Gearup wrote:
best reply on this thread. the easiest reply on this thread.I actually think in some cases (and I suspect a suprisingly large amount of them), the good-sounding advice of "just exercise for 20 minutes a day, doesn't matter what it is, or how hard, just build consistency and get out there!" isn't as good as it sounds.
I'm one of such people for which this advice would be a super-fail, having tried it in the past.
Telling me to go out 20-30 minutes a day, just going randomly, with no goal, no progression, no purpose, for me = quitting very quickly. And I consider myself super motivated! It's just that there's no close-range goal to motivate you to break through the barriers that are inevitably going to come up.
I'm MUCH better off getting a easy training plan, even if it's an "off-season" training plan, and at least following it to some degree, even if it means that I have to drop or change some workouts in the middle of it.
My wife is like this too. She's not a racing athlete, and has run in the past, and is constantly talking about getting back into running. I spent 10 years of "just go run for 20 mins", which became "ok walk-run for 20 mins" which became "ok just walk for 10 mins" which became "honestly, even if you do NOTHING, as long as you put your running clothes on, consider it a win for consistency." (As you can see I'm a pretty soft coach.)
That all changed when she talked about doing a half marathon with a friend in 6 months, and I gave her a beginner plan from a book. With the goal and the plan, even though she was essentially at zero running, she got it all together and happily finished the half marathon.
I wouldnt discount the power of having a beginner-friendly plan as well as a goal of some sort to reach with it.