The behaviour that shapes your lifestyle

Our behaviour is what shapes our personality and our lifestyle. How do you behave? What are your habits?

It’s important to understand that if we make good habits in our life, our lifestyle and health will follow.

If we make a habit of getting 8 hours of sleep a night we will have higher levels of testosterone. As a consequence you will be leaner, have less stress and better brain function. If we make a habit of pre packing lunch and healthy snacks to take to work, you will increase performance at work and avoid the mid afternoon crash due to unstable blood sugar levels.

It’s easy to make bad habits such as eating sugar rich puddings every night after dinner, or not getting enough sleep. John Dryden famously said, “We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” It is the small things we do or don’t do that mould your physique and personality. In terms of health and fitness, it’s your approach to exercise and nutrition that determines whether you’re lean and strong, or over weight and weak. So adjust these two habits to make sure they are healthy habits and work for you.

This is how to do it:

Make a Habit out of it

Follow my suggestions below to change your behaviour, adjust your habits and meet your fitness goals.

1)      The first thing you need is to come to a decision on what habit would you like to develop. By targeting one specific habit to develop at a time you are more likely to achieve it. Below are some great habits that will help you reach your goals:

• Eat a good source of protein for breakfast and avoid processed food such as cereal.
• Take a packed lunch to work
• Exercise 3-4 times a week including weight training and interval training
• Find a personal trainer and accelerate your goals

2)      Record your one habit and write it down. Think about what is motivating you to make these adjustments, what problems you may face and how you’re going to over come these obstacles and achieve. Below is an example of what you would write down so you can remind yourself why and how you’re going to achieve your goals.

• I am going to eat a good source of protein for breakfast and cut out cereals
• My motivation is to 1) loose 10kg for my summer holiday. 2) increase my core strength to eliminate my back pain 3) Increase my energy levels
• Problems I may face are 1) not having enough time in the morning to get breakfast. 2) Not performing the most effective exercises to strengthen my core muscles and performing them incorrectly. 3) Not having enough energy to workout after I finish work.
• Solutions on how to over come the obstacles 1) Make breakfast the night before and leave in the fridge to speed things up in the morning. 2) Find a good personal trainer to help educate and coach me on technique. 3) Workout before going to work.

3)      Let your friends and family know about your new habit, this will hold you more accountable for changing your habits.

4)      Make sure you keep a detail journal of your workouts in terms of reps, sets, load and rest periods etc.

5)      If you do not complete your habit make sure you figure out the reason for failing so you can avoid it in future.

6)      Make sure you reward yourself when you do succeed.

After a while your new habit will become second nature you start doing it without thinking about it. Once this happens, think of another habit you want to develop and start the process again.