Today was a nice morning. We finally got a cool down in the weather following yesterday’s downpour. “Perfect weather” I thought, “for a bike ride to work today.” I don’t ride to work very often, although I’d like to. But I am in and out enough that it just isn’t really all that practical. On the ride in though, I broke a bit of a sweat. And that got me to thinking about something I remember Matthew McConaughey saying a while back. His whole mantra is to “break a sweat every day.” I’m not usually one to cite celebrities when it comes to nutrition or exercise (mostly because of the extremes many of them go to… but can you blame them with millions of dollars on the line?) Either way, I think he’s got it right. Of course, I’d imagine that he personally breaks a sweat for hours on end each day. But his general advice is to Just Keep Livin (JKL), which is subsequently the name of his foundation.

I suppose I like the whole idea because of it’s simplicity. It doesn’t say to start jogging at a heart rate of 120-130 bpm for 5 mins and then increase steadily up to 170 bpm until fatigue sets in. It also doesn’t say to start your bench press with 12 reps for the first set and then, as weight is added, drop to 8 reps per set. Not that either of those is poor advice, but it’s just not for everyone.

It’s SIMPLE. And I like simple. Just break a sweat. Just Keep Livin. Don’t overanalye or overthink it. Just do it. Ah, guess I just put an unintentional plug in there for Nike, huh?

Take home message: The next time you have a “scheduled” workout that you really don’t want to do…. don’t do it. Pick a different, more enjoyable exercise that you would rather do. In the long run, you will be much more likely to remain active and enjoy these short trips around the sun.