For many people the attitude that needs to change is the mindset that your body is this inconvenient vehicle that unfortunately needs upkeep which takes away from the stuff you actually want to do. Instead think of your body as the foundation on which everything else you do is built.
Supporting your body will make everything else you do better, even if what you do is purely intellectual. If you are religious then your body as God's gift to you that you are obligated to take care of. If you are purely materialist then consider that your brain is an organ like any other and benefits from better blood flow, respiration, nutrition, hormone balance, etc.
One problem with many fitness systems or exercise programs is that they are derived from an athletic training environment and aren't necessarily suitable for the maintenance or incremental improvement that people who aren't "into" working out would benefit from the most.
After many years of trying different programs I found set of principles that really work for me.
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daily - it is less mentally taxing to do something every day, ideally at a regular time, than maintain a schedule of alternating days. That doesn't mean you have to grind every day, just that you allocate a certain part of your day to purposeful physical activity. I've found that what works for me is exercising as soon as I can after I wake up, then having coffee afterwards. If for some reason I don't exercise I "punish" myself by delaying coffee until after 10.
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variety - You want to do a lot of different exercises, ideally a full-body routine. Or multiple different kinds of sports training. First because it is better to be well rounded, second so your body improves instead of just adapting to specific activities, and third so an injury or "soreness" or whatever doesn't give you an excuse to do nothing. Just skip that portion and do the rest.
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stop when you feel like it - this is one that was difficult for me because I always felt like I had to push my limits which led to overtraining, longer than necessary recovery times, and sometimes avoidable injuries. At this point I don't count reps anymore, instead focus on breathing and form and do the exercise until my body says "this is getting hard" then stop and move on to the next one. Show up, do some work, stop before you grind yourself down. You will improve as you keep at it.
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use what you have - don't get hung up on needing a particular apparatus or gym or whatever. Bodyweight and floor space is enough to get a workout in. I have some equipment so I use that but if you get used to working out without needing any external equipment then that is one less excuse to not do SOMETHING.
My current training is doing single sets to exertion (when I feel like stopping), no rest in between except to catch my breath if needed. I have a dumbell set but I don't have a specific weight I use or progression I'm going for, just whatever I feel like that day. If it feels too light or heavy just adjust in the middle.
I've been using ChatGPT to generate a new full-body workout every couple of days and using the same conversation so I can tell it to not exactly repeat any exercises from the last 3 days. Now that I have maybe 30 and I pick one at random. You prompt it with the equipment and facilities you have access to and any injuries you are working around, and I tell it to pick an exercise that is safe to do from cold as a dynamic warmup. You can have it re-generate as much as you want and to avoid ones you don't want to do, like I told it to not include turkish getups.
The whole thing takes 30 minutes or less depending on if I feel like grinding or want to take it easy.
Example of my routine, usually I limit it to 13 exercises but I think this is an older list that has 14.:
- Bodyweight Squats
- Pull-Ups
- Dumbbell Bench Press
- Dumbbell Rows
- Dips
- Leg Raises
- Dumbbell Shoulder Press
- Step-Ups
- Renegade Rows
- Calf Raises
- Dumbbell Deadlifts
- Russian Twists
- Dumbbell Bicep Curls
- Tricep Overhead Extensions
Good luck brothers, we are going to make it.
And remember, there are people out there who hate you and want you dead. Train accordingly.