Im only doing one set...

[Mai72]

I'm having a difficult time being consistent in the gym. I'll miss a day, then a few days and finally a week or two before I'm back in the gym. I'm sure there are many people who have this issue.

It got me thinking. How can I make going to the gym more of an automatic habit than a chore. I discovered this book on habits titled "Mini Habits." Looked interesting so I read the book and the main idea of the book is to start off so small that you'll have no issue doing it. With exercise, the author did one pushup and that's it. He did one pushup for a week or two. Then he did two. From there he did 3 and so on. He currently works out an hour to 1.5 hours a day. He never misses the day he's supposed to workout. The habit has been engrained.

It's basically Newton's first law on motion. An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion. Well if you can get gain momentum with your gym routine and actuallly go you'll stay with it (in motion) or if you miss a day or two you'll probably stop going (in rest). So, getting momentum is very important. Especially for people who are new to working out.

I was literally in the gym for 10 minutes. Probably looked redicilous to the people who were at that gym. I don't care. Btw, check out the book. I plan to use this strategy on things like meditation and reading.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Newton's first law of motion doesn't apply in the abstract way you are applying it. Anyhow, it isn't a bad idea, but I think people should strive for more than 1 pushup when starting, unless they physically cannot do anymore (you would have to be a huge super fat ass, to not be able to break out 5 push-ups, let alone 1). Honestly, even in my absolute worst shape (which was probably 25-30% BF over a decade ago) I could easily bust out 10 pushups. So for me, it would be absolutely silly to start at 1, let alone doing just one for two weeks at a time, before increases to two.

Aside from whatever your starting point it is, it is important to increase the load quicker than every two weeks. There are two ways that strength is gained 1) Motor Unit Recruitment and 2) Adding more Muscle Mass. Because beginners have very little MUR, they develop strength quickly and rapidly. This is not to be confused with actually adding muscle. Additionally, you will start to hold more glycogen when you work your muscles as well, which many beginners think is 'muscle'. This is simply not true. The muscle tissue itself didn't grow, but water/glucose (glycogen) did get stored inside of it, thus expanding (making it look larger) the look of it. You will often see people say "I gain 8 pounds of muscle in 4 weeks!" - No, they didn't. They gained 8 pounds of lean mass which is anything other than fat and we can be sure that ~90% of it is water.

People underestimate the water variance in the human body. It isn't uncommon to have shifts in weight 5% in either direction. Imagine starting a diet at a bloated +5% water weight, then moving to a low carb restricted calorie diet to a -5% water weight. At 180 pounds with normal water balance becomes 189 (+5%) bloated to a 171 (-5%) depleted weight. Is it no wonder so many things don't add up when people report their results?

Anyhow, I digress from this. All I wanted to say is that the advice you shared is good overall, but appealing to Newton's law isn't logical in this case. Also, the author is likely trying to install 'habit' in people. Removing excuses to skip a workout by saying "even a shitty workout is better than none!" is just another way to convince someone to do something when don't don't want too. It is good advice as a workout, even a shitty half-assed one, is better than skipping one unless you are extremely ill or are facing massive exhaustion.

 

[deadlyapp]

I would say it's very common for people to try to change too much at once, which is not typically sustainable, especially for someone who starts from nothing. This is repeatable in everything you do, whether or not its eating well, or exercising, or saving money, etc. The goal, especially in health, is to do something that is sustainable for you which is not the same as someone who has been exercising every day for years. If you immediately start a goal of working out an hour every day, when you haven't been, you'll likely burn out and stop.

Start small. Maybe that's 5-10 minutes of walking every day, expanding that to 15-20 minutes, to 20-25 minutes, etc. Then maybe you jog for 5 of the 25 minutes, then 10 minutes of jogging, until the whole thing you're jogging. Maybe mix in 20 minutes of jogging with 5 minutes of light lifting, then 10 minutes of lifting, etc etc. Eventually you'll build up to something that is sustainable every day or every other day and instill the habit of spending a half hour to an hour. And you can't expect to always feel good, or want to exercise, but if you have the habit of going maybe you tell yourself "Hey, I don't have the energy to jog a half hour today, but maybe I'll just walk a half hour" in which case you're still doing your body good.

Food for thought.

 

[purbeast0]

"Working out" is called "working out" for a reason. It's not called "Playing out" or "Having fun". It has work because it's a chore, it's something that is not easy and takes actual effort and time out of your day that you could be using to do something that is more fun and relaxing. You just lack discipline and you need to just decide to make the change and do it.

