Convenience is proceeding with something with little effort or difficulty, while inconvenience is the opposite. You could argue that we have never lived with as much convenience as we do now. Geez, I’m old enough to recall having to use my fingers to dial each phone number into a rotary phone.
Or when I had to get up from my luxurious chair to change the TV channel. Thank God for cell phones and TV remotes. We live with most things at our fingertips, and I’m good with that because getting up from the chair to change the channel was a hassle. Recently, I discovered the ‘convenience’ of the Alexa TV remote. I talk to it, and she does all the work for me.
When things are convenient, you are likelier to do it than if they are not. Some things are inconvenient on the other side of the green grass, but you have to do them to be in step with the law or society. Let’s bring the power of convenience and inconvenience to your health and fitness so you can improve.
The Power Of Inconvenience
It sounds like an oxymoron, but bear with me for a moment.
On the day of writing, my wife and I had to switch our driver’s licenses from Louisiana to Texas. To do it, we needed to drive to a city register to switch the title of our cars and then bring the new titles to the driver’s license building a few miles down the road. We had a bunch of documents to prove who we were and where we lived, and a ton of time passed before we got our temporary licenses.
Was it fun? No. Was it convenient? Hell no. But did it need to be done? Yes, because otherwise, we would have been out of step with the law. What does this mean for your health and fitness? I’m getting to that.
I do this whenever I pick up a few grocery store items. The shopping trolley gets left behind, and I pick up and carry what I can hold in my hands to the self-checkout. The looks I get from the shoppers and workers are worth the price of admission, but there is a method to the madness. It’s awkward to carry stuff around the grocery store, so I’m working on my grip and core strength just a little bit.
Because every little bit helps.
There is power in performing exercises that don’t feel great or convenient for gym workouts. Examples include loaded carries, unilateral exercises, Goblet squats, and deadlifts. After the sucky feeling, these exercises strengthen you and make your life easier.
That, in a nutshell, is the power of inconvenience, so choose wisely.
The Power Of Convenience
You can order food and groceries from your phone and only have to answer the doorbell when it rings. You don’t have to type anything into the search box on your TV because Alexa can do it. That’s what I call the power of convenience. How do you turn this power into one that benefits your health and fitness?
The biggest excuse for not working out outside of laziness is time. Many like to browbeat and shame people, saying that if you have an hour to play on your phone, you have an hour to work out.
It’s true, but that doesn’t help.
Although shame will motivate you, I feel a workout habit should come from a healthy place and not a bad place. Instead, removing some barriers and making slight changes to your environment will make it more ‘convenient’ for you to work out.
Here are my top three tips to tap into workout convenience.
Schedule your workouts into Google Calendars ( or something similar) and make them a non-negotiable time, identical to a can’t miss appointment.
Set your workout clothes in your bedroom or pack a gym bag to remind you to get her done.
Join a gym close to where you live. This one is a no-brainer because if you have to go far to your gym, that gives you one more excuse or reason to skip.
Doing all three is where the magic happens, and if you are having trouble establishing a workout habit, this will help.
How Does It Help
Let’s sum it up so you can implement this now.
Setting up your environment to make working out more convenient will break down some barriers and give you fewer reasons and excuses for missing workouts. Because the not-so-secret sauce for success is consistency
Sprinkling in a few exercises that suck and are not ‘convenient’ will strengthen you to be able to withstand what life throws at you. That’s how to harness the power of convenience and inconvenience to benefit your health and fitness. It was a stretch, but I managed to tie it together with a nice red bow.
Wrapping Up
If you missed it, I included an Indiana Jones and Larry the Cable Guy reference in the same article. I bet that hasn’t been done before. Do you feel lucky to read this article? On second thoughts, don’t answer that question.
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