How To Get Looped Into Exercise Without The Work
The same way for all other good habits—letting Neuroscience do the work
This piece is the fourth of a number of stand-alone DESTINY postings on how to rise above and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic by shaping up to be healthy, fit, tough and wise. It is based on the author’s multi-decade insights as a cardiologist and founder in a non-profit lifestyle coaching program completed by thousands of patients and coworkers. All the advice comes from participants’ real-life experiences, state-of-the-art science and diverse time-honored wisdom.
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Tak Poon, MD September 9, 2020. 8 min read.
If you don’t exercise at least 30 minutes a day, as recommended, you are no different from 95% of all U.S. adults.
I used to be one. Until, by meandering unscientifically, I worked out an easy way to workout that’s been working well for me for 40 years. Neuroscience has since proven that my fortuitous find is how the brain hotwires habits naturally.
Now they tell me!
Out of shape and sleep deprived, our sad team of med students joined the local soccer league. We needed the monthly set dates to come up for air and sanity.
All season, we didn’t miss one game, win one match, or score one goal. So yeah, we had a perfect season, as famed founders of the Health-less Hall of Shame.
After graduation, I got motivated to get in shape. At long last, yet long-lasting.
Neuroscience indicates this Motivation-Action-Trigger-Reward neural loop reliably builds habits. You’ll see below how this “4-wheel drive” has been working for me, as a M.A.T.R. of fact.
M is for motivations.
I had four main ones:
I wanted to be a role model to my patients. Nah, that’s not it.
I wanted more spare time for my vices by never getting sick.
I wanted to keep eating good food without feeling bad.
I wished one day to win over a wonder woman to be my wife, not with my mind (ha-ha!) but with my body (ha-ha-ha!).
Oh well, I scored at least 1 out of 4. (I’ll never tell which.)
A is for action, the squeakiest of the four wheels. And the most necessary. Duh!
Like in my soccer saga, I got going just for sanity and sun. So I strolled, then walked…finally jogged, always stopping as soon as I felt any strain. Half a minute became half an hour. Weekly became daily.
Whenever I fell into a self-destructive rut, I’d ask myself if a 30-second exercise break could possibly make it worse. Once started, it easily carried me away for 30 mins and made me forget about my rut.
I’d have been much more forgetful had my exercise not protected me from Alzheimer’s. And a lower weight also lowers dementia risk.
After a long-day-into-night on-call, I could only do either a chow-down or a work-out but not both. Still, I’d put my running shoes on and lie, “It’s the thought that counts”. Little did I know then that was keeping my neural habit loop intact.
Discipline, in the beginning,
is merely taking one more step when you want to quit.
Soon it becomes a habit you cannot break.
From then on, it hardly take effort anymore.
- Metacardio
T is for triggers. That’s key. At home, watching the news hour is my key cue for working out. If a good video came my way, that’d become another.
With no time to read all my medical updates and fun books, this nerd would listen to the audio versions as much as my daily workout permits.
That’s the one mind-body multi-task that works.
If I feel cranky or down, I turn it into my trigger to literally run outside the house for my A-A (attitude adjustment) meeting with Mother Nature.
Turning paired-up triggered activities into “turn-key” operations, your body “automobile” will automatically start running once keyed in.
R ewards can be quite rewarding. After achieving an arbitrarily (and leniently) set exercise milestone, I gave myself a medal.
Ay, it’s my private Special Olympics, OK?
Rewarding myself with a new outfit worked, but only for so long. You see, I never get to “out-fit” any old outfits because my finally-fit body hasn’t changed in decades due to exercise fitness.
There’s one exercise gift that keeps on giving. Doing 4-5 miles burns 4-500 calories. That’s about 1/4 of food intake for the day. That’s how much EXTRA food I “have to” eat just to maintain my weight.
My appetite just loves this daily reward.
Warning: Exercise is vital for weight maintenance, but by itself works poorly for weight loss without food control.
So, to lose weight, don’t reward your workout with food. “Tipping the scale” that way is self-defeating, not self-rewarding.
N euroscience shows that by spinning this M.A.T.R. neural loop daily, a habit will get hard-wired in your brain. Once woven, it’s hard to unravel. Have you tried not brushing your teeth for a day or not showering for a week?
That’s why old bad habits are also hard to break. But they can be roped off by you looping up new good habits.
Everybody has different likes and dislikes. Not everyone digs audiobooks like I do. You have to figure out “what’s th’ M.A.T.R. wit’ you” for yourself. Walk loops around the block until you come up with what best pumps up each tire in your 4-wheel drive.
"Find something you like to do, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life."
– Many people
95% of people are not doing enough exercise because they find it too hard. Now that you’ve found this easy tool, you can be in the other 5%.
And after attaining this “keystone habit”, maybe you’ve found a formula for attaining other things in life.
FOCUS
Set S.M.A.R.T. personal goals that will definitely, not hopefully, work for you.
Specific – What, exactly?
Measurable – How much, exactly?
Attainable – Which are workable, not just wishful?
Realistic – Who are you kidding? Real results only!
Time-bound – When? When again? And again.
HEALTH MATTERS
There are many similar behavioral models for forming habits based on the same scientific principle. For me, this M.A.T.R. model is relatively easy.
Motivation. You already have it. And in this viral pandemic, M is also a Must, a Mandate.
Action. Just do what you can every day without fail. Even only one stitch is fine. Just don’t let that thread break or your habit loop won’t get spun.
Trigger. Be trigger-happy with “happy triggers”. Always couple exercise with some everyday, pleasurable, non-exercise routines.
Reward yourself generously for each (lenient) milestone. After a while, you’ll feel that the action itself is its best reward.
ACTIVITY
A body burns only 100 calories per mile—walk or run. It takes 10 miles to burn off a typical serving of dessert containing 1,000 calories. Even running that would be 2 hours.
Who has the time? And energy?
Such a deal: a heavier body burns more calories for the same distance covered.
NUTRITION
Drink enough (sugarless) water for your workout.
Celebrate liberally with sparkling water.It’s like champagne for the champ without the pain.
TAKEAWAYS
While watering down your sugary drinks, harness the power of water to build up your strength and flexibility by listening to this weekly podcast preview for free. Enjoy, all at once or, better yet, one day at a time (2-3 minutes).
Good Night Podcast (Water)
Every week we explore a different topic of dreamy, wondrous and miraculous realities usually not on people’s mind because they are often taken for granted, neglected, even ignored by our mind.
WRITTEN BY
Doc Tak
Tak C. Poon, MD, PharmD, ABIHM, FACC
Board-certified American Preventive Cardiologist now developer of a wellness blog and a lifestyle habit-forming app at www.metacardio.org
Readers’ Out-of-Sight Insights:
I would love to post any valuable ideas or teachable moments you might want to share in this Destiny series.