You can try to use tricks or whatever type you like but in the end, if you don't want to actually have discipline to do it, you're going to stop. You will do one pushup for a day, then you will just skip it the next day and be like 'whatever I'm done now' and continue on with your day.

Me personally I am just a person of routine and it is part of my weekly routine, just like my job is. I go to the gym Monday - Thursday right after work and that's it. If I have a holiday that lands on one of those days, I'll either skip the day or just go in the morning. But it's just part of my day, I leave my house around 5:45am to work, hit the gym up at 2:15pm, then get home by 4pm.

If you go to the gym and think you look like an idiot and leave after 10 minutes because of that, that's just an excuse you're making up to fail. Nobody there gives a shit what you are doing or what you look like. If you're there for 10 minutes you should be observing what the in shape people are doing or maybe asking guys what they are doing to learn a thing or two. Then do them yourself. Don't be that guy who's there on the machines thinking he has a clue of what he's doing though.

 

[SNC]

There is no magic pill or method. If you want it go get it, if you don't want it you'll find a reason not to go. The harder you look for a way to make you do it the more it proves that you really don't want it, but now you have a reason other than yourself. A great man once said to me; you will never change a thing about you until you dislike it enough.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Not even worth going. Hilarious that you need to find a reason to justify your laziness and zero self-motivation. You talk a lot but do nothing.

 

[J.Wilkins]

I'm having a difficult time being consistent in the gym. I'll miss a day, then a few days and finally a week or two before I'm back in the gym. I'm sure there are many people who have this issue.

It got me thinking. How can I make going to the gym more of an automatic habit than a chore. I discovered this book on habits titled "Mini Habits." Looked interesting so I read the book and the main idea of the book is to start off so small that you'll have no issue doing it. With exercise, the author did one pushup and that's it. He did one pushup for a week or two. Then he did two. From there he did 3 and so on. He currently works out an hour to 1.5 hours a day. He never misses the day he's supposed to workout. The habit has been engrained.

It's basically Newton's first law on motion. An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion. Well if you can get gain momentum with your gym routine and actuallly go you'll stay with it (in motion) or if you miss a day or two you'll probably stop going (in rest). So, getting momentum is very important. Especially for people who are new to working out.

I was literally in the gym for 10 minutes. Probably looked redicilous to the people who were at that gym. I don't care. Btw, check out the book. I plan to use this strategy on things like meditation and reading.

I'd say that it's far better to make up a plan and stick to it. Go to the gym, perform 9 sets (3 exercises, 3 sets per exercise) not counting warmup sets, rest 45-90 seconds between sets depending on what you are doing, keep your reps 8-6-3 without changing the weight for each set (if you can do more than 8 on the first, increase the weight, if you can do more than 3 on the last, decrease the rest between sets) and you have yourself a serious workout that will only take 15-20 minutes and be better than an hour long workout in ever aspect. 5 days a week no matter what happens, if you don't get off from work until 1AM you hit the gym before you go home or squeeze it in on a break during the day.

Habits form as you form them, there is no reason to go half an inch into the water each day for two weeks an then one inch for another two and so on if your goal is to get your hair wet, you'll just tire of never even getting close to reaching your goal as nothing is happening.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Simple. Get a partner to work out with. On days where you don't feel like working out, good chance he will and he'll push you to show up. And vice versa. Likewise, you'll push each other in the gym. You show up to work out with someone, you won't be leaving after one set. And you'll have someone to assist you with doing forced reps.

 

[J.Wilkins]

Simple. Get a partner to work out with. On days where you don't feel like working out, good chance he will and he'll push you to show up. And vice versa. Likewise, you'll push each other in the gym. You show up to work out with someone, you won't be leaving after one set. And you'll have someone to assist you with doing forced reps.

Yeah, that is how I got into it a long time ago. My sisters boyfriend was lifting pretty hard so we started working out together and just like you said it was a mutual push to not skip a session.

No talking during workouts though, that's a rule. Finish the workout and then talk.

 

[SlitheryDee]

That's kind of how I've looked at exercise for the last 3-4 years. The goal isn't maximizing the benefits of each individual workout, but making certain that I can work out consistently in perpetuity without ever dreading it. That means making the workouts as easy as I need them to be and let the difficulty increase naturally as my ability and willingness to work increases. That also means that if I'm having a particularly bad day, I can reduce the difficulty to whatever I feel like doing at any time. The one thing I don't allow myself to do is miss a workout.

