The latest one from James Kennedy is all about making a habit. 

Habit forming is so important to getting into fitness and training. It makes everything easier. 

Read more to learn how. 

Word Count - 1331 words.
Time to read - 4.3 minutes.

One of my favourite quotes about the importance of habits is (mis)attributed to Aristotle ‘we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit’. Whilst this quote is actually from a summation of Aristotle’s work in Nicomachean Ethics by Will Durant (‘these virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions’) - the point is simple. Consistency is key. The key to consistency is to make the desired action a habit - an action which is hard to give up. 

 Habit formation is one of the key phases in generating progress. As mentioned in the previous article half of all new gym members quit within 6 months - making exercise a habit is key to sticking to it and achieving your goals. So how do we form an exercise habit?

 ~Stage 1 - Develop a routine~ 

 Habits are consistently repeated behaviours. The hardest part of doing anything is getting started. If you don’t have a plan for when and where you are working out it’s far easier to push it off until the next day or the day after, until suddenly you’ve not worked out in a week or two. 

 Making actions routine means it is far easier to do them; you start performing the actions automatically, without thinking about it. If you can make exercising automatic and mindless then you will be able to stick to the plan for much longer. 

 This also applies to diet. If you can make meal planning, prep and macro tracking automatic and mindless it becomes much easier to follow a diet plan. When I first started tracking macros it took a lot of effort and focus to weigh out my food and track the macros, now I do it without even thinking. Turning diet and exercise into a habit makes it much more likely that you will stick with it and achieve your goals. 

 A great way of establishing a routine is to use the concept of implementation intentions.  An implementation intention is a plan you make about when and where to act prior to acting. The broad form is ‘When X occurs, I will do Y’. These can be used, and have been shown to be effective, in helping people develop good habits and break bad habits. 

 For exercise, you may amend the form to be ‘I will exercise on DAYS at TIME at GYM NAME’.  Once you have committed to this implementation, it is much easier to develop a habit. You no longer have to think about when or where you are training - you have already committed to it. 

 An advantage of using an implementation plan is that you can start to add layers to them. So, if you have committed to training 4 days, at a given time, a logical next implementation plan may be to commit to having your gym kit ready and packed the day before so you don’t have to waste time looking for it when you’re meant to be working out. The next step might be to make sure your pre-workout protein shake is ready and so on. Stacking implementation plans allows you to develop a full routine, enabling you to easily form a complex habit quickly. 

 ~Stage 2 - So easy, you can’t say no~

 When people join a gym and decide to start a new exercise routine they are full of enthusiasm, energy and ambition. This leads to them trying to do everything on Day 1. When you first start training, especially if you’re not used to it or coming back to it after a long lay off, you will get delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) the day after you train.  

 That initial motivation eventually runs out - and the harder you push it in the beginning, the quicker it runs out. If your workouts are three hour long marathons which leave you crippled for days afterwards, when motivation drops you are far less likely to stick with the habit. 

 To combat this, make it so easy that you can’t say no to yourself. This, builds on the routine developed in stage 1- if you have committed to working out 4 days a week at 06:00 am, waking up every morning with your gym kit ready to go, it requires far less motivation to go to the gym as you don’t have to go through the motions of getting organised and ready to actually go to the gym. 

 If you are struggling with motivation to workout on a day where you have already intended to workout - make it so easy you can’t say no. Instead of aiming to complete the full workout, just go to the gym and do your main exercise for the day. If you go and do only that, great! You’ve achieved what you set out to achieve that day and you’ve continued to built the habit. Often times, once you start a workout you will find your motivation increasing and suddenly you’ve completed the entire workout. What’s important to develop the exercise habit is just to do something, however small, that allows you to keep building the habit. 

 ~Stage 3 - Results come later~

 There is no point worrying about results or progress when you start working out. It’s important to have goals but the most important thing is to establish the habit of working out.

Once you are used to following a workout plan and exercising consistently, to the point where it has become a habit,  then you can start worrying about progress.

 This may seem counterintuitive but it really isn’t. Setting yourself the goal of losing 10kg in 6 months is great. But, if after 3 months you’ve only lost 3kg you may feel as though you’re not making enough progress, become demotivated and quit. Instead, if you focus on establishing an exercise habit of working out 4 days a week and achieve this, you won’t be worried about the numbers on the scale of weights on the bar. Once you’ve established the exercise habit, which will only take a month or so, then you can focus on achieving your goals.  
 
The most important step in achieving any goal is consistency. You will have bad workouts - days where you walk into the gym, look around and just think fuck this. The weights feel heavy and everything seems to be harder. You will also have days when you walk into the gym and feel like you could lift anything you were asked to. These days, both good and bad, are rare. Most days you will walk in, do your workout and leave. These are the days which are key to progress. Consistency is the key - establish the habit and the results will come. 

 ~Stage 4 - Be accountable~

 The final stage of developing an exercise habit is to  be accountable to someone. By having a training parter or group, or coach, you have to report to someone else that you’re not working out or that you’re feeling low on motivation. A good workout group or coach (link to DLF groups) are brilliant - when you need motivation they’ll help get you in the gym door, as well as make training fun. 

