How To Get Started With Your Fitness and Diet Routine: Discipline, Motivation and Delaying Gratification

Picking up a new skill or committing to a new lifestyle change can be difficult, even down right daunting for some. As someone who constantly tries to challenge himself and help others overcome their biggest barriers, I see a big common obstacle holding people back.

Many people are afraid to pursue new hobbies and learn skills because they're afraid their time commitment won't be worth it. In the realm of fitness and dieting, people hesitate to start to a training program if they don't see the value in it or if they don't believe the results will be worth the hard work. Let's face it, starting a work out plan SUCKS. You are get sore, you get tired, you feel like puking and worst of all, you don't see results until a few weeks in. Humans are naturally unable to hold of short-term gratification (continue living a sedentary life style because its easy) for long-term success (better metabolic health, fitter, healthier) - it's a survival mechanism! Why start a training program or diet if it cuts into your current schedule and takes time away from the hobbies you love? What if results aren't guaranteed? 

The Marshmallow Experiment was a series of studies led by a professor from Standford University. In these studies, children were offered an immediate rewards (marshmallows or cookies in this case) or a much larger rewards (several marshmallows) if they waited for a short period of time. Follow-up studies found that children who were able to wait had better life outcomes.

Similar studies were done with younger adults who were offered either $5 immediately, or $15 if they waited a day or two (can't seem to find the studies, feel free to PM or link it to me if you do find it!).

My point is, the biggest obstacle that people face with their fitness goals is the uncertainty about the future. Being able to fight through pain and becoming more comfortable in uncomfortable situations, like from your first few weeks of working out and dieting, is crucial for long term success and health. I understand it's hard, but here are some solutions:

Educate yourself:

• Watch a 10 minute video on fitness everyday. Expose yourself to the lifestyle before jumping in head first. This will help you build confidence.

• Learn about the benefits of resistance training and cardiovascular exercise

• Most importantly, find examples of people you know who have changed their life for the better through healthy living, exercise and fitness. Talk to these people. Ask questions! They'll be glad to share their story and help you.

The education process reinforces the notion that results WILL be made if you put the work in. You just have to give it time. This relieves uncertainty about the future and gives you direction and affirmation.

Ease your way into a routine:

• Start off with 1-2 workouts a week.

• Make small changes to your diet, whether its by elimination (no more soda or sugary drinks on weekdays), or introduction (including a minimum of 2 green salads on the weekend).

This is the "testing the waters" part. Gradual changes to your current lifestyle is the easiest way to transition into a more healthier one.  

Big overhauls to your diet or schedule can be very effective, but be careful of burnout or rebounding. If you're a person that receives motivation through faster initial results, a big overhaul or sudden lifestyle change might be beneficial. This is why "fat loss challenges" or "30 day transformation challenges" can be so successful.

I hope this helps you kick start your fitness journey!

For a more detailed article on how to more successfully build habits in the fitness world, read my article "The Ultimate Guide To Building Sustainable Fitness Habits".

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Guilt and Shame: Motivation For Exercise and Gym Attendance?

Photo Credit: Psypost.org & U.S Pacific Fleet

Today, I came across this article: http://www.psypost.org/2016/09/mens-hidden-guilt-shame-body-fat-can-fuel-gym-attendance-study-finds-44867

Body image, expectations and attitudes towards exercise is usually a topic for women in mainstream media. However, this article/study examines how feelings of guilt and shame in men affect their exercise habits and gym attendance. These are my thoughts:

"The researchers found that men worried about body fat were more likely than others to undertake spontaneous, unplanned work-outs – and warned that these ‘sporadic’ exercise patterns tend to be difficult to sustain over time."

Sporadic exercise patterns are better than no exercise at all. Some people/trainers may say: there is no harm in feeling a bit guilty for not hitting the gym, whatever gets you up and moving. I generally agree with this. In my experience, many guys need a little kick in the ass to get them started. Whether these exercise patterns can be sustained should be addressed AFTER someone has already started exercising. It is then a matter of habit formation, support systems (friends, family, workout partners) and most importantly whether they're seeing results or not.

