We all have things we wish we would do more often. Maybe it’s working out… or waking up earlier to start the day. We know it would improve our lives. Yet making the change remains elusive. New habits are hard to keep.
We think about it, and maybe even dabble in it a little bit, and then it’s gone.
So how can we actually create a new habit and make it last? It’s a question worth asking, as our habits are what actually define who we are, what we accomplish and where we’re headed.
How Long does it Take to Create a New Habit?
In the 1960’s, a plastic surgeon named Maxwell Maltz observed that after an operation, his patients took about 21 days to adjust to their new look. Maltz published this finding in his book, “Psycho-Cybernetics,” which went viral and sold over 20 million copies.
And this is where the myth of “21 days” to create a new habit originated from. People like the idea of 21 days to make lasting change. It’s short and seems really doable.
Unfortunately, it’s not true.
How Long Does it Really Take?
A study in the European Journal of Social Psychology found that it took an average of 66 days to create a new habit. This study also found that:
Missing a day or two didn’t have any impact on successfully implementing a new habit.
More difficult habits, like doing 100 sit ups every morning, took longer than something simple like drinking a glass of water after breakfast every day.
Some People are more resistant to forming new habits than others.
5 Tips to Successfully Make and Keep a New habit
Armed with this new information, we can create a plan to change our lives with a positive new habit.
Tip #1: Identify a New Habit You’d Like to Implement into your life.
You can probably already identify at least one thing you wish you’d do more often, or every day. Make sure it’s something that you can actually do. If it’s something unreasonable, you may be setting yourself up for failure. For example, instead of trying to wake up 3 hours earlier every day, you can get up one hour earlier. Doing too much, too soon is what causes a lot of people to fail.
Tip #2 Use Psychology to your advantage.
Our brains are hardwired with a built-in reward system. Think about it. Habits like smoking or overeating are easy to adopt. They’re easy because they trigger the reward system in our brains, releasing chemicals and causing feelings of pleasure.
When we’re trying to create a new habit, we can use this to our advantage. Every time you successfully perform the new act, give yourself a reward. If you’re waking up earlier, your reward can be a cup of coffee. If you’re working out, the reward can be a piece of chocolate or any other food that normally triggers pleasure for you. In time, working out will feel good and will replace the chocolate anyways!
Use your body’s own design to get what you want out of it.
Tip #3 Use Microgoals to ensure you can’t fail
This is expanding on Tip #1, when we said we shouldn’t set an unreasonable goal. Setting small, achievable goals can ensure you’ll actually make a change successfully. Maybe you’d like to wake up 2 hours earlier, but the chances of making that last aren’t too great.
Willpower can only go so far, and it’ll never last for 66 days. Instead, try waking up 20 minutes earlier every day. Once you’ve established this new habit and it no longer takes any effort, you can work on another 20 minutes. Be creative and apply this principle to whatever your goal might be.
Tip #4 Don’t Let Yourself Fall Off The Cliff
When trying to start doing something new every day, you’re bound to miss a day here and there. Don’t be too hard on yourself, but never miss more than 1 consecutive day.
Once you’ve missed 2 or 3 days in a row, your habit is likely going to be broken and you’ll be starting from scratch again, which can be a really demotivating experience.
Instead, accept the temporary defeat of missing a day, then get back on the horse and keep riding off into the sunset.
Tip #5 Be Patient. Excellence and Greatness Don’t Happen Overnight
The whole point of creating a new habit is to improve yourself. We all have a vision of a best version of ourselves, and creating new habits is our attempt to get closer to becoming that person. By going after this goal, you’re on the right path. Have faith in that and embrace the journey. Every day that you complete successfully is another small victory.
Conclusion
Creating a new habit can be life changing. Like money in a 401k, small changes compound over time to become really big changes. Whatever it is that you’re trying to accomplish, I hope this was helpful and I know you can get it done.
Don’t wait another day. The time is never just right. The time is now!
