Here is shocking statistic I just read. 91% of people fail in their exercise and health goals. I can attest that of my clients who DO NOT develop a realistic plan which includes starting small things everyday to develop good habits, they often never are able to attain their health goals.
I am going to share a couple of secrets I use in my most successful clients to help them create and maintain good habits that they are able use for a lifetime.
1. Eat right
Any fitness goal you set will fail if you do not fix your nutrition. The most common mistake I see is that people try to start a diet.
Diets DON’T work! Most of them are not realistic to follow in the long term and most require you to count calories to restrict yourself of caloric intake. Don’t starve yourself! Starvation diets are super bad for you!
Instead, change how you intake food. Start eating as organic as you can. When you are shopping, stick to the parameter of the store! The outside edges of the store is where all the fresh food is! Stay away from the packaged foods and get more fresh food in your shopping!
The clients I have helped who get the best results change how they eat and the quality of food they eat. Our bodies are very simple. When you feed yourself good quality food, you get good results.
To find out how to develop a good nutrition plan for yourself. Pick Paul Chek’s book “How to Eat, Move and be Healthy”. It is the best book I have found that helps to create a realistic eating plan that can be maintained for a lifetime.
2. Get Group support
No one can be successful alone. To really get to any of your goals, you need a team of people to help you get there. For your fitness goals, that usually means a coach of some kind and of group of people to inspire you and hold you accountable for showing up to do the work.
Build that group by getting them into whatever activity you are into. Ask a friend to to yoga with you for a while, talk them into going running. Whatever you choose, don’t do it alone.
You can get built in support in our regular yoga sessions!. Our community of people at the studio often build deep bounds through sweat and effort. There is nothing like going through a workout schedule with 20 other people who have made the same commitment. They will make you WANT to get to sessions.
I see the best results from those that embrace a group and become a part of community. It is so much easier that way.
I will give you a personal example. 24 years ago I walked into my first Martial arts teacher studio in my hometown of Santa Barbara. The studio was a great place because everyone was really into training and made if fun and inspiring for me to get past the very difficult first couple months of training. I still 24 years late have most of them as friends!
When I moved to San Francisco in 1993 I started at my current Sifu’s (teacher) studio, I had a amazing group of classmates that helped me gain skill. They drilled me until things were perfect, they made me work hard to I got better. They made it fun! To this day whenever I go to my Sifus place in Chinatown, they still correct my form and expect excellence. I deeply respect them and because of it I still practice martial arts 20 years later.
3. Don’t over do it!
If you want to build good habits that you can maintain, make your exercise week realistic!! If you have not been working out regularly, suddenly doing 2 intense workouts a day 6 days a week and then training for half marathon or triathlon IS TOO MUCH!!
In fact, you will put a bunch of stress on your body, over train and often get hurt. Start slow, do 3-4 sessions of something for at least 21 days. After about 6 weeks bump it up to 5 days. Remember if you do too much too quick you will burn out and be like the 91% of people who fail at their health goals!
These are just few simple tips you can use to NOT be one of the masses! Be successful this year and built good habits and take action every day to get them! Small steps every day lead to big gains at the end of the year!