"With the recent growth of ‘selfies’ and the return of muscle-bound Hollywood hero icons like Vin Diesel and Hugh Jackman, there’s a real risk that males may be more influenced to attend the gym more regularly and workout to a point where it becomes dangerous or detracts from their wellbeing."

Looking and feeling like Superman is a "real risk" I believe people shouldn't be afraid of taking. How many people do you know where their well-being is being threatened by regular exercise? Please note that many middle-aged celebrities are on some sort of testosterone-replacement-therapy. A guy in their teens, 20s or even early 30s can build a healthy physique and improve their health and well-being naturally. Exercise is also about balance. How can you fit exercise into your life without detracting too much from other areas such as work and family?

For others that have struggled with their body image and their fitness, I urge you not to take the role of the victim. Find a trainer, watch some Youtube videos, ask a friend to go to the gym with you. For the first few weeks, its okay to let the feelings of guilt and shame motivate you to get in the gym, on your bike, in your running shoes; or whatever gets you moving. Those feelings will go away as you start to change your perspective on exercise. A lot of people seem to forget exercise improves mental health as much as it does physically. What starts out as a sporadic exercise schedule will develop into what I hope to be, a healthy habit. 

Thanks for reading!

Link to the study mentioned in the article:  http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2016&issue=09000&article=00024&type=abstract

P.S. One of the best articles I've ever written is on habit formation, and how to take advantage of your environment and support systems to reach your fitness goals. This article has a special place in my life as it combines my experiences with science to demystify the motivations and steps required to form a healthy exercise habit. Its all about stacking the odds in your favor.

Check it at my fitness colleague's website:

 http://www.fitnesspollenator.com/2015/10/surprising-reasons-youre-not-reaching-your-fitness-goals.html

The ULTIMATE Guide To Building SUSTAINABLE FITNESS Habits

Article originally posted on Travis Pollen's website: http://www.fitnesspollenator.com/2015/10/surprising-reasons-youre-not-reaching-your-fitness-goals.html

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Through years of experimental and observational research on human physiology and biomechanics, science has dictated the optimal way to train for specific fitness goals. The problem is, the most efficient route may not always be the most enjoyable -- especially for people new to exercise.

What often happens to beginners is that they begin to find their routine boring and monotonous. These people eventually fall off and stop working out all together; whether it’s due to boredom or a lack of progress/results. Now, much like science, where adherence is an important factor in experimental studies, adherence is also a crucial part of a beginner's long-term fitness success.

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The Dual Process Approach

In order for a person to adhere to an exercise program, they must first have the intention of working out. Psychologists theorize that the strongest conscious predictor of behavior and adherence is intention (1). Does the person have an intention to lose weight? To get stronger? To run faster? The first step to exercising is being conscious about wanting to change their behavior. Psychologists have also proposed that the greatest unconscious predictor is habit (2). Habits are said to be automatic actions or responses to a specific cue. Together, they form what is called a Dual Process approach to exercise habit and behavior formation (3). The Dual Process approach proposes that both conscious and unconscious processes of the brain work in conjunction in order to successfully form a behavior.

Setting Goals – Intentions

Do you have a clear, conscious thought about exercising? Great, you have already formed an intention. But let’s get more in depth to make sure you take your first step towards exercising: setting goals.

Step 1) Evaluate your current lifestyle, what don’t you like about it? What areas in your life are problematic?

Step 2) Set long-term goals. This is what you dream about, losing 30 lbs of fat, putting 50 lbs on your bench press, being able to run a full marathon. Whatever your goals may be, write them down!

Step 3) Set a couple short-term goals. The word “short-term” can be ambiguous; does it mean within a 1-month time frame? 2 months? 6 months? I like considering short-term goals as the baby steps that you take towards your long-term goals. Some short-term goals might be

a)    Finding a local gym and buying a membership

b)    Planning your exercise frequency around your current work/school schedule (e.g. My short-term goal is to go to the gym three times a week. I will go after work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 45 minutes each session).

