10 favourite excuses not to exercise and how we are going to beat them.

There is no doubt that throughout this experience, you are going to come up with every excuse under the sun not to do your one minute+ on any given morning. Believe me, if there’s an excuse I’ve found it. I can literally spend hours crafting, contriving and convincing myself of all the reasons why I don’t have to drag myself out of bed and exercise on any particular day. But the beauty of the ‘One Goal One Minute’ system is that those excuses just don’t hold water. Have a look!

1 – I don’t have time
Well, this just doesn’t work when we are talking about only doing one minute of exercise a day. That’s right. Just one minute on any day. Even if we’re in week 7, and our aim is to be doing 7 minutes – the only thing we are committed to doing is one minute. If you do your one minute, you get a tick in your box and the day is successful. Now, I’m pretty sure that you will actually go on and do your 7 minutes, but if you don’t, you still get your tick. Now go on – try as hard as you might, you just can’t convince yourself you don’t have time for just ONE MINUTE of jigging about on the spot. (In extreme circumstances, like your alarm didn’t go off and you are already half an hour late for work, I will accept that you do your one minute when you get home in the evening, but in every other case I don’t believe you can’t find that one minute somewhere).

2 – It’s dark/it’s raining
If you live in London, like me, this is true! For a good chunk of the year it is going to be either dark or raining, or both. And you are not going to see me being all tough and going out for a run in the rain. This has often been a very handy excuse for me, which I’ve used for years on end, but I finally decided that despite the fact I live in a one bedroom flat with a tiny living room, there still must be some kind of exercise I could do indoors. And I do believe I’ve found it. I use a bosu to jump around and get my heart-rate up for my cardio days, and for my ‘other stuff’ days, I have a resistance strap, mini medicine ball and the floor. There is no way we have room for a treadmill or exercise bike, but even this tiny little flat can find room for a bosu.

3 – But I deserve a sleep in on a Sunday.
Yes indeed, I’m sure you do. I’m not saying you can’t have your sleep in, I’m just saying when you do finally drag yourself out of that big comfy bed, even if it is two o’clock in the afternoon, the first thing you are going to do is get into your workout gear and DO YOUR EXERCISE! My favourite day to lie in bed is a Saturday. I like to make a cup of tea (or preferably have one delivered to me by my lovely fella!) and read the weekend papers for hours on end. That to me, is a perfect Saturday morning. So how can I enjoy doing that when I know I have to get up an exercise? Easy. I get up as soon as I wake up. I get into my workout gear, and I go do my one minute+ thing, I have a shower, make myself a cup of tea, grab the newspaper off the doorstep – and then I get back into bed!! And boy, does that feel good. Because I know I have already done the one and only thing I absolutely MUST do for the day. And you know, several cups of tea later, I have been known to still be in that bed at two o’clock in the afternoon. But do I feel guilty? Not on your life. I feel positively virtuous!

4 – I have been so good lately, I deserve a day off.
This is probably my favourite. But man, how many times have I fallen for this one and then found those days happening more often than not, and before long I haven’t exercised for three weeks. And then it is back to square one. But with this system, you get NO DAYS OFF, not one, for a whole year. And do you know why? Because you don’t need a day off when you are doing only one minute of exercise. Believe me, every single day, you can get yourself up, get dressed, and jig about for one minute. That is all you HAVE to do. Of course, if it is week 23, then you really want to be doing 23 minutes – but if the one thing that is stopping you getting up and getting started is that you think you need a day off, just remind yourself you only need to do ONE minute, and you’ll get your tick.

5 – I don’t feel very well
OK. Sometimes this is a legitimite excuse, and you’ll have to decide if you are really so unwell you can’t do your one minute+. For me, the slightest trace of a headache and I’d be telling myself I really shouldn’t exercise. Now, I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know. But as far as I’m aware, there’s actually plenty of evidence that says some gentle exercise can actually be beneficial in such circumstances. I’d say in most cases, it’s worth getting yourself into your workout gear and having a go at your one minute+, even if it is just some stretching. The buzz you’ll get from ticking that box will make you feel a whole lot better. Of course, if you are seriously ill or acting on the advice of your doctor, then that is a different situation. But if it is just a slight hangover…well….I’m sure you can manage just one minute.

