We have all heard the adage “You are what you repeatedly do”
Webster’s definition of Habit: a usual way of behaving : something that a person does often in a regular and repeated way. : a strong need to use a drug, to smoke cigarettes, etc. : a piece of clothing worn by members of a religious group.
The last couple months I have been reviewing and reading tips from books like “ The Power of Habit”, “ Atomic Habit”, “High Performance Habits“, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and thinking of ways to improve our communities health through habit forming strategies to facilitate getting to your health and wellness goals.
First step is to identify what your bad habit is and the true WHY behind your actions. Second Step would be to limit that habit to ONE VARIABLE to see if it clears up some of the urges you get that triggers that bad habit. Third step would be to consciously REPEAT the good habit in place of the bad habit until autonomous. (21-30 days) Once the habit has been turned over to your subconscious, the hard work has been done.
To give you a real life example, and to protect the privacy of our community, I will use myself.
I find this is great for starting routines and aiding in things like good eating and sleeping habits. As a personal testimony. I decided to do a hypertrophy training program these last 2 months. After training 5x a week taking 2 days off 1 to rest completely and 1 to do therapy ( Achilles Tendon Rupture). I tracked my progress through the Fit3D Body scanner.
One of the biggest factors of staying consistent was the accountability of having the test set and making sure I stayed true to tracking my progress. Also the proper planning of writing a Program that is based in science to help gain as much muscle mass as possible. Next it was just to stay consistent at sleeping and eating correctly. Set a Goal and work the plan.
Since starting the program, I’ve dropped 6 percent body fat and gained 10 lbs of muscle mass and lost 12 lbs of fat mass.
This was all due to changing habits and mindset. Habits are formed in the Basal Ganglia, which converts a sequence of actions into an automatic routine called chunking.
We rely on these everyday habits like putting toothpaste on the toothbrush, getting dressed, operating a car, etc to be able to create a new habit we have to consciously do the new habit and repeat until it is autonomous.
Sleep, Nutrition, Training, and Stress Management are all factors in changing body composition and achieving goals.
Cue routine reward, cue routine reward, and a habit is born. Good or bad but understanding the science behind habits can be your greatest opportunity or your largest liability.
Create a craving/ sensation or a trigger to start the habit loop. For example toothpaste wasn’t used daily until Pepsodent targeted plaque and beauty of teeth with their marketing and the sensation of tingling minty in toothpaste increased their sales tremendously.
Find the cue and clearly define the rewards.
- Cue: Plaque and tooth film
- Rewards: Beautiful clean teeth
- Sensation: Minty Tingly Feeling
- Cue: Workout when you wake up
- Reward: Smoothie after gym
- Sensation: Euphoria and dopamine release from Brain
- Cue: Ate Healthy for a long time
- Reward: Bikini or Body-fat Percentage acquired
- Sensation: Feeling Accomplished and Confident in your skin Change your bad habits to Good Ones.
We are what we repeatedly do! The time is now to replace some of your bad habits with new ones that can help facilitate your health goals! If you need help please do not hesitate to reach out to the Old Bull Team.
