type of motivation is good” for exercise maintenance.
My own behavior change, Fortier said, was
probably the result of combining two intrinsically generated motivations that
had nothing to do with body-image fears or outside pressures: I love to ride my
bike, and I love the satisfaction of getting things done.
Make a mental shift
But that doesn’t mean my carless strategy
will work for everyone. People bike more in cities with biking infrastructure
and walk more in walkable communities. I’m lucky: I live in the San Francisco
Bay Area, which has an extensive network of bike paths, including a gorgeous
trail that curves along the water that I take to get groceries.
But what happens if you live in a rural community
30 miles from the nearest shopping center? Or if your office no longer allows
you to work from home, where you can slip out midday for a walk? The trick can
be as simple as just changing how we think about the act of exercise, said
Benjamin Gardner, a researcher in the psychology of habitual behavior at the
University of Surrey, in Britain.
Too much focus on the word “exercise,”
Gardner said, “brings to mind going to the gym, lifting weights, running on
treadmills and so on.”
Recognizing that day-to-day tasks often
involve movement is an opportunity to “build physical activity habits into our
everyday lives,” he added.
You could decide to walk a mile to get a
sandwich for lunch instead of grabbing one from the deli around the corner. If
you live in a rural area and can’t bike to get groceries, try spending 20
minutes a day weeding or reorganizing the garage. Anything you’ve been putting
off, like digging up an old stump or hauling yard waste, becomes a more
inviting prospect when you think of it as a workout.
But maybe don’t start with Costco
“The most important thing,” Fortier said,
“is that people find ways to make their bout of exercise — be it walking the dog
or biking to Costco — the most enjoyable possible.” In her work with clinically
depressed women who are inactive, Fortier tells her patients to start out by
picking a nice day to go for a walk, and then setting a timer for 10 minutes.
If they’re feeling good when the timer goes off, maybe walk a little more. If
not, call it a day.
Listening to Fortier, I realized that by
beginning my new exercise regimen with a grueling grocery run, I ran the risk
of squelching my enthusiasm before I’d barely started. Best to pay attention to
the pleasure principle, begin with easier challenges and work oneself into
shape.
So run your first exercise errand on a
sunny afternoon: Take a stroll to the nearest post office to mail a package.
Ramp up for a few months, and your to-do list will start to fill up with more
strenuous tasks. You may even find yourself buying a used bike trailer on
Craigslist and scoffing at an incoming rain squall, and loving every minute of
it.
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