6 – I missed a day, so there’s no point in carrying on.
For me, this is a very persuasive arguement. I’ve just said there are no days off – but what if, heaven forbid, I do miss a day! Well – doesn’t that mean the whole thing has failed? That I’M a failure? That once again I’ve just shown I am not capable of seeing anything through…..now I’m just going to have to start all over again, or maybe I won’t, because I’m obviously no good at this. Recognise that? Who is that vicious little inner voice that talks to you like that? Where does she get off? Tell her to relax and get over herself. So yes, you mucked it up, but you know what – nobody died. Sweep it under the carpet, pretend it didn’t happen and get on with the next day. Maybe punish yourself by saying you are not allowed to have a glass of wine that night at dinner, consider yourself suitably whipped, and then move on…..

7 – I don’t have anything to wear
I don’t have the right shoes. My jogging gear is in the wash. What are you waiting for – go out there and buy them. Really – what does it cost for a couple of cheap tracksuits, a sports bra and a decent pair of exercise shoes? Certainly less than that gym membership you used to have and never used! The shoes don’t have to be the latest design, they just have to pass the test of what is good for your feet. Pick up last year’s model at a great price and do it BEFORE you start this programme.
And then have them ready every night before you go to bed, so you just CANNOT use that excuse as you lie in bed, trying to think of reasons not to get up!

8 – I don’t have any fitness equipment
Truthfully, you don’t need any. It’s nice to have a few things to help you along and to relieve any boredom, but it is not necessary. You can go for a run in the park, you can jig about in the living room to Flashdance, you can do some push-ups and sit ups – all without equipment. Be creative, look on websites and YouTube, there’s lots of information on what you can do with a pair of running shoes and a can of beans, for just one minute+.

9 – I’m on holiday in a little cottage in Cornwall with a group of friends, and I just can’t get up and jig about in the living room for one minute, they’ll think I’m crazy
This is true. They will think you are crazy. Especially if you’ll all been up the night before drinking and playing silly board games. They will not for the life of them understand why you would want to get up and exercise when you are supposed to be on holiday. But you are going to have to ignore them. Or get up much earlier than them (which is probably not hard) do your thing, shower and get back into bed with a cup of tea – that way they may not even know. Hopefully it’s not raining and you can go outside for a quick run, but if it is, well – you are just going to have to be creative. But you will do it! It is only ONE MINUTE. And if they do find out, just tell them you are part of an international experiment and direct them to this blog. Who knows, you might convert them. Chances are they will just shake their heads and tease you mercilessly, but you won’t care, because you will know that really, they are just jealous that you have far better will power than they have.

10 – What’s the point? What good will one minute do?
There is no doubt you are going to throw this one up at yourself from time to time. Most probably as a follow on from any of the excuses above. And to tell you the truth, doing one minute of physical movement is unlikely to do you much physical good at all. But this system isn’t really about the physical benefits. The physical benefits of exercise have been evident to you from the first day you discovered you could no longer squeeze into your skinny jeans – but that didn’t help you implement a long-lasting exercise regime. This programme is about the mental benefits. If you can get yourself up and out of bed, change into your workout gear, and do some level of exercise each day for 365 days, then you are combatting all that resistance that has held you back for years. That’s what it is about – not how much muscle you’ve toned or how many calories you’ve burned – it’s about convincing yourself to do it, which has always been, and will always be, a massive hurdle when it comes to exercise. Don’t ever talk yourself into believing that doing one minute is not doing you any good – what you are doing is building new pathways in your brain that need to be reinforced every single day so that you can free your inner Fitness Warrior and let her fly! Get up, get changed, do your one minute+ and tick that box! That’s one more day in the can…..

So there we have it. Those are my favourite excuses – how about yours? I’d love to hear them as well as your suggestions on how to vaporize them with a burst of logic. Let me know what they are and we’ll blitz them together….and maybe print these out and put them near your bed, just in case you forget the antidote to your excuses as you lie there tomorrow morning in bed.