On completing a 28-day streak

planted 08 Sept 2026 · tended 22 Oct 2026 · 🌱 seedling

It feels surreal. I just hit a 28-day workout streak.
When I started, I had doubts. Building a new habit is difficult. Even the thought of working out is tiring. Getting out of the house, picking up weights - what for?

Most of the credit goes to the book "Atomic Habits by James Clear", which nudged me to start this journey; more about it here Atomic Habits. But other things that helped me this time:

Public Accountability: I run a channel on Whatsapp "Musings by @xerosanyam". ~35 ppl watched me grow
28-day label: The printed 28-day grid, sticked to a place which I see everyday - made me go
Highlighter: Highlighting the box after workout gave dopamine
From Atomic Habits: Habit stacking

My routine during this duration was simple.

5 strength training exercieses (Goblet squat, Lat pulldown, DB Romanian Deadlift, DB Flat bench press, DB Shoulder press)
8k steps

So roughly 45 min a day.

I started with 5 simple but effective exercises, then I moved to the Hevy app - Push/Pull/Leg setup.
The app is good; it is free, has apple watch integration - so I could log my reps directly from my watch.

My cue was: "After I drop the kid off at school -> I will work out"

There were 2 days when I almost didn't feel like going / couldn't go. Those days I made it a point to walk at least 15 minutes.

Here's my progress:

here we go again. first post in the channel

On to the next 28 days!