Let’s be honest, building any type of habit is hard work. There are ups and downs and so many times you will find yourself back at the beginning. It is totally normal to have to start over a few times for sure. Building a fitness habit is exactly the same. You may start off strong because you are excited for a new adventure but eventually the glam fads and you slowly stop doing it.
How many times have you started an exercise routine only to stop in a few weeks down the line? I know for me it is at least 6 times. From joining gyms, going to yoga and kickboxing, I tried so many things. I tried at home fitness programs and went back to the gym. It honestly never mattered where I was exercising because I never made it a habit. I would start, it would get hard and I would get tired and stop. It wasn’t until I intentionally made it a habit that it stuck. In this post I am going to teach you my secrets on being successful with my fitness consistency!
Being Committed To Showing Up
The phrase “just keep showing up” is fantastic to say but you actually have to do it. The biggest thing you have to remember with consistency is that showing up can look different every day. Some days it might look like a full send on your workouts and some days maybe showing up means you stretch for 15 minutes. This is important because you are training yourself that no matter what happens in your day or how you feel you are going to find a way to do something.
The key to building any habit is realizing that it is going to take time and work. There are going to be days when you just want to sit on the couch and watch a movie. That is completely fine but maybe do some kind of movement before or during! You can’t build a habit if you are going to keep skipping it when you don’t feel like getting it done.
Set Aside Excuses
On any given day I could easily come up with at least 5 excuses to skip my workout. We all are busy and get tired. If you really want to build this habit then you are going to have to be disciplined and make yourself do it.
I heard Mel Robbins say once, you have to parent yourself. Think about it, if you tell your kids to clean their room, most likely they are not going to want to do it. But you as the parent are going to stay on top of them and make sure it gets done. Well, you have to do the same thing to yourself. You have to make sure you get it done, even when you don’t want to.
Making excuses and being realistic are two different things. If you are home sick in bed and you skip your workout, that is not making an excuse. That is making a smart choice. Coming home from work and just feeling tired, now that is an excuse. Constantly saying you are too busy, that’s an excuse.
If you want to really make this a habit you are going to have to show up, even on the days you don’t feel like it!
Drop Perfection
The all or nothing mentality is something else we are going to need to work on when building a fitness habit. You have to give up the expectation that you will be able to completely show up perfectly every single day. It’s not going to happen. There I told you straight out, you are not going to be able to give it your absolute best every day!
You want to set the bar at showing up instead of crushing every workout you do. Once you do that you put less stress on yourself and you are more willing to show up on the off days instead of making an excuse. Some days just don’t work out, it’s life. But when you show up in some way during those days you are continuing your habit and teaching your mind that no matter what is going on you will find a way to show up!
If habits were easy to build you would already have it right? Give yourself some understanding and know that there are going to be times when you go back to your old ways. When that happens commit to showing up again. Don’t ever quit on that and you will be successful!
Starting small and tracking can help you be more successful with building new habits. I created this free guide to help you do just that! Grab it below!
