THE NEW EXERCISE RULES

Want to get fitter faster? New research turns what you know on its head - and helps get you the results you want

- RACHEL SMITH

EMERGING fitness research shows that what we once thought of as the most efficient ways to workout may not be the best ways to go about it. Experts say it’s time to rethink the rules we have about exercise. Here’s how you should change your perspective about getting fitter and stronger.

OLD RULE

Get your mindset right before you start a new regimen 

NEW RULE

Exercise your way to a better way of thinking 

This advice flies in the face of what we’ve been told before – that without a mental shift-making you want to exercise, you won’t do it. But it turns out that’s not the case. 

Experts now say you often don’t get that psychological green light before you start – instead, it comes later, once you form the physical habit. 

It’s important to just begin working out, says Australian productivity coach and former personal trainer Andrew May. He says people often start exercising because their doctor or partner advises them to, but their own motivation strikes later. 

“Within weeks of starting to exercise people say to me, ‘I’m sleeping better, I feel better, my relationships are better!’ Their thinking catches up with their behaviour.” 

Instead of waiting to be in the right mindset, or waiting to feel motivated, just start. Don’t overthink it or you’ll talk yourself out of it. Just start and the motivation will follow.

It’s nicely summed up in this quote from The Power of Positive Deviance by business development practitioner Jerry Sternin: