• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workout
      • Best BCAAs
      • Best Testosterone Boosters
      • Best Bodybuilding Supplements
      • Best Creatine
      • Best Supplements for Weight Loss
      • Best Multivitamins
      • Best Collagen Supplement
      • Best Probiotic
      • Best Non-Stim Pre-Workout
      • Best Greens Powder
      • Best Magnesium Supplements
    • Protein
      • Best Protein Powder
      • Best Whey Protein
      • Best Protein Powders for Muscle Gain
      • Best Tasting Protein Powder
      • Best Vegan Protein
      • Best Mass Gainer
      • Best Protein Shakes
      • Best Organic Protein Powder
      • Best Pea Protein Powder
      • Best Protein Bars
    • Strength Equipment
      • Best Home Gym Equipment
      • Best Squat Racks
      • Best Barbells
      • Best Weightlifting Belts
      • Best Weight Benches
      • Best Functional Trainers
      • Best Dumbbells
      • Best Adjustable Dumbbells
      • Best Kettlebells
      • Best Resistance Bands
      • Best Trap Bars
    • Cardio Equipment
      • Best Cardio Machines
      • Best Rowing Machines
      • Best Treadmills
      • Best Weighted Vests
      • Concept2 RowErg Review
      • Hydrow Wave Review
      • Best Jump Ropes
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Fitness

Preserve the Habit at All Costs: Why You Should Work Out Every Day

Conventional wisdom tells us we shouldn't work out every day, especially early on, but the opposite is actually true.

Written by Shane Trotter Last updated on May 11, 2022

“We are mere bundles of habits.”

– William James

“We are mere bundles of habits.”

– William James

My two-year-old son, Ace, is a pattern machine. When he finishes dinner, he says, “bath.” When we change him into his PJ’s he says, “read.” If my wife’s phone rings, he yells, “JuJu! (his aunt’s name)” If anything ever goes wrong, he says, “Oh, sorry Daddy.” When he sees my wife getting ready to go out, he says, “Mommy cuuuuute.” And any time he sees his mother or I exercising, he says, “push-ups.”

In fact, something about me doing dishes always cues him to come grab my hand and take me to the same spot where he does push-ups, down dogs, jumps, and other moves. Dishes now take awhile. Every part of Ace’s world is a habit loop. Cue-routine-reward.

This is all adorable. The mind of a toddler—how sweet and simple. But, you and I are just the same.

  • When your phone vibrates, what do you do?
  • When you are driving and you see red lights, what do you do?
  • When you smell and see tasty food, what sensations arise?
  • When you drop a glass and it breaks, what do you say? What immediate response does your body have?

Patterns aren’t just isolated responses either. One pattern leads to the next. They create a trajectory. Making the bed often precludes a morning Netflix show and prompts you to begin the day’s tasks.

Exercise leads to more productivity, more energy, better nutrition, and more confidence throughout the day—these powerful dominoes are known as keystone habits. They amplify how effective you are in a day. Actions can spur a negative cycle as well. You get cut off in traffic and the next thing you know you’re arguing with your wife about the thermostat.

For some reason today is the day to address her temperature sensitivity. Likewise, if you wake to a new Netflix series or to video games, Uber Eats and pizza rolls might be in your future. Actions create a trajectory. This is why so much is made about successful people’s morning routines.

The Core Habits

In our ebook, The Essential Guide to Self-Mastery, and in all work at Inspired Human Development, Justin Lind and I advocate three core habits: exercise, meditation/gratitude, and education.

While there are other patterns I find invaluable, these three change your mentality and amplify impact more than any others. They are the core habits for prompting a life well-lived. And, as famed wrestler and coach Dan Gable said, “If it is important, do it every day.”

One workout won’t do much. On your fourth attempt at meditating, you might be more frustrated than in the first. Reading for self-development only once a week is like 86% less effective than reading every day.

For these habits to truly work their magic and create a series of chain reactions outside of their narrow lanes there must be a daily commitment. But adopting three new daily habits might be a bit much to bite off in one sitting. If you are looking for one place to start, it is the chief habit: daily exercise.

Say you don’t buy it. Working out a few days a week is sufficient for your health. After all, you should only workout three or four days a week, right? I’ll get back to this question, but first let’s look at another.

Why daily? Other than the fact that you want the positive ripple effect of powerful action every day, this goes back to the very core of how habits work. Habits are reinforced through daily action and weakened by altering patterns. The best way to set a habit is to do it every day. Days off, reinforce the habits patterns of inaction. Over time, these can lead you to quit.

For example, I used to take a cold shower every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I hated it and, despite my many reasons for wanting to engage in this practice, I eventually quit altogether. When I decided, again, that cold showers were a worthy pursuit, I knew I had to make them a daily discipline. Since that decision, I’ve taken a cold shower every day for over 3-months. There is no wiggle room. No switching to tomorrow. I just do it.