Make sure the goals that you are setting are realistic and sustainable (which helps with habit formation). Setting a goal to hit the gym before you leave for work isn’t realistic if you have to be at work by 8:00 am and it takes you an hour to drive there, especially if you’re not used to waking up at 5:00 am. (The exception here would be if you have a very tight schedule and can’t find an alternative time.) Setting a goal to lose 30 lbs of fat in one month is also not realistic, as it would likely cause you to resort to unhealthy and dangerous ways of losing the weight.
 

Habit Formation

Researchers suggest that there are four factors that contribute to habit formation: rewards, behavioral complexity, consistency and environmental cues (4). Let’s go over each factor, including suggestions for increasing your chances of forming long-lasting exercise habits.

Rewards

Operant conditioning (OC) often explains and drives many of our behaviors and psychology. The OC theory states that behaviors are controlled by consequences, specifically, through reinforcement and punishment (5). Reinforcement is a process that increases the frequency of the behavior either through a rewarding stimulus (positive reinforcement) or a removal of an unfavorable stimulus (negative reinforcement). Punishment, on the other hand, is a process that decreases the frequency of a certain behavior either through an introduction of an aversive stimulus (positive punishment -- yes, there is such a thing), or a removal of a favorable stimulus (negative punishment). 

The following figure illustrates the breakdown of the OC theory.

Exercise is unique in the sense that you go through periods of positive punishment before you reach the stage of positive reinforcement. The physiological adaptations and side effects of exercise/working out (resistance exercise, especially) are usually muscle soreness and overall body fatigue, which is considered by definition to be positive punishment (because there is an introduction of unfavorable stimuli). These outcomes are unavoidable with exercise, but it is our body’s ability to adapt to these stressors that makes us better and healthier than we were before.

It’s important to fight the urge to give up and fall off the exercise program.  The reason why we continue to exercise is that we know exercise is good for our health and that we expect results. So why do people quit after a few workouts? 1) They simply don’t experience the results they were aiming for, and 2) somewhere along their fitness journey, they decided that feeling uncomfortable, tired, and sore wasn’t worth it.

Getting a person to adhere to their exercise program (increasing behavior) is all about rewards (positive reinforcement). People’s exercise frequency and behavior increases when they start seeing their goals come to fruition in the form of fat loss, pain alleviation, increased mobility, etc. Knowing that, how do we increase the chance of positive reinforcement and maximize our rewards?

1) Education

Learning safe and effective exercise technique is key to maximizing your results and giving you the comfort of knowing that the exercises you are performing will move you towards your goal. Education is also important for setting realistic expectations. Knowing that it is physiological impossibility to gain 20 lbs of muscle mass in two weeks will save you frustration and disappointment when you realize that you look the same as you did before the past two weeks of “hardcore” weightlifting. People looking to lose fat mass may not see results until 3 weeks into exercising, whereas people looking to pack on muscle mass may not see results until 8-9 weeks of resistance training (depending on previous lifting experience).

2) Hire a knowledgeable personal trainer/coach

If you lack the free time to do your own research on health and fitness, it’s wise to hire a fitness professional to help you out. Unfortunately, it can be pretty hard to differentiate between a good and bad trainer (no, their physique doesn’t tell you much about their fitness knowledge). Read some reviews, and ask your friends or family members for a referral. Choosing a good personal trainer might also be a trial and error process.

3) Think long-term

Avoid programs like INSANITY, P90X, ab-blaster 9000 or any program that “promises” you results in a very short period of time. You will increase the chances of acquiring an injury, and the results you gain from these programs are most likely not sustainable. The truth is, you’ll most likely have to develop a good aerobic conditioning base, proper movement patterns, and flexibility before you can partake in high-intensity, high-impact, or heavy-loaded exercises. Ease your way into it and remind yourself that you’re in this for the long run.

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Behavioral Complexity

The more complex the behavior, the more likely it will require conscious processes (6). Since the dual process approach proposes that habit is often created through unconscious, automated processes and cues, we must start off our exercise program with simple and easy-to-digest exercises. Although learning new exercise techniques does require conscious thoughts and increased body proprioception, it would be a much better idea to learn how to perform a bodyweight squat than it would be to learn a power snatch.

