Making the habit.

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.

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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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