TUTORIAL #4 BUILD GOOD HABITS

WE ARE CREATURES OF HABIT We are creatures that live our lives with lots of different habits, we do hundreds of habits throughout our life that we don’t even realise we are doing because they are set into our subconscious mind. Kind of like we are on auto pilot. For example… When you are driving home from work, do you actually remember the journey? Yes you are paying attention [I hope] but you know what gear, where to turn, how long the traffic lights are when to speed up etc. This all subconscious living, basically you have done this so many times that it has sunk into your subconscious mind and you no longer need to think deeply about what you are doing because it just comes naturally to you.

HOW DOES THIS RELATE? Well this is relative because YOU right now are doing some habits which do no not benefit your life. These bad habits can be: Not pushing yourself when Training [Giving in too easy] Sitting down at the TV instead of getting up and active Eating foods which give no benefit [i.e. crisps, chocolate, biscuits etc] Having a negative attitude towards the harder things [i.e. certain exercises, getting up early to prep food, sacrificing the comfort foods, picking foods throughout the day] Smoking/ drinking Skipping breakfast Not drinking enough water [The list goes on…]

“AS OF TOMORROW NO MORE BAD HABITS…” You resolve to change your bad habits. You mean it. Sometimes you succeed but often you fail. Why? Not because you're week. You're failing because, simply put, habits are extremely hard to change. They're hard to change because they're so ingrained, because they're so almost-automatic. Also you may have been doing these habits for years and they are so deeply planted in your subconscious mind so how on earth will they just change after 1 week? But with a little bit of work, small progressions and a positive mind set you will change these bad habits for extremely beneficial ones.

Before we go anywhere and start changing these habits we need to know 3 things…

#1 WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW? Firstly you need to know where you are at right now with your health. Ask yourself “WHAT DO I NEED TO CHANGE?” I suggest you write down 3 bad habits which are Training related, food/ drink related, lifestyle related. For example: Training: Being negative when I come to do pull ups. Food/ Drink: Drinking alcohol at home throughout the week Lifestyle: Going to bed late

TIME TO MAKE A CHANGE… The most important one for you to work on would be the food/ drink or lifestyle related habit. We can work on the Training habit when we are in the gym. The next step would be to use the Habit Development Chart [Download]. It is pretty self explanatory.

A FEW STATISTICS… Choosing 3 or more habits at a time has a less than 5% success rate. Choosing 2 habits to change gives you less than 50% success rate. 1 habit change at a time will give you an 85% - 95% success rate.

#2 WHERE ARE YOU INTENDING TO GO? You need to figure out your X in Y… Basically you need to know what your goals are. X in Y just means “I want to FIT INTO THIS DRESS in 3 MONTHS” or “I want to be able to WEAR THIS SHIRT COMFORTABLY in 8 WEEKS” Goal setting is vital, you need to know where you want to be in a certain amount of time, you wouldn’t just randomly get in your car with no destination set would you? So why start Training and changing your life if you have no goal? Where there is no goal there is no target Where this is no target there is no purpose, Where there is no purpose well then why would you need to put that extra bit of effort in?

SET YOUR GOALS 5 Reason's to set a goal: 1. Goals, when properly planted in your subconscious mind, provide direction and stimulate action. 2. Goals create energy and motivation. 3. Goals get you out of bed early in the morning and into the gym. 4. Goals keep you going when you feel like quitting. 5. The goal is the destination, would you randomly get in a car without an idea of where to go? You are 90% more likely to succeed if you have a goal set.

HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED The secret to staying motivated all the time is to set emotionally charged goals, commit them to writing, and stay focused on those goals day and night. A goal with a purpose is the fuel that propels you forward. You might think you're in total conscious control of your body but really it's your subconscious that controls everything. Base your goals around these 3 topics: 1. A training related goal: 10 Press ups, or 1 Full Pull up. 2. A lifestyle related goal: To wake up feeling refreshed 3. A Physique related goal: To fit into my favourite outfit [Specific outfit i.e. dress, shirt]

BE SPECIFIC & REALISTIC Now these goals have to be SPECIFIC and REALISTIC, as you can see I haven't written: "Get stronger and fit" because how do you know when you are stronger or fitter? What is the marker for that? "To feel healthy" because how do you know when you feel healthy? Healthy for one person may be different for another. "To lose weight" how much 'weight' is your goal? Be specific and realistic, know what you want, and then when you know that we will work together to get you there. Most importantly with your goals you need to stay positive, look for small steps all the time. We are not looking for perfection we are looking for progression.

#3 LOOK AT WHERE YOU HAVE COME FROM It is important to know where you have been to know where you want to be. If you have made progression already in the last few months then be proud of that and look at what you have achieved. Also look back at your health over the last 5 years and if you have been really low on all aspects of your health then it is important for you to know that you don’t want to be at the stage ever again.

SUMMARY 1. Find out what your bad habits are 2. Choose one to change for a positive habit 3. Set 3 goals [Training related, lifestyle related, and physique related] 4. Look at your past health or recent progress "A fox that chases two rabbits catches neither."