Good Exercise Habits : Some How To Ideas

Recently a friend of mine asked if I had any suggestions about how to develop good exercise habits. This is, without question, one of the hardest things for me to do consistently.

There is never a problem in the beginning when I first discover something that I’m interested in doing. So I convinced myself when I was initially introduced to fitness, that it would be a fun and healthy habit to get into.

So, I went to the gym regularly. Anytime was the best time to exercise. I was young, so good eating habits were not high on a priority list. Eating smart only became important as the years went by. By the way, the sooner you start eating healthy and incorporating it into your exercise routine the better. All your results come faster and easier.

The workouts were more about building strength than anything else. I wasn’t thinking about overall physical fitness. I wanted to be able to jump higher for basketball. Running faster and building strength would also help with rugby. I was also considering the martial arts back then. Of course, getting stronger would be a benefit.

Virtually all of my fitness goals tied into my desire to excel in sports I enjoyed. There wasn’t a real interest in body building, ripping up different muscle groups or even taking time to warm up. Although, if it happened, being able to see my abs would have been a plus.

The only thing that really mattered was getting stronger and faster. The only benefits I sought out were seeing the weight I could move get heavier and the time it took me to sprint get shorter.

Good Exercise Habits Get Interrupted By Life

So inevitably, time goes by. My interest in playing certain sports as frequently as I did gave way to other interests. This meant that I didn’t have to be exercising regularly. Or at least, that’s what I thought.

From there it didn’t take long before regular workouts dropped off. I still didn’t care about eating properly. It was easy to allow my regularly scheduled days to take priority over maintaining good physical fitness habits.

It wasn’t long before I had plenty of examples of how I was developing an unhealthy lifestyle. I didn’t make it a habit anymore of hitting the gym at least five times a week.

Instead I made it a priority to stay up late. I now had a new habit of eating garbage food late at night and a lifestyle that was damaging the good I did for my body in previous years.

If you were to ask me “How long does it take to drop good exercise habits?” I’d say not long at all. Unfortunately it is much easier to do harm to your health in a short period of time than it is to improve it.

A Way Back To Good Exercise Habits

However, in my humble experience, once you develop good exercise habits, it definitely gets easier to stick with them.

The key for me was figuring out how to do that. Once I could figure out how to develop good exercise habits that worked for me, I knew I could recapture some of the benefits I had when I was working out all the time.

Something that I learned along the way is that not all techniques will work for all people. It’s the same with exercising and eating and most other things for that matter. That’s probably why it’s so easy to find so much information out there now about everything.

So really, developing good habits will be more about figuring yourself out than anything else. Hopefully, some of these suggestions that I use will get you where you want to go.

Here are 5 techniques that I use to develop and hopefully (time will tell) maintain good exercise habits…

1. Make It A Priority Like…
2. Keep It Close
3. Furnish Your Home With Fitness
4. Make It A Habit To Eat Healthy
5. Imagine Where You Want To Be

Make It A Priority Like…

Whatever it is that motivates you to get up in the morning and drives you to succeed, make fitness an equally important priority.

If it’s money that gets you going or if its spending quality time at the movies, make your fitness plan an integral part of all of it.

Think of developing good exercise habits the way you think of breathing. It should just be happening. Make it a priority above everything. As my grandmother used to say ‘if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.’

For me this is directly tied to a concern about getting unhealthy and not being able to be there for my family. Hence, making it a number one priority.

Keep in mind that by maintaining good habits with your health and physical fitness regimen, all the other things that matter to you day to day will come easier. The most responsible thing you can do for yourself is keep the machine that is you running at optimum levels.

Keep It Close

I’ve always liked the quote, ‘The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.’ For me, this is so true when it comes to exercise or any kind of workout.

The closer I am to the workout when I’m not exercising, the higher the likelihood I’ll stick with it. This is expressed in the Real Estate world as location, location, location.

If the answer to the question of ‘how long does it take to get to the workout’ is too long, then I don’t go. The fewer distractions I have between me and the workout, the greater the likelihood I’ll do it.

Turns out I’m not alone. If you’re planning on working out regularly you want to be close to where the workout is happening. That’s your best shot of making it a priority that becomes a habit.

I found that by setting up everything I need for exercising in my home, the easier it is to stick with it. Now that it’s a consistent habit for me, I like going outside as well to exercise when the weather is nice. Even though that takes some additional effort, I enjoy it.

Furnish Your Home With Fitness

This one may sound ridiculous out of the gate but stick with me. In a few places around my home I keep small pieces of exercise equipment.

So in my office I keep a dumbbell in the corner. On the shelf in my den you can find a rolled up jump rope. On my desk I have what looks like a paper weight but is actually something that fits in my weighted vest. I even have a spot for my patented (but not really patented) Brian Lazanik plank.

There are a couple others but I presume you get the idea. All of these things are constant reminders throughout the day of my commitment to staying healthy and exercising.

I’ve made an effort to place each of these items in a place where I’m sure to see them each day. Without even thinking about it, this creates an unbreakable habit of encountering positive cues to help motivate me to stay focused and consistent with my exercise routine.

This way I make it a priority that my decision to stay healthy is never out of sight or out of mind.

Make It A Habit To Eat Healthy

For me, changing my eating habits helped me focus on getting healthy. This one just made it easier to start exercising regularly. I’m definitely not perfect on this one but I work at it.

Why else am I not eating as much of the junk I love if it’s not to get into better shape? It’s just a waste otherwise. The great thing about eating better is that I found out that I end up feeling better. When I feel better I’m more inclined to exercise.

By eating good food I have more energy before workouts. I don’t get worn out during exercising and I feel much better after I’m done. A couple great examples is oatmeal in the morning or a yogurt snack later in the afternoon.

The other critical thing about how eating well will help you develop good exercise habits is that you will see the results. If you don’t eat well you’re just putting up obstacles to reaching your fitness goals. But when you do eat well, you will see the results in your physique and how much better you will feel.

Imagine Where You Want To Be And Good Exercise Habits Will Follow

I’m sure you’ve heard variations on this for all aspects of life. I heard this one years ago as it relates to business. It’s used in everything from doing well in sports to relationships and so on.

The idea is that if you can imagine where you want your exercise plan to take you, it’s easier to get there. So you visualize yourself running a half marathon or being able to touch the rim of a basketball net. Whatever it is, by seeing yourself doing it, focusing on the image, you train yourself to get there. Eventually, it’s like going for a walk.

What I like to do is find somebody who has achieved similar fitness goals that I am working towards and learn their story. I like to learn about where they were, what they changed and their routines to hit their goals. If it’s a competitive athlete, and I can find their workout, I’ll check that out too.

By visualizing the athletic achievements of people who successfully got to where I am trying to go, it helps me to instill good exercise habits and prevents me from going off track.

Remember the first time you saw Rocky? Afterwards, didn’t you feel like you could be champion of the world if you put in the work? It’s kind of like that. If you didn’t feel that way, I’m guessing you’re not a fan of that kind of movie. No judgement.

Those are the techniques I use now for maintaining good exercise habits. So far they are helping me stick with it. If I discover anything new in the future I will be sure to share.