 A coach is perfect for this - alongside helping you plan your workouts and improve your technique - they’ll help you be accountable and develop the exercise habit. There is also a financial commitment to holding yourself accountable - when you’re not working out but paying your coach and gym memberships you’re also wasting money.

 ~Summary~

 Developing new habits is a difficult, challenging process. The ideas outlined in this article provide the basis for developing an exercise habit that will set you up for long term success in 2021 and beyond. Begin by developing a routine and making it too easy to say no to. Get yourself in the habit of following a structured exercise programme before worrying about the results and hold yourself accountable by hiring a coach to monitor your progress and help you establish exercise as a habit. 

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When trying to find the absolute best mindset to compete in most powerlifters will tend to lean towards sheer rage - regardless of whether this is best for them or not. Some will go to a solemn place, others will get themselves amused beforehand. Regardless of which way they choose to go their destination should be one where they have little to no intrusive thought, no over thinking and no reliance on sheer brute strength. They should get to a position where that mindset is based upon pure instinct. Or based upon...ultra instinct. 

Now I won’t go into a full diatribe about Dragon Ball, or its sequels Z,Super and GT (yes, it counts) but I will link you to my previous Dragon Ball-meets-sports-science article where I compared a Zenkai boost to peaking and, more importantly here, I explain what Dragon Ball is. *

However, what is important to know is that in Super, canonically the furthest into the story, Goku gets to a tournament where his team includes none other than his first proper teacher -  Master Roshi. Throughout this tournament Goku gets absolutely destroyed by a foe he can’t get anywhere near called Jiren.

In the manga there is a great scene where Goku is trying to rely on just being stronger or transforming (again) to try to overcome Jiren. Until Roshi basically just tells him to fight better and rely on his techniques. Roshi, who at this point is nowhere near the level of Goku, then manage to show a small understanding of ‘Ultra Instinct’ and manages to go toe-to-toe with Jiren for a short time and, thus, inspires Goku.*1

Following this Goku realises that if he focuses less on being stronger or going harder and just hones in on his technique then he will move better, fight better and, perform better technically which results in him achieving the use of ‘Ultra Instinct.’

The idea of switching off and just doing the movement has its base in sports psychology, martial arts and philosophies from various parts of the world, such as Japan where it would be ‘Mushin,’ or China where it would be something akin to ‘Daoism.’ 

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So, what is Mushin and what does it mean to you, the powerlifter? It is the idea of freeing the mind of fear, of ego, of anger and, of random thoughts. This basically means removing all distractions other than the technique you need - which, as we’ll get on to later, comes through practice, practice and more practice.
The practice of this state of Mushin must be practiced alongside the technique - however, for beginners the technique must take precedence. *2

‘Flow State’ is the scientific name to the philosophical ‘Mushin.’ You could also refer to it as being ‘in the zone.’ You may find that when you are in this zone that time flies due to your lack of distraction to other events which you would usually use to measure time.

Expertise. 

Now this state of mind isn’t recommended for the beginner - not because it is inherently extreme but rather - because for it to work best you need to be at a relatively high skill level in your chosen sport. Here I will focus on powerlifting as that's my main area of expertise.

If you’re at your competition and about to hit your first squat you want to be able to just get under the bar and do your thing. You don’t want to be distracting yourself with concerns about whether or not your left foot is in line with your right foot or whether you’ve left the stove on at home. You want to routinely set yourself up in an efficient, practiced manner and just do.
But how do we get to this stage you might ask?

The answer won’t surprise you; it’s practice. Deliberate practice is the main thing you need in order to become an expert. Dr Ericsson claimed in 1990 that for you to become an expert in your chosen field you will need to clock up 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.*3

There are a few things to consider about that previous paragraph. Firstly, it has to be deliberate practice and not just going through the motions (eg, practicing to be an F1 driver compared to driving around town every day). Secondly, it doesn’t always apply to sport - some people have an innate talent - however, most people will still improve with consistent, deliberate practice. Thirdly, it’s an organic pursuit. You don’t necessarily get to a point and become an expert and unlock all of these skills, you will get better as you go and can apply various principles (including ‘ultra instinct’ to your performances).

Going back to the powerlifting example, if you do get to a competition then it is highly likely that you have trained towards it. Practicing the skills and increasing your strength and having gone through some kind of competition strategy. In this time you will have learned how to do the lifts to the technical standards, but also applied some time to learning how it works best for you. 
It is very easy to get to a good standard and then stay there. This idea is called the ‘ok plateau,’ and I won’t go too much into it here but I’ll leave a note below.

In my experience, I try to get my lifters to set up in a similar manner each time so that they don’t need to overthink it, they don’t need to worry if this minute thing is right or not - it just is. Specific, deliberate practice on this mindset is very important, and the constant practicing of the squat, bench press and deadlift set up will encourage you to find what works. 

Personally, I can not get ready in an angry or overly hyped way as it distracts me more than the extra bit of aggression is worth. I like to be in a happy, almost humorous state of mind to just switch off when I need to. Other people might need aggression, but as stated above, it can lead to more distractions.

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