Building A Fitness Routine

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So many people want to be committed to an exercise habit that sticks. Sadly, wanting to make exercise a habit and actually doing it are two different things. Changing your behavior is hard especially when it involves feelings about body image and self-worth.

Fear no more, below are some strategies that can make it easier for you to be the proud owner of an exercise habit.

The key to success is creating a "habit" and in order to make that happen, one must commit to doing something over and over..... and over again so that it sticks.

Imagine a flight of stairs... the safest way to climb them is one step at a time. There is no doubt if you keep with one step at a time, you will arrive at the top.

Habits are simply behaviors that you repeat regularly with little to no thought. By developing an attainable goal that you can stick with, means a fitness habit may just a commitment away.

Start with an exercise that is ridiculously small, and so it's so easy that you can do it even when you are running low on willpower and motivation. Choosing something that is so doable, makes it easier to do it and harder to say no.

Habit first results later. Once you start going to the gym regularly... then you can worry about making progress and improving.

Here's a good recipe:
1) Go to the gym every other day for at least 30 minutes
2) Exercise for at least a minute & do what feels right the other 29
3) Add a minute of fitness a week and watch fit happen!

HOW LONG IT REALLY TAKES T BUILD A HABIT:
Phillippa Lally is a health psychology researcher at University College London. In a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, Lally and her research team decided to figure out just how long it actually takes to form a habit.

The study examined the habits of 96 people over a 12-week period. Each person chose one new habit for the 12 weeks and reported each day on whether or not they did the behavior and how automatic the behavior felt.

Some people chose simple habits like "drinking a bottle of water with lunch." Others chose more difficult tasks like "running for 15 minutes before dinner." At the end of the 12 weeks, the researchers analyzed the data to determine how long it took each person to go from starting a new behavior to automatically doing it.

On average, it takes more than two months before a new behavior becomes automatic -- 66 days to be exact. And how long it takes a new habit to form can vary widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances. In Lally's study, it took anywhere from 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit.

In other words, if you want to set your expectations appropriately, the truth is that it will probably take you anywhere from two months to eight months to build a new behavior into your life -- not 21 days.

Interestingly, the researchers also found that "missing one opportunity to perform the behavior did not materially affect the habit formation process." In other words, it doesn't matter if you mess up every now and then. Building better habits is not an all-or-nothing process.

There is no need to judge yourself if you can't master a behavior in 21 short days. Learn to love your journey. Embrace the long, slow walk to greatness and focus on putting in your reps.

You don't have to be perfect. Making a mistake once or twice has no measurable impact on your long-term habits. This is why you should treat failure like a scientist, give yourself permission to make mistakes, and develop strategies for getting back on track quickly.

Embracing longer timelines can help us realize that habits are a process and not an event. All of the "21 Days" hype can make it really easy to think, "Oh, I'll just do this and it'll be done." But habits never work that way. You have to embrace the process. You have to commit to the system.

Understanding this from the beginning makes it easier to manage your expectations and commit to making small, incremental improvements -- rather than pressuring yourself into thinking that you have to do it all at once.

Where to Go From Here
At the end of the day, how long it takes to form a particular habit doesn't really matter that much. Whether it takes 50 days or 500 days, you have to put in the work either way.

The only way to get to Day 500 is to start with Day 1. So forget about the number and focus on doing the work.

BUILD THE HABIT FIRST & THE RESULTS LATER, and before you know it you will be well on your way to getting fit.