Introduction
Previously, I wrote an article titled “Why Home Workouts and Self-Dieting Don’t Last—Why Do People Buy ‘Health Equipment’ They Stop Using?.”
After thinking about it later, I realized that I have been continuing my home workouts. In other words, while I go to the gym regularly for my main training, I have also been doing home workouts on the side.
About a year and a half ago, I injured my meniscus and was hospitalized for three weeks for surgery. From a certain point after being discharged, I continued doing leg workouts and stretching at home on days I didn’t go to the gym. Since the volume was small compared to my gym training, I had overlooked these ongoing home workouts.
Even now, I still think home workouts and self-dieting are difficult to maintain, but by setting the right conditions, you can continue home workouts and self-dieting, so I decided to write an article about that method.
◆ The ‘Reasons for Failure’ I Wrote About in the Previous Article
There were four reasons why home workouts and self-dieting don’t last:
・ Immediate pleasure over future benefits (time discounting)
・ Too many choices (decision fatigue)
・ No visible changes (lack of feedback)
・ The home is remembered as a place to rest (failure of environment-dependent behavior)
In short, the home is a place that has a structure where action doesn’t happen. Conversely,
if you create a system that clears these four points, you can continue home workouts and self-dieting.
Before that, let me analyze the “gym” and “jogging” routines I have been doing for over 10 years. Herein lie the hints for a “structure that lasts.”
◆ Reasons Why I Have Been Going to the Gym for Over 10 Years
● Reason 1: Strong Feedback
Even if you do 10 push-ups at home, the results aren’t immediately visible. However, at the gym:
・ You can see your whole body in a giant mirror (visual feedback)
・ People around you are exercising (social facilitation)
These “changes” are returned on the spot.
Because the brain recognizes these changes as rewards, the behavior is easier to continue. Social facilitation is here↓↓↓
● Reason 2: Environment-Dependent Behavior is Established
The brain remembers “location × behavior” as a set.
・ Gym → Workout
・ Library → Reading
・ Cafe → Writing
When this connection becomes strong, the behavior is automatically triggered the moment you enter the location.
◆ Reasons Why I Have Been Jogging for Over 10 Years
● Reason 1: Strong Feedback
Jogging causes the body to react immediately after running.
・ Heart rate increases
・ Breathing becomes deeper
・ Body temperature rises and you sweat
These are intense feedback that the body is “changing.”. When changes are returned immediately after an action, the brain processes that action as
a meaningful behavior. As a result, jogging has become an exercise that is easy to continue.
● Reason 2: Environment-Dependent Behavior is Established
For jogging, it’s “outside → run.”
The location itself acts as a trigger for the behavior.
◆ So, what are the ways to continue home workouts and self-dieting?
◆ Method 1: Create a Training Space (Room)
To establish environment-dependent behavior, create a training space.
I use a yoga mat laid out in my bedroom as a training space (if you can lay out one yoga mat, it becomes a training space).
Here, there is a chest of drawers, a vanity (large mirror), and my training equipment. The only electrical appliance is the air conditioner. I only use this room for sleeping and working out.
To minimize decision fatigue, it is better to eliminate choices other than training in the training space. (Do not place unnecessary items like a TV.) What you must absolutely not do is
“try to put an exercise bike in the living room and pedal while watching TV.”
This creates a contradictory structure of “resting environment × training,” and the environment-dependent behavior of training will not be established.
◆ Method 2: Place a Large Full-Length Mirror (Strengthening Feedback)
The weakness of home strength training was not being able to see changes (lack of feedback). That is precisely why you should
place a large mirror. Muscle hypertrophy does not happen in the short term, but ・ Squat depth
・ Arm curl trajectory
・ Adjusting left-right differences in shoulder height
These ‘exercise movements’ can be observed one by one. This becomes feedback. In neuroscience, it is said that when a response is returned to an action,
dopamine (the reward system) is activated, and you come to like the action
.
