Essential training habits are ones that make you no longer have to rely on motivation and willpower to train – you just must.  These habits may seem like things that are putting too much restriction on you. Importantly by giving yourself habits that never waver you give yourself more freedom. This is because they give you simple pathways to be successful in your training. Consequently no need to get complicated just stick to your habits and nail them.

eSSENTIAL TRAINING HABITS

hABIT #1: ENJOY THE PROCESs

Enjoying the process is the #1 essential training habit because without enjoyment there will never be motivation. Training can be hard and there will be parts that could be considered part of the grind

• getting up early in the morning because that is when you have to train
• training when you simply don’t feel like it
• lifting weights and pushing yourself to feel uncomfortable

These are all part of the process and you must take enjoyment from conquering them. At the end of the day training is a long-term thing. It doesn’t matter if you train hard for 12 weeks it’s the person who can train for 3-5 years consistently. They truly enjoy the process and will reap the rewards and results.

HABIT #2: UNDERSTAND AND REFLECT ON YOUR WHY OFTEN

If you don’t understand why you are doing something you will never truly be able make it a habit. Why do you care about training? The why is used to help guide your decisions on many facets to do with your own training. Some of the best examples are

• Are you training to be the best that you can be at your sport?
• Do you constantly struggle with your energy, weight and mood?
• Getting older do you no longer feel capable and strong and want to change it?
• Is training something that you have complete control over and gives you stability in your life?

If you understand and think about your why as a habit frequently it can be powerful. It guides how often you train and the type of training you do. Be real with yourself and understand how much effort is needed to meet your why.

HABIT #3:KEEP LIFTING weights

Woh this is one of the big essential training habits importantly because it can be so easy to let it slip. As a form of training lifting weights should be your #1. The beauty of lifting is that it can scaled to whatever your

• fitness levels are
• injury status is
• experience level with lifting

Being in the habit of lifting weights each week allows you to keep a continuity with the long-term aspect of results. You can’t go hard for 12 weeks and then rest for months as was mentioned previously. Training progress and results is measured over years. Most of all by keeping the habit of lifting you are ticking over that progress.

HABIT #4: KEEP A TRAINING DIARY

I encourage you to keep a training diary simply because it is one of the simplest ways to stay on track. Success leaves clues and if your training habits are working well you need a way to record it. In your training diary you can record

• A record of which days/times you trained
• The type of training you completed
• What training you completed in session e.g if lifting weights exercises completed, weight lifted

Part of keeping the training diary is following a program that is designed for you. While it is not the end of the end if you don’t have a program. Following can keep you on track and progressing much better than you can yourself.

HABIT #5: TRACK YOUR PROGRESS IN HEALTH, PERFORMANCE AND BODY COMPOSITION

At FP we live by lift, fuel and grapple and to keep progressing in all of those areas you gotta track your progress. Your habit to look at and progress in the following areas is 100% important

• Health should be your #1 priority for progress – sleep enough, reduce stress levels and have happy relationships
• Performance can follow with your health – lifting more in the gym, more energy for the gym and life and motivation to improve performance
• Body composition is the simple goal of less fat with more muscle. Even though you want progress in this part focus on your health and performance first

The habit of looking at how you are progressing in your health, performance and body composition can be a true reality check. If you are making the progress you want stay the course if not do what you need to make change.

In CLOSING FOR ESSENTIAL TRAINING HABITS

A recap of the habits that are essential training habits

1. ENJOY THE PROCESS
2. UNDERSTAND AND REFLECT ON YOUR WHY OFTEN
3. KEEP LIFTING WEIGHTS
4. KEEP A TRAINING DIARY
5. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS IN HEALTH, PERFORMANCE AND BODY COMPOSITION

All of these habits require close reflection to implement into your life now. This is because they become powerful tools in keeping you on track. Training should be a lifetime thing and discovering the steps to make it like that for you is the journey.

If you need help with your journey we would love to help you