As I’ve written before: “By consistently facing physical resistance, we gain the confidence to enter the resistance that permeates every other meaningful life endeavor. The opposite is also true. Every time you skip a workout, you subconsciously excuse the pattern of avoiding resistance throughout life.”

This is why you exercise every day. It is the best way to create a habit that you maintain. And the best time is first thing in the morning. Habits are made up of a cue, a routine, and a reward. Waking is the most consistent cue that there is. If you don’t wake up, you have big problems.

Furthermore, moving right away rips the Band-Aid off, training willpower and activating positive momentum first thing in the morning. Thus, waking to a consistent movement practice is the essential habit.

You could just do ten-minutes and then workout later depending on the day of the week, or get it all done right there. It doesn’t have to be long, or extremely strenuous—just consistent. Once planned, it is as simple as deciding to always follow through. As I tell myself, 99% is a wimp.

Daily Movement Is Critical

Now, we have to address the elephant in the room. Science. General adaptations syndrome. It isn’t a good idea to crush yourself every day of the week. The body needs to face resistance and then an appropriate period of recovery in order to grow resilient. But this view of training is clouded by our modern world and its industrialized, compartmentalized view of training.

Humans move every day. Throughout history, humans have experienced tremendous physical vigor through daily movement. They ran climbed, carried, and moved earth, at varying levels of intensity, every single day.

All that activity didn’t impede their progress but actually promoted it. Relatively low-intensity movement promotes recovery. I say relatively because we are all at different levels and our threshold for volume will grow over time.

Strength legend, Pavel Tsatsouline, has helped many people build exceptional strength and fitness through an approach he calls, “grease the groove” training. Put simply, he recommends training every day while never approaching failure or extremes.

His Easy Strength and Kettlebell Simple and Sinister programs demonstrate how effective this can be. He does advocate occasional gut-checks, but these are easily handled by a system that isn’t overdrawn.

Grease the groove training is phenomenal for habit building. By lowering the barrier to entry it makes the habit of fitness more likely to become deeply rooted. We’ve all watched as people’s best intentions to go to fitness classes after work are slowly eroded by exhaustion and erratic evening schedules. Morning daily movement removes these obstacles.

Even among those most successful exercisers who choose to go hard three or four times a week, most are actually doing some form of exercise every day. They are going on walks, stretching, rolling, practicing yoga, and using other recovery modalities on off days. Fitness has crossed over to passion so they put in more time per session, but the reality remains, they too build the daily habit.

My own workouts shift in volume and intensity depending on the day of the week. I hardly ever do my main workout during my morning movement routine. But regardless of the day, I wake to a movement flow and then do a 10-minute calisthenics strength-endurance routine. Movement is essential. It should be done, daily.

Add Daily Movement

For anyone who is looking to start adding exercise to their lifestyle, looking for more consistency in their exercise, or for those who just wants more energy and productivity out of their days, I strongly recommend starting with a modest daily investment first thing each morning.

This process is forever sustainable and can be scaled to every level, need, and lifestyle. It precludes burn-out, allows for variation, and ensures a chain reaction of personal empowerment and growth.

Your habits define your actions in the long-term. Thus, you should define what actions are most important and do them habitually. No habit has more positive ripple effect than a daily movement practice.

About Shane Trotter

View All Articles

Related Posts

Fergus Crawley 5K Run Tips Photo
Fergus Crawley Shares 5 Tips For Running a Better 5K
Actor Chris Hemsworth in gym performing dumbbell row
Chris Hemsworth Diagrams a Killer Upper Body Workout Fit For an Action Star
Hugh Jackman Deadpool 3 Workouts Spring:Winter 2023
Hugh Jackman Returns to Wolverine Condition in Workouts for “Deadpool 3”
Method Man Incline Dumbbell Presses December 2022
Check Out Rapper Method Man Cruising Through 120-Pound Incline Dumbbell Presses for 10 Reps

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

New Year’s Fitness Sales (2025)

XWERKS Motion BCAA Review (2025): A Registered Dietitian’s Honest Thoughts

Assault Fitness AssaultBike Pro X Review (2025): Assault’s Best Bike Yet?

13 Best Exercise Bikes for Home Gyms (2025)

Transparent Labs BCAA Glutamine Review (2025): The Key to Post-Workout Recovery?

Latest Reviews

Element 26 Hybrid Leather Weightlifting Belt

Element 26 Hybrid Leather Weightlifting Belt Review (2025)

Omre NMN + Resveratrol, Lifeforce Peak NMN, and partiQlar NMN on a red background

Best NMN Supplement: Fountain of Youth in a Bottle? (2025)

The Titan Series Adjustable Bench on a red background

Titan Series Adjustable Bench Review (2025)

A photo of the NordicTrack Select-a-Weight Dumbbells on a red background

NordicTrack Adjustable Dumbbell Review (2025): Are These Value Dumbbells Worth It?

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2025 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About