The power of Routine & Structure

Do you also often feel too tired to take action after a hard day's work? That feeling is more in your head than in your body: you probably ran a marathon with your head, but mostly sitting behind the computer or in a meeting. That mental fatigue is best converted to energy by getting into physical action. Then you can turn off your head for a while and the energy flows back into your body. A ten-minute brisk walk can do wonders. The less you feel like taking action after a hard day's work, the more your body actually demands exercise and fresh air.

When you try to schedule exercise into your routine, start by planning an exercise activity once a week. Once you have a good routine, you can expand this to two or even three times a week. If you are already an regular athlete, then it may help to work toward a concrete goal to challenge yourself even more, such as a 10-kilometer run or even a half or full marathon. Remember to stay realistic and plan bigger goals, which take more time, in the longer term.

Exercise initially costs your body energy, but it also gives you a lot of energy - if you do it right. When you have trained, at first you will mainly feel the fatigue, but at some point you will experience the energy you get in return. Afterwards, you will find that you even feel more energetic. You are stronger and your condition has improved: your condition is even better than before the training. This is because your body compensates for the energy the effort takes. When you have trained for an hour, you need about 48 hours to recover properly. After this recovery phase, you are at the peak of energy from the previous workout. That is the time to start training again. Then your body recovers even after this workout and the balance is again better than before, and so on. So you are making your body stronger and stronger!