Why Working Out 1 Day Is Better Than 5

Sometimes the biggest mistake in fitness is people trying to go all out to reach a goal. The new year’s resolution crowd starts to fade out during this time of year because working out and learning to be consistent is a skill set to develop. My thought is 1 is always better than 5. People don’t quit working out and dieting because it’s hard. It comes down to learning to add new habits. I will preach this till the day I die because we don’t learn the ABC’s overnight. It takes a year of school on top of that we don’t learn to read over night it takes years. Yet we feel as if we need to go to the gym and crush this goal of losing weight in months. America doesn’t have a losing weight problem the problem is sustained weight loss. Americans lose a lot weight each year, we know what to do. People are smart but motivation fades.

What happens when motivation drops? This is the classic all or nothing approach, which has failed over the years. Think about one of the biggest fitness reality shows, The Biggest Loser. They go from doing nothing to doing everything they can to lose weight. Most contestants gain their weight back and some more. Also, if you investigate their metabolisms are less efficient than before. I’m not going to go into the complexities of the metabolism, but this shows that as soon as the motivation fades, we will go back to what we were doing before. Another thing that happens is as we age it becomes harder and harder to change, which changing one thing is much easier than changing everything. We are creatures of habit, it’s hard to get out of our own way, but by changing one thing at a time we are more likely to keep the one change than changing everything.

Here examples of people going all in and gaining the weight back 

- Someone getting married and wanting to look good for the wedding

- New year’s resolution person

- The Biggest loser factors

- I need to get ready for an event

- The physique athlete/contestant who doesn’t enjoy the process

I have seen these examples over and over. Fitness, health and weight loss comes down to 3 things

1. Habit

2. Fun/enjoyment

3. Periods of being strict

Therefore, one is better than 5. Someone can learn to workout once a week and it will easily fit into their lifestyle. Then add a second day when someone is consistent once a week. This is how you make lifelong change. Also, if you make small changes it makes it a little easier for the body to adapt.  This is why many people fail when it comes to working out and nutrition. While you create these habits, you can learn to enjoy the experience more.