The complexity of the behavior (exercise in this case) is also related to self-efficacy. Exercises with a low complexity will boost our confidence as we believe we have more chances of succeeding it in (unconscious self-efficacy). This is why running, cycling, and hiking are more popular than resistance training or sports: they’re simple to do (plus the fact that they’re more accessible and convenient to the general population)!

Here are a few ways we can minimize behavioral complexity in hopes of maximizing habit formation:

1) Start slow and ease your way in

This relates to point #3 under Rewards. Building an aerobic conditioning base and learning simple movement patterns (squat, hip hinge, pushing, and pulling) will go a long way in helping you achieve your short- and long-term fitness goals.

2) Regressions and progressions

For bodyweight and resistance exercises, learn the regressions and progressions of each exercise (or hire a professional) so you can monitor your improvement and know how to reduce or increase the complexity of every exercise.

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Environmental Cues

The environment also plays a big role in habit development, as it can “prompt or disrupt automatic behavior” (7). Contexts where we feel safe and comfortable will boost self-efficacy and greatly contribute to forming unconscious behavior. It’s hard for people with low self-esteem and social physique anxiety to participate in group classes or expose themselves to a whole gym. It takes time to realize that most people either a) don’t care about you or b) are willing to encourage you and help you achieve your goals. The rest are just assholes. So how do we control our environment for habit formation to work in our favor?

1) Choose an appropriate gym/health club

If you’re completely new to exercising, choosing a family-oriented health club may be the best decision. You will feel more comfortable and be around others with the same goals as you. Joining a hardcore powerlifting or bodybuilding gym (or any gym with an intimidating environment) would not be a good idea and may actually discourage you from going to the gym again. Also, picking a gym that is nearby will increase your chances of going (would you rather have a five-minute walk to the gym or an hour drive?

2) Partner training

Workout with your friend or family member. It’s a great way to hold each other accountable and motivate each other to reach your goals. You’ll feel more comfortable if someone you know is on the ride with you.

3) Getting out of your comfort zone

Realize that eventually you will have to reach out of your comfort zone in order to change your lifestyle in a positive way. Take small steps every day to improve your confidence and let the snowball effect take place!

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Consistency

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, forming habits require a high degree of consistency. The more frequently and consistently we perform a task, the more accustomed and comfortable we are with it. In this context, we are talking about the consistency of exercising and practicing good health choices and habits. Here are some ways to stay consistent:

1) Monitor your progress

Track your bodyweight daily or weekly, write down the amount of weight you lifted, jot down how many miles or how long you ran for. Monitoring markers of health and exercise gives you an idea of how much you are progressing. It also motivates you to adhere to your exercise program in order to beat your previous personal bests. Many beginners do not monitor their progress closely enough, thereby failing to see the results they’re making. The mirror is generally not a good indication of minute changes in body physique or health markers!

2) Hire a personal trainer/buy a personal training package

Having someone to hold you accountable for your behavior is a good way to force yourself to stay consistent. Buying a package of 12 or 20 personal training sessions shows commitment and forces you to show up to training sessions… or you lose money!!

3) Plan ahead

Scheduling is of the utmost importance. In order to stay consistent, you must have dedicated time slots in your week to devote to working out. Carrying out a behavior or performing a certain task at the same time every day or week helps with forming habits; this concept is called temporal consistency (8). For example, I work out after school every other day.

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Adherence

Let’s say you’ve been working out for three months now and have been seeing results, but you’re starting to lose motivation because the workouts are getting boring and stale. How do you jazz things up and make them more interesting? After all, one of the keys to exercise adherence is variation.

Although it might sound cool to just pick random exercises out of a hat to include into your next workout, having a plan is much better (most of the time).

There are many different variables you can change in your workout to make them more interesting. An easy method is to pick several different exercise modalities to perform in one workout session, an example would be weightlifting and bodyweight exercises then followed by a steady state endurance exercise like swimming or cycling. Another strategy you can implement is adding exercises of varying speeds within the same group of exercises or muscles involved. If you were working on your posterior chain muscles (glutes, lower back, hamstring) in a workout, performing 3 exercises with different speeds would look something like this (from slowest to fastest): Isometric lower back extension holds, barbell hip bridge and explosive kettlebell swings. The exercise order can be altered to fit your specific fitness goals and experience. It changes the pace of the workout and keeps things interesting.

