Creating Habits - The unspoken truth about fitness.

When you see an extremely jacked trainer on the web or a guy benching over 400lbs it rarely has to do with the exact plan they're following.

Sounds weird? I know. I have been in your place before. Purchasing different workout programs from fitness celebrities or bodybuilders, failing to gain results and sustain the program over a long period of time.

The truth is that long-term results don't come from a specific workout split or a diet method but through the formation of habits. So, what are habits? And most importantly, how do you form them?

What is a habit ?

A habit is a routine of behaviour that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. Habits are part of our everyday lives and fitness is no different.

You'd often find that extremely fit people, who workout regularly, have some common habits that allow them to both participate in activity and maximize results when doing so.

Habits to increase activity

1. Gym In-between

That's it. You've told yourself that from the upcoming week you'll sign up to the gym and start working out. All well until Monday arrives. The fatigue from work is so heavy that going out of your way to go to the gym when you can go home, watch Netflix, and lay in bed sounds ridiculous. So how do you fix this? One habit that has allowed many of my clients to successfully attend the gym even on days where they feel knackered from work or school is by finding a gym that's on your way home. It is a lot easier to stop by the gym when it is on your way, because you are actually going that direction anyway, than actually driving or walking to a location out of your way, which sounds tiring just from the thought of it. Believe it or not finding a gym that's on your way home will allow for increased participation much more than finding the most aesthetically pleasing gym in the city.

2. Using Activity as Transportation

This did not cross my mind up until I had a conversation with a client about ordering food. The irony here was that my complaint was actually not about ordering food that wasn't homemade but because of how it was delivered to my client, John. John was craving some Mexican food and had plenty of spare calories in the day so it made sense for him to order. When talking to him about what he may order it was brought up that the restaurant is 15 minutes away from where he lived. That moment, I raised the question on why he did not walk there since he was yet to complete his daily step goal. See, a lot of people go into the gym to walk on the treadmill yet fail to implement simple activities in their everyday life to increase their NEAT (daily activity). The best way to get your step count up is by simply walking to places where you can walk instead of not doing so. Do you want food? See if you can walk to the pick-up point. Want to buy sofa pillows? See how close from your house your closest home accessory store is. Simple activities such as these have allowed me and my clients to go from struggling to get over 6k steps to comfortably getting 10k+ steps per day.

Habits to Maximize Results

1. Tracking Your Workouts

It is easy to just say "I remember what I did last time" but from what I've observed, most people fail to match, or increase, the variables of their previous workouts, potentially leaving gains in the tank. Tracking can be extremely easy, and just takes 2 seconds of your time. As soon as you're done with a set write done the main variables such as repetitions and load. Intensity ( RIR ) can also be used over time as you get familiar with the concept itself. This will allow for 2 things. 1- Keeping yourself accountable, 2- Matching your performance from week to week. There will be numerous times where you go to the gym feeling lazy or tired. It happens. The important part of tracking previous sessions is that it allows you to train according to the numbers and your previous performances instead of going according to your mood and potentially leaving sets and reps in the tank that you have previously achieved. You can track your workout in your notes or use my free tracking template.

2. Low-Calorie Alternatives

This can be a game changer. You may not realize, but a large percentage of your daily calories consumed probably comes from liquid calories or sauces and toppings. It may not seem much at the time, but on a larger scale these small choices can add up to over 400 calories a day, potentially derailing your results. The important thing to note here is that for habits to be formed, they must be both enjoyable and easy to implement, so instructing someone to completely cut out soft drinks and sauces will probably be useless. Instead, try going for low-calories alternatives. Switching from coke to diet-coke. Trying a low calorie mustard rather than a conventional one. Using zero-calorie sweetener rather than your regular choice. Going for low-calorie maple syrup on your pancakes instead of golden syrup. Forming the habit of using low-calorie alternatives can significantly enhance your fat loss results without you even realising you're making that much of a change.

3. Training Intensity

I see this so often. Clients will swear they train close to failure until it's time to do so. Then they realize they were underestimating they're true point of "muscular failure" by 6-7 repetitions. Now, how can one form the habit of training closer to failure? Pretty simple. When training close to failure the speed of repetition will involuntarily decrease, as long as maximal effort is applied each repetition. Therefore, being conscious on whether your repetition velocity has decayed over the course of a set may allow you to better judge your training intensity. You don't need to train all the way to failure, but noticing some deterioration of repetition speed through the course of the set will probably be best for maximizing hypertrophy.

Habits Compound

Applying these habits will most likely not create any significant difference within a week but as one of my personal favourite books, atomic habits, states, habits compound. The point of employing these habits into your daily routine is that months down the line, they will likely generate significant results without any cost and almost zero effort. This is the magic of habits. This is why successful people in fitness last 10+ years. Not because of a specific training routine or a new trendy diet but because they have created long lasting habits that allow not only for workout consistency but also maximizing results whilst doing so.