Fitness habits you need...

Fit people look after themselves to support their busy schedule, whereas unfit people don’t bother because of their busy schedules

• Healthy people don't make the excuse of not having enough time to be healthy, rather they take responsibility and acknowledge that they need to make the time for themselves. This is because health is not an option, it is absolutely necessary.

Fit people treat their health as a top priority

• Those who achieve great things in fitness only do so because they value their health very highly. Fit people treat an appointment to the gym with the same level of importance as they would a business meeting. They don't cancel unless there is a full blown emergency. They understand that on the occasions where they don't feel like training or eating well, the only productive way to solve the conflict is to raise their mentality up to the level of the obstacle rather than looking for ways to reduce the size of the obstacle.

Fit people are not interested in making fitness any easier, they are interested in finding a way to endure more.

• They prioritise rest and recovery, they take supplements to reduce their post workout soreness. They take supplements to reduce the inflammation. They ensure that their food is appropriate by not eating junk after training. They know if they do that they will not be able to train as much. They eat food to recover and fuel them rather than for any other reason.

Fit people do not allow emotions to control their eating

• Fit people eat consciously and listen to the correct cues for eating. If they are particularly hungry on any given day then they will eat more. On other days they will eat less. However they will not ignore their body either way. They also do not allow things such as tiredness, stress and emotion influence their food choices.  They eat the foods they should be eating as a natural lifestyle and only deviate when they have planned it in.

Fit people wipe the slate clean when they eat unhealthily. They appreciate that one bad meal will make just as much of a difference as one healthy meal.

• When fit people have a splurge meal they leave it at the table, and most importantly they don't feel guilty about it. They allow it to be a completely positive experience. They have included these kinds of events into their normal diet and so they feel good about it.

Fit people don’t get on the wagon so that they can’t fall off.  

• Fit people don't make huge lifestyle changes all at once. They appreciate that their lifestyle has taken a long time to develop and as such will most likely take a long time to change. By not participating in a short term diet they are infinitely more likely to succeed. They focus on the bigger picture and break what they have to do into simple and easy to achieve steps.

 
Fit people chunk down their dreams by assigning a date and working out the necessary steps to get there. Then all they have to do is do it. Unfit people think, ‘one day I’ll get there’ and wait for it to happen

• When considering what they would like to achieve fit people first start with their dream. They then assign a date and time when they think is realistic to have achieved it. This transforms what was a dream into a goal. Then they break the goal down into sub goals. The sub goals alone are far easier to manage mentally than the goal itself. Within those sub goals they write a plan on how they are going to achieve it. Now they have an action plan. Is the top of mind awareness to put those plans into action.

Fit people keep goals at the top of their mind.

• Anyone looking to change the habits of a lifetime needs to be constantly reminded of what they are working towards. If it is a life or death situation your brain will remind you often enough, but where the motivation is not intrinsically that strong fit people use tools to keep themselves focussed on their task.
• They use tools like diaries, files, motivational pictures, food journals and they track their training progress with a programme card.

Fit people train with intent. They track their progress accurately and begin each session with a set of goals to achieve. Unfit people turn up, work out and leave.

• Diet is a complicated issue, and as a result I think it is important to be a bit more understanding when things don't all go to plan. However there is one aspect of health and fitness with which there are very few valid excuses; training intensity.
• Fit people train with the intention of getting fitter, leaner and healthier every time they walk in the gym. What they don't do is think that turning up is enough. Yes it's better than nothing, but not by much. Fit people track their progress and test how far they have come.

Fit people constantly test their limits.

• Fit people compete with others to test themselves. If they are into weightlifting they do a meet, if they are a runner they do 10k and track the time. It is vital that your health and fitness has an outside pressure to force you to progress. If not then you are in danger of becoming too comfortable where you are.

Fit people understand that comfort is the enemy of change

• Fit people understand that if there is no strong reason to change then it isn't going to happen. Therefore they have to make themselves uncomfortable in order to keep the motivation going. They force the discomfort by having friends and coaches to hold them accountable.

Fit people don’t do it alone, they have friends and a coach

• People who are serious about getting in shape look for outside help to get them where they need to be. They are level headed enough to acknowledge that if they have failed alone before then they will most likely fail again if they do the same thing. Healthy people rely on friends and colleagues for support or seek professional help to design a programme which will work.

In short fit people do what unfit people won't

RWL GYM Group
99 Barkby Road, Thurmaston, Leicestershire, LE4 9LG

': 0116 276 3411
š: trainingdept@rwlgym.co.uk
ü:  www.rwlgym.co.uk

Follow RWL on Facebook , Twitter