A few years ago, I heard Naval Ravikant say that “the best workout for you is the one that you’re excited enough to do every day.” “He’s right,” I thought. “I need a workout like that.”
I’ve always enjoyed certain sports, but I’ve never been the most eager, fit, or genetically fortunate athlete. I don’t like the social theater associated with going to the gym, and more than once, I pushed my bodyweight workouts too far and discovered yet another natural limitation. Wherever it was available and affordable, I used to go to the pool three times a week, but in Munich, it had been neither. Clearly, I needed to find a way to move. Preferably a sustainable one.
“I can do 50 push-ups, I think. And 50 sit-ups. Let me try that.” I hit the ground and got to work. One push-up…two…three. The last ten took a lot of effort, but I did it. The 50 sit-ups, or crunches, if you will, were relatively easy. Therefore, I decided to do 100 sit-ups the next day. I entered both activities into my habit tracker, and that’s how my daily workout routine began.
Today marks the five-year-anniversary of that routine. That’s 1,825 days. A lot has happened in my life since then. I graduated with a master’s degree. I got into a relationship and moved in with my girlfriend. My career and portfolio have seen more ups and downs than I can count. Friends have married, had kids. There was a pandemic, a stock market boom, two wars broke out, and on and on the list goes.
The workout itself has been through a lot, too. I varied the amounts of push-ups and sit-ups I did every day. I tried to raise them, then lowered them again. I made a rule to always do at least one push-up and one sit-up, even when I’m sick. It’s merely symbolic, but it feels empowering. I added other habits, like jumping jacks and stretching, then decided to only do them when I have the time. But every day…50 push-ups and 100 sit-ups. That baseline never wavered.
I’ve also learned many a lesson: that after 1,000 days of doing something, you can probably stop counting. That days beat dreams and consistency beats effort. But perhaps most importantly, I’ve learned that the key word in Naval’s description is “enough.”
The best workout for you needs to be one you can physically sustain. It must be accessible, both geographically and in terms of equipment. But most of all, it must be a routine you’re “excited enough to do every day.” The difference between including the word “enough” and omitting it is the difference between reality and a fantasy. Why? Because no routine will make you excited in an absolute sense on a daily basis. On some days, “enough” will mean you’re not looking forward to your workout at all—but you’ll still be eager to have worked out yesterday tomorrow, and that’ll get you to show up when the odds aren’t in your favor.
How many push-ups and sit-ups have I actually done in those five years? It’s impossible to tell. But even when I knock 20% off my daily averages to be conservative, I’m still closing in on 100,000 push-ups and 150,000 sit-ups. Have they turned me into Adonis? Nope. But they’ve kept me a little healthier than I otherwise would be, and that’s what good habits are all about: not “best” but “enough.” As soon as you accept that, you’ll understand why Naval used both words in one sentence: because in this world of tradeoffs we live in, often, the two are one and the same.