Bioforce Certified Conditioning Coach and personal trainer. I’ve run boot camps and served as the wellness coordinator for a fortune 500 company. Currently a Federal Agent in San Diego, CA, and an Infantryman in the Army Reserve.
Where does mental toughness come from? I’ll let Mr. Rollins start me off here with a quote I love about the Iron Mind…
“People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole. I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes.
They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.”
Henry Rollins
What is Mental Toughness?
Wikipedia says:
Mental toughness is a measure of individual resilience and confidence that may predict success in sport, education and the workplace.
Researchers Jones, Hanton, and Connaughton used interviews with athletes, coaches and sports psychologists to come up with this definition of mental toughness:
Mental toughness is “Having the natural or developed psychological edge that enables you to: generally, cope better than your opponents with the many demands (competition, training, lifestyle) that sport places on a performer; specifically, be more consistent and better than your opponents in remaining determined, focused, confident, and in control under pressure.” (1)
Some key words stand out in these definitions:
Resilience
Confidence
Determined
Focused
Psychological Edge
Habit #1 Test Your Metal
“It’s been said that a knight in shining armor has never had his metal tested.”
A huge part of developing mental toughness is repeatedly proving to yourself that you can overcome difficulties and personal struggles. This is what Henry Rollins was referring to when he said people need “the iron mind.”
The only way to get the iron mind is to push yourself physically beyond what you were previously capable of. Growth is hard and painful. The mind resists and begs you to stop. This is your chance to prove to yourself that you can overcome pain and difficulty.
Listen to Henry.. Get the iron mind. Test yourself physically, and overcome!
Mentally tough people do not just react to stress. They choose how they interpret stress and how they will choose to deal with it.
They realize that the stress itself has no real power. All of the power lies within us to make a choice on how we’re going to deal with external stressors.
In moments where we’re feeling stress coming from all angles, we have to realize what kind of person we want to be. If my kids are driving me crazy and I’m tired and have all kinds of things going on, I have to remember that I am a great dad, and the way I react to these situations is what is going to make me great.
In the words of a Navy Seal Commander on Sealfit.com (an awesome site): “How you interpret and handle external stressors determines if you’ll overcome your woes.
Habit #3 Monitor and Adjust Your Self-Talk
Have you ever taken the time to monitor what you tell yourself in difficult situations? If your self talk is negative, studies say your performance will suffer in all areas of life.
How to Improve Self Talk for a Boost in Mental Toughness
According to an article in Psychology Today, there are 4 steps you can take:
Notice what you’re already telling yourself. Pay attention to it.
Ignore unhelpful self-talk
Pick a “power phrase.” Something that makes you feel motivated
Pick a phrase or reminder word to help you stay focused.
Our mind can be our greatest enemy or our most valuable asset. Monitoring and adjusting your self talk can be a huge step in increasing mental toughness.
Habit #4 Visualize
Taking just a few minutes each day to visualize can have a big impact on how we react and perform.
Studies have shown that the mind doesn’t really know the difference between strong visualizations and actual activity.
Athletes use visualization all the time. Research has shown that visualizing shooting and making free throws can actually improve shooting.
You can use this same technique on any area of your life. If you want to react to certain stressors better, visualize yourself reacting the way you want to. This can quickly result in you actually gaining control over how you react, versus being controlled by outside stress.
Habit #5 Be Disciplined. Delay Gratification
“The moment the alarm goes off is the first test; it sets the tone for the rest of the day. when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win – you pass the test.”
Jocko Willink
“Discipline Equals Freedom” is a life-changing book by Jocko Willink, former Navy Seal Commander. Highly recommend.
You really want that double mocha frappucino every morning.. but you have a weight loss goal. Maybe you really want to get promoted at work, but it’s easier every day to not go the extra mile and earn it.
As Tony Robbins says.. “In life, we get what we are, not what we want.” You have to BE, not want. If something is important enough that you dream of it, then you have to be willing to forego temporary satisfaction in the name of achieving, and becoming something much greater.
