Nearly half of all Americans make new year’s resolutions, but only 25% of them actually continue them for more than 30 days, which means there are millions of us who vowed to dedicate more time to fitness at the start of this year and now … we’ve already given up.
So if we want our bodies to “stay vicious” or simply want to feel a little healthier, how do we get our butts in the gym or onto the exercise bike in our basement more often? What’s the secret to sticking with our workouts?
That’s what we — Raj Punjabi-Johnson and Noah Michelson, co-hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast — asked Tunde Oyeneyin, beloved Peloton instructor, motivational speaker and the star of Tyler Perry Studio’s hit BET show “Sistas.”
“I had an interview this morning and the person asked me … has there ever been a time when you didn’t want to work out? And I laughed,” Oyeneyin told us. “I said, ‘Every time.’ Because I work in fitness, I think people think I wake up and I say, ‘It’s another day to move!’ No, I’m not excited to work out.”
However, she has found ways to get motivated, including relying on two accountability partners who encourage her to stick to her plans to work out and the “10-minute rule.”
“I set my timer for 10 minutes — or I pop into a 10-minute Peloton class — and I say, ‘I’m just going to give it this 10 minutes,’” The New York Times bestselling author of “Speak: Find Your Voice, Trust Your Gut, and Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be,” said.
“I think that anybody can commit to 10 minutes, right? If I choose to stop after that 10 minutes is over, then I’ll stop after that 10 minutes is over. But if there’s any part of me that says I can give it more time, then I give it more time.”
Oyeneyin revealed that “99.999999% of the time,” once she’s done 10 minutes, she keeps working out.
“For me, the first 10 minutes of any workout is the hardest — not necessarily in terms of the physical of what you’re doing, but the mental, like, blockage,” she said. “[I think] ‘I don’t want to be here. Oh gosh, my shoelaces aren’t tied right during a run … I don’t feel good. Oh, this bra is too tight.’ Like, first 10 minutes, you’re making up any excuse to stop. If you can get past the first 10 minutes, fantastic. So I say set your alarm for 10 minutes.”
Along with picking a playlist that she loves, Oyeneyin has another trick up her sleeve to get more excited about working out.
“When I look cute, baby. When that [outfit] set matches, baby, I feel like I get a better workout,” she told us. “Like, yes, you can throw anything on, but one of my [Peloton] teammates Alex always says, “Feel good, look good, do better” — when I feel like I look somewhat attractive during my workout, I’m a little bit more psyched to like … because you get a little glimpse of yourself and you’re like, ‘OK, it’s working. It’s working. Keep doing this.’”
Michelson had a different take.
“I’m the exact opposite,” he noted. “I look like a total slob when I work out. I work out at home, so no one’s watching me, and I’m like, if I can just throw anything on, that’s more likely to get me to do it. I’m not thinking about the outfit. I just put anything on.”
Oyeneyin also suggested trying out a few different kinds of workouts to see which might be the most attractive to us, and therefore, keep us coming back for more.
“I think finding the workout that you love is just like finding a partner that you love,” she said. “Sometimes someone’s really great for a season and then somebody else is great for the next, right?”
Oyeneyin added that she often sees people focusing too much on “doing the ‘right’ workout and following the plan for the day.”
“Yeah, like have a plan and try to stick to it, but if you don’t feel like lifting today and lifting was the plan, I’d rather you walk or go on a hike than not do anything at all,” she said. “I don’t believe in being so rigid that it causes you to just give up and not do anything at all.”
We also chatted about getting rejected from Peloton, how she finally made it on the team, the one exercise more people should be doing, and much more, so click above to hear the full episode or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
You can also watch the full episode on YouTube.
For more from Tunde Oyeneyin, head here and find her on Instagram.
Have a question or need some help with something you’ve been doing wrong? Email us at AmIDoingItWrong@HuffPost.com, and we might investigate the topic in an upcoming episode.
