I'm not sure if it's just healthy body healthy mind, or building up discipline, or something else.
I'm not much of a body builder compared to most, mind you, but I keep at it.
Mind sharing how you are able to sustain the habit?
I currently jog fairly consistently but only on week days. I’m able to jog for ~25 mins 3 to 5 times a week and make it a point to rest on weekends.
I got a boxed set of portable weights just as the lock down was about to be enacted but have not been able to lift regularly. Now, it takes an enormous amount of mental energy to get myself to lift even on weekends that I’ve simply abandoned the weights.
I haven't lifted in a while, but I've done marathon training before and the hook is quite related. Each week, if you push yourself hard enough, you will make more or less linear progress.
Just like running, the first 2-3 weeks of regular lifting are a big slog to get through, but then your body starts learning/adapting, you start demonstrably and rapidly improving, and it becomes fun.
Linear progress is easy to track with runs when you push yourself hard enough as you say, but not so much with weights because it comes with it’s own tending. For instance, to really see results rapidly, your diet has to change such that you are getting certain amounts of protein and other nutrients to build muscle mass.
I have tried to copy the discipline I’ve inculcated from running regularly for weightlifting, but I’m not able to sustain it because in addition to it using up fast-twitch muscles, it also comes with a change in dietary habits that go with that kind of workout.
At the time I was training, I was aiming for a marathon time that qualifies you for the Boston Marathon, as an example. (that's much more about muscle development than other forms of running). You can't consistently run a sub-7:00 mile for more than 3 miles without having a pretty regimented diet.
If you don't increase your protein intake dramatically, you'll get injuries while pushing for that pace, and if you can't push, you will plateau.
But you're right that you can go pretty far (maybe a month) without changing your diet in running training, depending on where you're starting from.
It's a little awkward now because I have to schedule an appointment for the gym and I can only get access 3 times a week, and it's the building gym so there isn't a huge variety of equipment, but I'm making do.
God willing, I’ll try out the same-time same-days tip this weekend and see if I can sustain it for a month. If I can’t make it work, I’ll trial the gym membership tip.
Thanks!