Starting with just one set is as good of an approach as any I guess. What I did was cut basically all isolation work out in favor of compound exercises, split everything up so that I was doing the least amount of work possible in a given day, and slowly increased the weight as I got stronger. I never add more sets, but I sometimes do more weight or reps depending on what I feel like. Also, forget working out to failure, burning out, drop sets, super sets, forced sets, and other nonsense that does little more than increase the misery factor of a workout. If you continually increase the weight you're lifting that's good enough, and don't even worry about doing that really fast. You're not racing anyone, and the real results will come in the long term anyway, so why not focus on making each workout as easy as possible while leaving yourself a path for advancement.

 

[J.Wilkins]

That's kind of how I've looked at exercise for the last 3-4 years. The goal isn't maximizing the benefits of each individual workout, but making certain that I can work out consistently in perpetuity without ever dreading it. That means making the workouts as easy as I need them to be and let the difficulty increase naturally as my ability and willingness to work increases. That also means that if I'm having a particularly bad day, I can reduce the difficulty to whatever I feel like doing at any time. The one thing I don't allow myself to do is miss a workout.

Starting with just one set is as good of an approach as any I guess. What I did was cut basically all isolation work out in favor of compound exercises, split everything up so that I was doing the least amount of work possible in a given day, and slowly increased the weight as I got stronger. I never add more sets, but I sometimes do more weight or reps depending on what I feel like. Also, forget working out to failure, burning out, drop sets, super sets, forced sets, and other nonsense that does little more than increase the misery factor of a workout. If you continually increase the weight you're lifting that's good enough, and don't even worry about doing that really fast. You're not racing anyone, and the real results will come in the long term anyway, so why not focus on making each workout as easy as possible while leaving yourself a path for advancement.

If I had done that I would have stopped doing it since the results would not be very noticeable.

But people differ.

 

[SlitheryDee]

If I had done that I would have stopped doing it since the results would not be very noticeable.

But people differ.

My results were pretty noticeable. My weights on all of my lifts have continued to go up for the entire time and I'm in pretty great shape. This is a picture I took a few months back if you need proof. I feel like I look like I work out.

 

[Mai72]

Hey all,

I've been following what I said and it's been great. Now, I'm not just going into the gym with the intention of doing just one pushup or sit-up. I looked over my workout schedule and re-tweaked it to fit my goal of 10-15 minutes per day in the gym. That meant that I had to get to the core. So, instead of doing 4 sets of 21, 12, 5, 12 of bench presses, I did 1 set of 12. Again, the goal is to make going to the gym a habit that I'll actually stick with. IMO, the reason many people give up on their health goals is because they go too big. It's very difficult to hit the gym 4-6 days a week, 1 hour a day if you haven't worked out in years.

You guys might disagree with my approach. I'm not trying to cheat the system or be lazy. I know working out is work. It can be taxing at times. It's hard work. But, you have to lay the foundation down first, and IMO that would be to make a consistent effort to just go to the gym.

I also think it's important to keep an open mind and to just try different things. I was missing days at the gym. I could either continue to do what I was doing and get the same results, or I could find another avenue and solve the issue. I thought the mini habit strategy was a different take on developing the positive habit of going to the gym consistently.

Anyway, I started off by just doing one set with a total of 12 reps. I didn't just do one rep/set. With a 3 minute warmup I was out of the gym in 12 minutes. I actually did this straight with no missed days. I'm going into my 3rd week and I'm going to continue with what I'm doing. I'll add in a 2nd set soon, and I'll add a few more minutes on the elliptical machine. My end goal is 6 days a week at 1-1.25 hours per session. Everyday. Few days missed. They say it takes 66 days to form a habit. I'm going to do this for 90 days so it can set in.

Thanks for the comments!

 

[Carson Dyle]

So, basically, your goal is just to go to the gym. Go in, look around, see other people sweating, change clothes, have a drink of water. Warm up, watch other people sweat, do one set of (doesn't really matter), drink some more water, take a shower, get dressed and leave.

That's just plain hilarious.

 

[PeterScott]

Hey all,

I've been following what I said and it's been great. Now, I'm not just going into the gym with the intention of doing just one pushup or sit-up. I looked over my workout schedule and re-tweaked it to fit my goal of 10-15 minutes per day in the gym. That meant that I had to get to the core. So, instead of doing 4 sets of 21, 12, 5, 12 of bench presses, I did 1 set of 12. Again, the goal is to make going to the gym a habit that I'll actually stick with. IMO, the reason many people give up on their health goals is because they go too big. It's very difficult to hit the gym 4-6 days a week, 1 hour a day if you haven't worked out in years.