◆ Method 3: Accumulate a sense of self-efficacy and a sense of growth
● How to build self-efficacy (the belief that you can do it)
If you continue with a load that has a 100% success rate, the brain will start to predict that ‘this action will definitely succeed.’ Because of this success prediction, you won’t get discouraged even if you increase the load. And because you can increase the load, your body will also become stronger.
● Self-efficacy is strengthened by continuation
A series of successes, such as ‘I did it last time → I did it this time too,’ increases self-efficacy.
● How to build a sense of growth (feeling that you are doing better than before)
To gain a sense of growth, quantify items where changes are visible. Record the number of repetitions, weight, number of sets, training time, and the number of times you perform it per week.
◆ Method 4: Create a ‘structure of habituation’ to overcome time discounting
Time discounting is a property of the brain that prioritizes small immediate pleasures over large future benefits. Because home strength training can be done ‘anytime,’ the brain easily judges that ‘you don’t have to do it now’. This is the biggest reason why home strength training does not continue. Therefore, what is necessary is to
create a ‘structure of habituation’.
The explanation of time discounting is here↓↓↓
A. ‘Lower the hurdle for starting’
Time discounting works most strongly ‘before starting.’ Therefore, lower the hurdle for starting.
For example, keep it in a state where you can start immediately once you enter the training room. The lower the ‘hurdle for starting,’ the easier it is for the brain to take action.
B. ‘Do just one set’
The brain gives a reward just for ‘starting an action.’ Even on ‘days when you don’t feel motivated,’ make a rule to
do just one set. What is important here is that
even just one set generates a sense of self-efficacy.
C. ‘Fix the trigger for the action’
If the ‘way of starting’ an action is the same every time, the brain automatically launches the action the moment it sees that beginning.
Habit is not the action itself, but a state where the ‘way of starting’ the action is automated. By fixing the trigger, the brain automatically launches the action.
For example—go to the training room after drinking coffee in the morning. If you fix the ‘action trigger’ like this, the brain learns that
‘in this situation, I do this action’.
I have a flow of walking → strength training.
D. ‘Create a reward immediately after the action’
To overcome time discounting, you need a mechanism where a reward is returned immediately after the action. For example—drink your favorite protein shake after training. The point is to
make it something that is returned immediately after the action. I have a flow of strength training → shower → beer/snack. *However, the flow of strength training → alcohol may inhibit muscle hypertrophy.
◆ Method 5: ‘Change the stimulus’ to maintain a sense of growth
In strength training, if you continue the same stimulus, physical changes tend to stagnate. And when changes stagnate, the sense of growth (the feeling that you are doing better than before)weakens, and the continuation rate of the action drops. Therefore, what is necessary is
changing the stimulus. Specifically— ・ Change the number of repetitions, weight, and exercises ・ Incorporate new training from magazines or videos. These changes provide a stimulus to the body, making it harder for physical changes to stagnate.
Since I am a health geek, I am always thinking about stimuli while training.
◆ Summary: To continue home strength training or self-dieting, you have no choice but to create a ‘structure’
The reason home workouts and self-directed dieting don’t last is not because your willpower is weak or you lack grit. It is simply that the home environment is structured in a way that makes action difficult. Conversely,
if you can recreate a ‘structure that lasts’ at home, your actions will naturally continue. And most people can create this structure.
・ Create a training space (environment-dependent action creation, reducing decision fatigue)
・ Place a large mirror (strengthening feedback)
・ Create a structure for habituation (overcoming time discounting)
・ Devise training methods
By simply arranging these, home workouts and self-directed dieting will change from ‘actions that don’t last’ to ‘actions that do.’
Habits are built through structure, not willpower. And you can start building that structure today. I hope your home workouts and self-directed dieting change from ‘actions that don’t last’ into ‘actions that naturally continue.’
I share information about daily events on my Ameba blog↓↓↓
