We have a fire in our belly, fanning the desire to be physically better than we are now. So what do we do? Obviously, I got more active. I ran, I lifted, I went to my favorite Grit Strength class, and I danced. But the problem was making a habit that would stick.

Consistency

For you to get any benefit out of anything, you have to keep doing it. If I could have lost weight by skipping one burger, I’d be a stick insect. If I could improve my fitness levels by running once around the block, I might as well be Usain Bolt.

But it doesn’t work like that, as I conclusively proved with years of twice-a-week PT sessions. There is plenty of material out there that tells us we should move every day. The Australian Government suggest 30 minutes of “moderate activity” every day. Walking is generally suggested because it’s something most of us can do, but that gets boring, and boring is the death of consistency.

One good reason to do a 12-week challenge is you can break it into three phases: a month to break your bad habits, a month to create some good ones, and a month to reinforce them.

They key is to find something that you want to do. I was lucky enough to find activities at the gym that I like, but I also made sure that I pulled finger and started doing something that I’d been meaning to for the longest time: get back into lindy hop.

Ok, some I’m not that great at it, but I love the music, I love the social aspect, and I love it when I nail a move. I also clocked in at over 1000 calories burned in a two hour lesson. Find something that you’ll want to go back to, and it’s easy to build a habit.

Variety

As I said, boredom is the death of consistency. I knew that if I did the same thing 5 days a week (everyone needs a little down time), then I’d give up again. I’ve already mentioned the dancing, but that wouldn’t have been enough. I established this routine:

Monday – Grit Strength
Tuesday – Lindy hop
Wednesday – Lunchtime personal training
Thursday – Evening personal training
Friday – rest
Saturday – Grit Strength
Sunday – my choice (running or weights)

That allowed me to achieve both variety and consistency. I did something different every day (I had two different PTs who ran me through two different programmes), but I still had a consistent cycle. It’s easy to fall into a rhythm that way, and I kept to it almost without conscious effort. I would occasionally miss a day, but it was no effort to pick it up at the next session.