You guys might disagree with my approach. I'm not trying to cheat the system or be lazy. I know working out is work. It can be taxing at times. It's hard work. But, you have to lay the foundation down first, and IMO that would be to make a consistent effort to just go to the gym.

I also think it's important to keep an open mind and to just try different things. I was missing days at the gym. I could either continue to do what I was doing and get the same results, or I could find another avenue and solve the issue. I thought the mini habit strategy was a different take on developing the positive habit of going to the gym consistently.

Anyway, I started off by just doing one set with a total of 12 reps. I didn't just do one rep/set. With a 3 minute warmup I was out of the gym in 12 minutes. I actually did this straight with no missed days. I'm going into my 3rd week and I'm going to continue with what I'm doing. I'll add in a 2nd set soon, and I'll add a few more minutes on the elliptical machine. My end goal is 6 days a week at 1-1.25 hours per session. Everyday. Few days missed. They say it takes 66 days to form a habit. I'm going to do this for 90 days so it can set in.

Thanks for the comments!

One set is certainly not the most effective regimen, but I do think there is some sense to what you are doing here. You are recognizing what it takes to get you into the gym to form, and keep the exercise habit, which you plan to gradually increase from there.

Initially your physical benefits will likely be negligible, but you are creating a mental groove, that will keep you returning as you increase the work.

This probably makes more sense, and will probably last longer, than the droves of people with new years resolutions, head into the gym and start right at 1.5 hour workouts. Most probably stop going after 2 or 3 weeks.

 

[J.Wilkins]

My results were pretty noticeable. My weights on all of my lifts have continued to go up for the entire time and I'm in pretty great shape. This is a picture I took a few months back if you need proof. I feel like I look like I work out.

Can't see the pic but only one set and never to failure is not going to yield any results on me.

I've been working out for 20 years apart from injuries and found out two things, if I don't actually go to failure I'm not going to bother at all and if I don't work out the way I do now the results are not going to be enough to motivate me to go on.

After about 5 years it gets really hard to get any results at all no matter what. My earlier mentioned method works perfectly for me.

 

[J.Wilkins]

Hey all,

I've been following what I said and it's been great. Now, I'm not just going into the gym with the intention of doing just one pushup or sit-up. I looked over my workout schedule and re-tweaked it to fit my goal of 10-15 minutes per day in the gym. That meant that I had to get to the core. So, instead of doing 4 sets of 21, 12, 5, 12 of bench presses, I did 1 set of 12. Again, the goal is to make going to the gym a habit that I'll actually stick with. IMO, the reason many people give up on their health goals is because they go too big. It's very difficult to hit the gym 4-6 days a week, 1 hour a day if you haven't worked out in years.

You guys might disagree with my approach. I'm not trying to cheat the system or be lazy. I know working out is work. It can be taxing at times. It's hard work. But, you have to lay the foundation down first, and IMO that would be to make a consistent effort to just go to the gym.

I also think it's important to keep an open mind and to just try different things. I was missing days at the gym. I could either continue to do what I was doing and get the same results, or I could find another avenue and solve the issue. I thought the mini habit strategy was a different take on developing the positive habit of going to the gym consistently.

Anyway, I started off by just doing one set with a total of 12 reps. I didn't just do one rep/set. With a 3 minute warmup I was out of the gym in 12 minutes. I actually did this straight with no missed days. I'm going into my 3rd week and I'm going to continue with what I'm doing. I'll add in a 2nd set soon, and I'll add a few more minutes on the elliptical machine. My end goal is 6 days a week at 1-1.25 hours per session. Everyday. Few days missed. They say it takes 66 days to form a habit. I'm going to do this for 90 days so it can set in.

Thanks for the comments!

6 days a week for 1-1.25 hours is great if you are using fairly large amounts of steroids. Without them that is FAR too much.

Five days a week, 20-25 minutes (never over 45) is about as high you can go unless you're just there to talk to people and do a set every now and then (like every teenybopper always does while hogging the weights).

 

[Mai72]

One set is certainly not the most effective regimen, but I do think there is some sense to what you are doing here. You are recognizing what it takes to get you into the gym to form, and keep the exercise habit, which you plan to gradually increase from there.

