One Apple A Day #624 - whatever
The other day I was reading an article on what is the best way to exercise. There are so many disciplines, theories and methods out there that you can spend days trying to understand which is best for you.
I got to the end of the article, still not knowing what the best way to exercise is. They all have pros and cons.
Then I remembered a short video interview of Arnold Schwarzenegger - yep, the terminator. They asked him what was better between kettlebell and dumbbell. To which he answers: "it's the same because your muscle doesn't know what you're holding in your hand".
These two moments made me think of how easy it is to get lost in the quest for the right way. It's like waking up with the desire to go somewhere, and then spend the whole day analysing all the possible options to get there. Until the sun sets down, the day is gone, and you postpone the trip to another day.
How often did I spend all my time to understand what was the right or best thing to do and ended up doing nothing?
And how often, did I decide to start big because I wanted to make my effort worth it? I want to get fit so, let's run for one hour three times a week. And then, the second week it's only two times, then 30 minutes one time before giving up completely.
So, I found an easy trick that works, most of the time, for me.
The answer to "what should I do to get there" is "whatever I can consistently do long enough to make it stick".
My rule of thumb is anything I can keep doing "every weekday for 3 months". If it doesn't stick, that's not it, and I look for something else. If it holds, but I can't see the results I want, I tweak it until it works. In any case, I'll have learned something valuable.