Baby Steps?

How can you build a regular fitness routine?

Saw a lot of meatheads roaring about consistency in their response to this prompt. Like, obviously. How do you make consistency a thing?

Mark Manson calls them Minimum Viable Actions, where you do something small – maybe even ridiculously small – that would move you closer to getting the thing done. It could be as simple as sitting down to check off one dumb thing.

You can then choose to walk away, but are you really going to want to? Now that you’ve broken the seal of paralysis? What if you just go get a glass of water and come back to check off another dumb little thing? If you do that, you can reward yourself with a bowl of crunchy snacks to get you through another small but more challenging task.

And so on.

It works for exercise. I can be fine with only two sets of squats, some days. And that’s the choice I’m making those days. Most of the time when I get on the mat I need a lot more than that. My body craves movement, from an easy stretch to spine-popping planks and fiery lunges. I may feel the need for another set, or extra weight to resist.

Or I may not, and one set of calf raises is all I have in me.

This might not be convincing to you if you’re trying to make a dramatic change in a short time. But a little of something is better than a lot of nothing? You’re still headed that way even if all you manage is one tiny step. The only way those negligible steps are going to add up, though, is if you take them every day.

My baby step is getting on the mat. It helps to prepare the space, too. I have to make this a place I want to be: the music has to be clear and on point, I need a room where dogs won’t try to use me as a jungle gym. Just finding a place to put the mat counts as a minimum viable action. The next one would be to do 1-3 of my favorite yoga poses. That in itself is often the key to a 60-90 minute set of focused, intentional movement.

So there it is. Now that I’ve written it out I’m going to look like a fuckface if I don’t do this today. But first I nap.