Along with exercise tempo and speed, you can also include exercises of various planes of motion. The figure below illustrates the planes of movement of the body.

Many people do a majority of their exercises in the sagittal plane (basically up and down), this includes exercises such as the squat, bicep curls, tricep pushdowns, deadlifts, etc. Because the prime movers of exercises in the sagittal plane are mostly flexion and extension muscles, our rotational, abductor and adductor muscles are often neglected. While they might be activated to a certain degree during sagittal plane movements (as synergistic muscles or stabilizers), it is smart to include exercises in the frontal and transverse plane in order to work these muscles through their whole range of motion. Some frontal plane exercises include dumbbell lateral raises, lateral box jumps and side lunges. Transverse plane exercise are rotational in nature and include Pallof presses, rotational medicine ball throws, and wood choppers.

Benefits of Exercise Selection Variation

Let’s face it: unless you’re a powerlifter, few people want to focus solely on squat, bench press, and deadlift. Doing a variety exercises of different tempos, planes of motion, and complexity is what makes working out enjoyable. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do effective compound exercises like the squat, bench press, deadlift, and military press. In most cases, these exercises should be at the core of your program, but you should add a variety of exercise modalities into your workout, especially if your goal is to increase your general fitness (fat loss, muscle gain, cardiovascular endurance). Here are my recommendations:

1) Apply the principle of progressive overload

Strive to add weight to the bar or increase the number of sets or reps that you do over time. Progressive overload is a principle that, in order for the body to grow better and stronger, we must gradually increase the amount of stress we put on it during exercise.

2) Select your exercises in blocks

Don’t switch up your exercises every day or every week; the concept of muscle confusion is a foolish one. Rather, select a group of exercises and keep them for three or more weeks. This gives us time to either improve our technique and allows us to apply the principle of progressive overload in order to reap the benefits of those particular exercises.

3) Individualize

Pick exercises you like and find enjoyable and simple. To address bodily weaknesses or asymmetries, carefully select exercises that will target those weak spots.

Practicing multiple movement patterns and perfecting the technique of various exercises serves as general physical preparation, which increases your general fitness so you’ll be more successful in whatever additional sport or activity you choose. Most of the great athletes in the 21st century usually have a history of playing multiple sports before they became great at their respective sport (Michael Jordan, Steve Nash).

Main Takeaways (tl;dr)

1) Understand and expect realistic results, set short- and long-term goals, monitor your progress (experiment --> evaluate --> adjust... repeat).

2) Creating sustainable exercise habits will require both conscious and unconscious factors. Understanding these factors and applying mental cues will help you maximize your chances of habit formation.

3) Expect to move out of your comfort zone if you want a positive change in your life.

4) Variation will greatly improve exercise adherence.

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References

(1) Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211. doi:10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-t

(2) Sheeran, P., Gollwitzer, P. M., & Bargh, J. A. (2013). Nonconscious
processes and health. Health Psychology, 32, 460–473.

(3) Evans, J. S. B. T. (2008). Dual-processing accounts of reasoning,
judgment, and social cognition. Annual Review of Psychology,
59, 255–278.

(4) Lally, P., & Gardner, B. (2013). Promoting habit formation. Health
Psychology Review, 7, S137–S158.

(5) Operant Conditioning. (n.d.). Retrieved September 28, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning

(6) Verplanken, B., & Melkevik, O. (2008). Predicting habit: The case of
physical exercise. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 9, 15–26.

(7) Orbell, S., & Verplanken, B. (2010). The automatic component of
habit in health behavior: Habit as cue-contingent automaticity.
Health Psychology, 29, 374–383. 

(8) Rhodes, R. E., & De Bruijn, G. J. (2010). Automatic and motivational
correlates of physical activity: Does intensity moderate the
relationship? Behavioral Medicine, 36, 44–52.