Initially your physical benefits will likely be negligible, but you are creating a mental groove, that will keep you returning as you increase the work.

This probably makes more sense, and will probably last longer, than the droves of people with new years resolutions, head into the gym and start right at 1.5 hour workouts. Most probably stop going after 2 or 3 weeks.

Exactly.

It's getting the right mindset down first. You can make these great goals but I believe you have to lay the foundation down first, and for me that is just getting into the gym. Doing that alone is very difficult for so many. It's why gym memberships are left unused.

Anyway, I made this thread so if anyone else is having difficulty going to the gym on a consistent basis, they could read what I'm doing , and rethink their approach. Or, just laugh at me and my redicilous post.

As they say in Thailand "up to you."

 

[deadlyapp]

6 days a week for 1-1.25 hours is great if you are using fairly large amounts of steroids. Without them that is FAR too much.

Five days a week, 20-25 minutes (never over 45) is about as high you can go unless you're just there to talk to people and do a set every now and then (like every teenybopper always does while hogging the weights).

What sort of horse bologne is this? Rest and recovery I agree is critical to muscle development, but saying that working out more than 45 minutes a day is no more benefit than working out 20-25 minutes a day is complete bull shit. I regularly spend anywhere from 20-25 minutes on lifting technique, 10-15 minutes on strength, 10-20 minutes on conditioning, and 10-20 minutes on accessory work and every aspect of that does something different for me. Talk to any olympic, power, or other lifting athlete and I'm sure you'll find they regularly do at least 2 sessions at around 1 -1.5 hrs each session.

 

[J.Wilkins]

What sort of horse bologne is this? Rest and recovery I agree is critical to muscle development, but saying that working out more than 45 minutes a day is no more benefit than working out 20-25 minutes a day is complete bull shit. I regularly spend anywhere from 20-25 minutes on lifting technique, 10-15 minutes on strength, 10-20 minutes on conditioning, and 10-20 minutes on accessory work and every aspect of that does something different for me. Talk to any olympic, power, or other lifting athlete and I'm sure you'll find they regularly do at least 2 sessions at around 1 -1.5 hrs each session.

I'd say your time spent actually lifting is less than my earlier mentioned 20-25 routine. If you are going to failure on ever single set and you keep your periods of rest between sets (not just in the same exercise but between exercises too) to 60-90 seconds you can't work out for more than 20-25 minutes and more than 45 and you'll be burning copious amounts of muscle.

We're talking about two entirely different things here.

 

[deadlyapp]

I'd say your time spent actually lifting is less than my earlier mentioned 20-25 routine. If you are going to failure on ever single set and you keep your periods of rest between sets (not just in the same exercise but between exercises too) to 60-90 seconds you can't work out for more than 20-25 minutes and more than 45 and you'll be burning copious amounts of muscle.

We're talking about two entirely different things here.

It's pretty well proven that going to failure on every single set is not conducive to getting stronger. Timed rest is a good thing but recent research has indicated that rest period is not as important as some would lead you to believe. You're just trading strength for metabolic (eg your heart rate is jacked due to timed rest and your muscles haven't recovered, so you do fewer reps or lower weight vs resting a longer period). Going to failure will likely make you sore, but soreness (muscle damage) is definitely not the most efficient method to getting stronger.

And saying "burning muscle" is not really a thing. Yes, if you're doing long periods of exercise and you fully deplete your glycogen stores, then maybe, but the importance of glycogen has been diminished with recent research (especially around ketogenic diets). By any means, anyone working out for that long a period likely has a shake or a gatorade etc to prevent such thing from happening.

I'm interested though. What is your typical routine? 20 minutes, with 60 seconds off between each set, I can't imagine you doing 5x10 for more than 5 exercises, which sounds more like cardio considering how jacked your heart rate is going to get.

 

[J.Wilkins]

It's pretty well proven that going to failure on every single set is not conducive to getting stronger. Timed rest is a good thing but recent research has indicated that rest period is not as important as some would lead you to believe. You're just trading strength for metabolic (eg your heart rate is jacked due to timed rest and your muscles haven't recovered, so you do fewer reps or lower weight vs resting a longer period). Going to failure will likely make you sore, but soreness (muscle damage) is definitely not the most efficient method to getting stronger.

