FEMOSPHERE

I am someone who had literally no experience with exercise. No sports, no weights class, not even P.E. I found the gym to be very intimidating and this hindered me from years of progress I could have made. I used this strategy to “soft launch” my fitness journey, and now I workout 4-5 times a week!

Step 1- Find a Physical Activity You Enjoy

To kickstart your fitness journey, start with finding a physical activity that you don’t hate. It needs to be something that is sufficient and comfortable physically- as in not causing physical pain. Bonus points if it’s short and sweet. To enjoy what you choose is amazing, but make sure that it has physical benefits that align with your physical goals.

The example I’ll be using throughout this article is weightlifting with machines, but there’s many options. Any type of class is good, spin, Pilates, yoga, tennis. Once you get the hang of weight machines it can be enjoyable.

Before you decide on your final pick, make sure that you give each activity a chance. Don’t try it once and decide that you don’t like it. Your final pick should be something you’re comfortable with.

Step 2- Commit to a Schedule

The next step is to commit to doing this activity 2-3x a week for 1-2 months. Don’t overload yourself with 4-5 sessions a week until you have consistently worked out for the 2-3 days.

Think of this soft launch as a challenge. The challenge lasts for a month, 2-3 sessions a week. View it as something that has an end date.

This phase really exists to establish discipline. If discipline is something you struggle with, set days of the week to meet your exercise goals. An example would be going to the gym on Mondays and Fridays. This prevents you from waiting until Friday or Saturday to attempt to fulfill your 2-3x a week goal.

The first phase of this strategy needs to last 1-2 months because you should start seeing results after weekly consistency. Results will motivate you to continue. Remember that the results will not be purely physical, you may experience mental and emotional benefits as well.

Step 3- Don’t Ask Yourself How You Feel

Obviously if you’re experiencing pain with your activity, don’t continue to pursue it, or simply alter the way that you do it.

The trick is to not ask yourself how you’re “feeling” about going. If you make the commitment, choose to take emotions out of it. Don’t base whether you follow through or not on how you’re feeling that day.

There are times in which you may have an actual valid reason for not wanting to go that day. I say that the first month of your challenge should be no more than 3 days a week so you will be able to experience flexibility while also remaining consistent.

Eventually, if you continue through the first phase of the challenge, your routine will become monotonous. When these activities become boring, we start to lose motivation fast. This leads us into the final step of our soft launch.

Step 4- Dopamine Sandwich

This is the strategy that makes me actually enjoy going to the gym. While instant gratification is a negative, you’re able to use it to “hack” your brain into doing difficult things.

Everyone knows that the hardest part of going to the gym is actually getting there. Beating laziness by driving over and getting out of the car is half of the struggle. So, I motivate myself by giving myself a “treat.”

For me, my “treat” is scrolling on TikTok while I’m warming up on the treadmill. I would refrain from treating yourself with an actual edible treat, try to find something you enjoy doing that can be used to warm you up.

After I’m done with my warm-up and scrolling, I do my gym routine with the weight machines I mentioned above. After a month or so of doing these same machines, but increasing the weight of course, it can get boring. This leads me to the bottom bun of the dopamine sandwich.

As my “finisher,” I like to call it, I apply the same strategy I detailed above- I give myself a “treat” for completing my workout. However, my “treat” is a set of ab workouts I found on Instagram. Now, ab workouts don’t sound like a reward at ALL.

When I first saw those workouts, I thought they looked so cool. I thought “I wish I could do that.” So, when I first implemented my dopamine sandwich I thought of those exercises as an extra/optional thing I didn’t have to do, but I knew I would feel accomplished if I did.

I started that exercise, and the reward was instantaneous. My abs were immediately, like the next morning, tightened. I was proud that I could do such an intense exercise, even if it wasn’t as many reps and I had to take breaks in between.

So, for me, those ab workouts were the bottom-bun of my dopamine sandwich. For you, maybe it could be less intense, like using the tanning bed or sauna. Do something for yourself that makes you feel extra accomplished and ends your workout on a positive note.

My Own Formula

Just to give you a clearer picture of this strategy, I will detail my own experience with it.

1. Top Bun: Treadmill warm-up while scrolling through TikTok- 10-15 mins
2. The Meat: Weight machines- 20-30 minutes (when I first started, short and sweet)
3. Bottom Bun: Ab workouts- 15-20 minutes