Habits for physical fitness …

There’s a Spanish proverb that states, “Habits are first cobwebs, then cables.”

A habit — good or bad — may start out being as flimsy as a cobweb, but if we’re persistent enough to turn what we’re doing, thinking, or feeling into a real habit, it can become as durable as a cable.

To maintain a lifetime of physical fitness, we need to develop habits that foster, nurture, and maintain physical fitness. Here are some habits to consider for your physical fitness:

If you’re really going to make good physical fitness a life habit, you’ll need to have a stewardship mentality of your body. One of the greatest habits for physical fitness you can adopt is seeing your whole life — specifically to include your physical body — as a gift from God, being something you have a stewardship of. You get one physical body for this lifetime, take good care of it, treat it as the gift from God that it is.

Exercise first thing in the morning. For many people, workouts or exercise of just about any kind won’t happen if they don’t make it a priority part of the start of their day. That’s because they get swept away by all the other things that fill life — work, family, overflowing schedules, kids school events, etc. — once they launch into their day and use all those things as an excuse for not including exercise as a regular part of life. So make exercise a part of the start of your day so that all those other things don’t have a chance to become excuses.

Exercise first thing after work. If you insist you’re not a morning person and nothing will convince you to start your day with a challenging workout, then exercise first thing after work — preferably before going home. That’s because, once again, we use all the busy activities that happen after getting home from work to crowd out making time for exercise. So don’t even allow that to happen by prioritizing getting in regular exercise immediately after work and before launching into your evening routines and responsibilities.

Here’s another way of making the points above a reality: Consistently make physical exercise a calendar item that cannot be bumped. The reason so many people neglect exercise is because they say they can’t work it into their schedules. Reverse that by putting workouts on your schedule and make them one schedule item that can’t be bumped. If a day is so busy something on the calendar has to go, it will have to be something other than your physical exercise because you’ve already designated that as a calendar item that cannot be bumped.

If you must have rewards for your efforts, make sure you earn them. Let’s be honest, a lot of people are dishonest when it comes to earning “rewards” or “cheat days” for their exercise and nutrition efforts. What they call a reward or “cheat day” is more than an indulgence, it’s an over-indulgence (setting back some gains) and not truly earned. There’s nothing wrong with motivating yourself with an occasional reward, treat, or “cheat day,” but make sure you have truly earned them first, then don’t go overboard by over-indulging and making them setbacks on your gains.

Integrate more movement and activity into all parts of your life. If you mostly live a sedentary life other than the time you put into workouts each week, you’re working against the very reason why you exercise. You’ll experience a more robust physical fitness by integrating more movement and activity into all (or more) aspects of your life, such as:

• • Develop the habit of having an active lunch break.
  • Develop the habit of moving more and being more active during the evening hours.
  • Develop the habit of moving more and being more active during your weekends.
  • Develop the habit of having more active “date nights.”
  • Develop the habit of having more active vacations.

Develop the habit of measuring your goals and holding yourself accountable for achieving them. Of course, this means you need to have a goal or goals regarding your physical fitness, but not “hollow” or dishonest ones. Regularly measure your progress, adjust as you go, and hold yourself accountable for reaching them … then setting new ones.

Integrate the topics of physical fitness, exercise, nutrition, and health into your regular reading. Developing a habit of educating yourself (on an ongoing basis) regarding these subject matters helps to keep you informed and equipped to effectively nurture your physical fitness.

Maintain the right gear for your exercise and nutrition habits. A good pair of shoes is important for a habit of physical exercise. But you might also need some clothes that are conducive to the demands of workouts, maybe some headphones for workout music playlists, specific equipment if you workout at home, etc. If physical exercise and good nutrition are truly going to be your lifelong habits, then get and maintain what you need to effectively and efficiently exercise and eat healthy.

Make activity/fitness a couples thing. If you’re married, your spouse is your companion for the journey through life. The more you have their support and encouragement for making physical fitness a habit, the more likely you’ll succeed at really making physical fitness a habit. If you can share and enjoy this habit together, all the better!

Make activity/fitness a family affair. Kids today grow up inactive and develop, as children(!), a sedentary lifestyle. That is setting up children for obesity and the potential for multiple serious health issues as adults. Help your children learn to be good stewards of their body by growing up valuing their personal physical fitness, and teach them how have fit and healthy lifestyles by making activity, exercise, and good nutrition a family affair.

Make activity/fitness something you share with at least some of your friends. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for ‘bad company corrupts good character.'” In other words, the company we keep — especially regarding our friends — has an influence in our lives. Making sure to hang out with some friends that you can share your fitness habits and activities with makes fitness more fun and adds a source of encouragement, positive challenge, and can also be a source of accountability.

Integrate fitness and nutrition sources into your social media. Social media is a significant influence in the lives of millions (or more) people around the world. If you’re going to have connections in your social media that have any level of influence in your life, why not include some positive, sound sources that encourage and inform you regarding fitness and nutrition?

Make getting a good night’s sleep a habit. Having healthy sleep patterns is important for peak fitness and health, including mental health. This is a habit that needs to have priority status.

Keep things fresh. Yes, keeping your exercise and nutrition fresh should be a habit because you want to avoid getting bogged down in fitness “plateaus” or getting bored from becoming stuck in routines that don’t have to be permanent routines. Keeping things fresh make them more enjoyable, provide for a new challenge or experience, and give you something to look forward to.

Specifically pertaining to nutrition, some good habits to develop might include:

Cook at home as much as possible. It is possible to “eat healthy” when dining out, but it’s usually much more difficult, and the temptation not to skyrockets. Eliminate that by cooking at home as much as possible (of course, that’s only best when you cook nutritious food at home!).

Develop the habit of menu planning, then shopping from a list made from your menu. When you plan your meals, and then only buy from that menu, you won’t have a lot of junk in the kitchen to tempt you. You’ll also save money by only buying from a list made from developing menu.

“Fuel your day,” meaning DO NOT SKIP BREAKFAST! When you awake each day, your metabolism (and thus, your energy) is at its lowest peak. Spark your metabolism for energy by eating a nutritious breakfast before leaving your house. This will give you the best launch (physically and even mentally) for your day.

Make it a habit to drink lots of water. The benefits for doing so are wide-ranging and include helping balance body fluids, controlling calories, avoiding muscle fatigue, to keeping your skin looking good.

Eat whole, real foods. Make it a habit to avoid processed foods.

Consider developing the habit of freezing nutritious meals for those times when “you just don’t want to cook.” It’s when you absolutely don’t “feel” like cooking you’re most tempted to eat poorly, but if you have some healthy meals frozen and ready to prepare in minutes, you can avoid this temptation.

Make eating to satiety a permanent habit. To be “satiated” means to eat until you’ve had enough; you’re full, but not “stuffed.” Instead of over-indulging and eating more “because you can,” don’t, learn to be satisfied with portion-controlled meals that meet your needs for good nutrition and physical fitness.

Recognize and tame emotional eating. Many times, when we find ourselves opening the refrigerator or a kitchen cabinet and scoping out what’s there, if we asked ourselves if we’re really hungry, the honest answer would be no. In many cases, we’re bored, or anxious, or distracted, or anything but hungry, but we “comfort” ourselves with food. That’s often bad for our physical fitness, can be bad for our health, and not at all good or satisfying for our emotional and mental well-being.

Good physical fitness and nutrition doesn’t just happen, they have to become habits for daily living. What habits do you currently have in place for your physical fitness and nutrition? What habits should you break, and what habits do you need to develop to achieve good physical fitness and to eat well?

Scotty