I think those are the right questions to ask, and the answer is, it’s nuanced.
I started the practice in roughly its current form 3 weeks ago. I coined the name about a week ago. My motivation to work out, and indeed the frequency with which I do, has gone up rather than down. (I’m now doing maybe 3–5 workouts a day.) However, the experienced intensity of the workout – the contrast between workout time and non-workout time – has gone down somewhat. I attribute this mostly to three factors:
The novelty has worn off.
Summoning heedfulness is now easier – both during workouts and outside them. The heedfulness baseline has gone up.
Some of the things that initially required focus or willpower now require less. (This is related to point 2. but is more about specific things getting easier – becoming the obvious default behaviour – rather than the tide lifting all boats.)
So while the intensity of the experience has gone down, it hasn’t meant becoming more heedless (i.e. doing stupid things) during workouts – quite the opposite. However, I do think there’s something to be gained by experiencing intensity during a workout from time to time, so I’ve started intentionally cultivating that too.
The triggers for starting a workout are pretty arbitrary, but here are some:
No particular reason, the thought just occurred to me that I might do one now.
Feeling unfocused and unproductive, or restless, or tense, and wanting to do better.
Realizing that there’s a stretch of time ahead where I could get various things done and actually enjoy them.
I think those are the right questions to ask, and the answer is, it’s nuanced.
I started the practice in roughly its current form 3 weeks ago. I coined the name about a week ago. My motivation to work out, and indeed the frequency with which I do, has gone up rather than down. (I’m now doing maybe 3–5 workouts a day.) However, the experienced intensity of the workout – the contrast between workout time and non-workout time – has gone down somewhat. I attribute this mostly to three factors:
The novelty has worn off.
Summoning heedfulness is now easier – both during workouts and outside them. The heedfulness baseline has gone up.
Some of the things that initially required focus or willpower now require less. (This is related to point 2. but is more about specific things getting easier – becoming the obvious default behaviour – rather than the tide lifting all boats.)
So while the intensity of the experience has gone down, it hasn’t meant becoming more heedless (i.e. doing stupid things) during workouts – quite the opposite. However, I do think there’s something to be gained by experiencing intensity during a workout from time to time, so I’ve started intentionally cultivating that too.
The triggers for starting a workout are pretty arbitrary, but here are some:
No particular reason, the thought just occurred to me that I might do one now.
Feeling unfocused and unproductive, or restless, or tense, and wanting to do better.
Realizing that there’s a stretch of time ahead where I could get various things done and actually enjoy them.