And saying "burning muscle" is not really a thing. Yes, if you're doing long periods of exercise and you fully deplete your glycogen stores, then maybe, but the importance of glycogen has been diminished with recent research (especially around ketogenic diets). By any means, anyone working out for that long a period likely has a shake or a gatorade etc to prevent such thing from happening.

I'm interested though. What is your typical routine? 20 minutes, with 60 seconds off between each set, I can't imagine you doing 5x10 for more than 5 exercises, which sounds more like cardio considering how jacked your heart rate is going to get.

From my earlier post: 9 sets (3 exercises, 3 sets per exercise) not counting warmup sets, rest 45-90 seconds between sets depending on what you are doing, keep your reps 8-6-3 without changing the weight for each set (if you can do more than 8 on the first, increase the weight, if you can do more than 3 on the last, decrease the rest between sets).

I've been working out for over 20 years and tried everything there is from HIT to drop sets and what have you and this is still giving me decent results after all this time.

Your body cannot burn ketones for fuel during anaerobic exercise, it needs glucose for that and if there is no glucose available it will inevitably convert amino acids into glucose.

There is absolutely no question whether this is true for anaerobic training since most of the ATP is made through glycolysis.

IOW, anyone on a ketogenic diet will want to keep the day's intake of carbs a couple of hours before working out and keep the workout short.

If you're running a marathon OTOH you'll need next to no glucose at all.

 

[sze5003]

You just have to commit and go. 99% people don't care why you're in the gym so don't worry about what they think or what they may think about how you look.

I see all kinds of people in the gym. I go 4 times a week and for about 45 min each time. I used to do an hour or more but I dropped it down a bit once I realized I was gaining muscle. I'm not getting any bigger but I'm retaining all the weight I gained and the muscle definition is there.

If I had a gym buddy I'd happily add more weight but since I don't I try to keep to the same weight +10lb or so depending on the exercise. I go up in weights slowly and usually do 4 sets of 10 or 6 depending on the weight or how tired I get.

I'm not getting much bigger but all my clothes are annoying to wear now. I will usually skip going on the weekend so I can relax. Just a matter of setting a commitment to go and once you start you will feel bad you didn't go.

 

[HutchinsonJC]

I never understood why people spend an hour in the gym at a time 5 or 6 days out of the week.

If I lift half of what I'm capable of, I **might** be able to stretch the time out to an hour and really exhaust myself by doing a lot of reps. I also **might** find myself bored of that nonsense really fast.

Fortunately for me, there's some fairly basic workout equipment in the same building I work. On lunches every day, I spend about 10 to 15 mins **playing** with weights... and it's almost always a rotation of what muscle groups I work.

I can do a few dragon flags by throwing two 50 pound dumb bells on the edge of one of the treadmills and then placing my hands under the treadmill to do the flags... so there's a bit of improvisation going on to get a bit more variation.

I guess if you were trying for Olympics you'd probably be putting away 4 or 5,000 calories a day and training like a mad man. I don't eat and work out like I was trying to be the next super muscle TV actor, I eat and work to my own personal expectations of myself.

 

[snoopy7548]

I think I'd be considered a lightweight by some people here. I typically spend 45 minutes in the gym three nights a week after work. I usually do one or two different muscle group dumbbell exercises, usually 3-4 exercises total, three sets of 8-10 reps each, each night. Every workout I do 2x10 or 3x10 goblet squats (25lb dumbbell), 2x20 side bends, recently added 2x10 calf raises, then either go on the recumbent bike or rowing machine for 15-20 minutes. At my last physical my doctor was astounded at my blood results (diet/genetics probably plays a larger part there). I also go on a 4-5 mile run 2-3 Saturdays each month when it's nice out.

I haven't gained or lost weight (been around 145-150 for the past 10+ years), but I have increased muscle definition/size and I generally feel much better overall when I workout vs. when I don't.

Never got into the whole science behind working out. About five years ago a co-worker gave me a list of dumbbell exercises (pretty much all we have in the gym at work besides cardio equipment) for each muscle group and told me to follow it. I've been going regularly ever since, changing my routine slightly every few months and sparingly adding new weight routines.

I find it incredibly easy to set aside the 45 minutes I need at the gym a few nights per week. That may be because I already have a routine set up so it's just another thing I have to do, and it always makes me feel good. You have to make it part of your lifestyle. If I skip a night or two at the gym, I'll feel like I'm missing out since I have a dedicated and "strenuous" routine. I feel like if I was only doing an extremely basic routine, I'd be more inclined to skip it because results would be far less than an actual routine.