Habit #6 Control Your Emotions
To have mental toughness, you have to be able to control your emotions. If the slightest bit of stress causes you to unravel emotionally, you’re allowing yourself to be controlled instead of being in control.
Mentally tough people remain in control. They tell themselves that nothing is going to stop them, and they mean it. When something is making you feel like you’re going to lose control of your emotions, use your self talk and focus on who you are. Like I said before, it will become a habit just like anything else repeated over and over.
Note: This article contains affiliate links for products I believe are valuable. They come at no additional cost to you.
Conclusion
YOU are in control. This is your life, your mind. You get to choose who you are and what you’re going to accomplish. Being mentally tough is a choice. If you want it, you’ve got a great start with this article. The only question is.. what will you do now?
Check out some of my other posts that people seem to like:
Thanks for reading! Please follow my blog if you liked this post.
Mike (Supastrong)
Bioforce Certified Conditioning Coach and personal trainer. I’ve run boot camps and served as the wellness coordinator for a fortune 500 company. Currently a Federal Agent in San Diego, CA, and an Infantryman in the Army Reserve.
Workout Recovery is a cutting edge niche in the world of fitness right now. Learning how to recover faster from your workouts can be a huge game-changer for your progress in the gym.
Learning how to speed up workout recovery time can mean bigger gains and increased fitness levels over time.
Here is a list of 10 ways you can boost your workout recovery abilities and take your training to the next level.
Note: This article contains affiliate links to products I believe in and use. They come at no additional cost to you.
#1 Plan Workout Recovery Sessions into Your Weekly Split
In my article on Recovery Training, I explained how to implement this method for faster workout recovery. Check it out if you want a more detailed look.
Basically, recovery training entails utilizing low intensity cardiovascular exercise and low volume strength movements, along with foam rolling and stretching.
These sessions should take place the day after a high intensity training day. The lower intensity session pushes blood flow into damaged muscles and other tissues. As a result, the tissues recover faster.
The goal of a recovery workout is to stimulate recovery without incurring any additional stress on the body to have to recover from. Keep the lifting to a few sets of 5-8 reps at around 80% of your max.
End the session with 5 minutes of very light cardio and a good 10 minutes of relaxing stretching and foam rolling. Go home feeling good!
The High-Low Method
The High-Low Method is an excellent way to set up your training, regardless of what your goals might be. It’s pretty simple.. You do a high intensity training day at the gym and follow it up the next day with a low intensity workout. This can speed up your workout recovery and help you improve faster.
#2 Pre Workout Nutrition Can Help You Recover Faster
While most people focus on post-workout nutrition, little thought is often given to what we put into our bodies before we work out.
However, the absence of amino acids and carbohydrate in the body during intense exercise can put the body into a deeper state of stress. This will cause you to accumulate more recovery debt and will take longer to enter a parasympathetic recovery state.
According to one study, consuming protein and carbohydrate before your workout can be more effective at building muscle than eating it afterwards.
Having a high protein meal within 1-2 hours of your workout can help the body maintain muscle tissue during intense training. The amino acid levels in your blood will peak around 90 minutes after you eat, so eating 1-2 hours before you work out will leave you in a great physiological state for building muscle and speeding up recovery.
#3 Wear Compression Clothing
Studies have shown that wearing Compression clothing can enhance workout recovery to damaged muscle tissue and reduce muscle soreness after working out.
One study in the Journal of Sports Medicine found that compression garments are effective at enhancing workout recovery from muscle damage.
Compression garments promote blood flow and oxygenation of muscle tissue during and after exercise. They can also improve kinesthetic sense: basically our sense of body awareness and movement through space.
For true compression, a higher grade fabric is necessary. 2XU Compression Pants are definitely the best brand if you want real compression and are willing to pay about $100 (well worth it in my opinion). I own 3 pair and do notice a big difference in both performance and recovery.
Everyone knows massages are relaxing.. but do they really help us recover faster?
According to a 2018 study in Frontiers of Physiology, massage was found to be the most powerful method for recovering from Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and fatigue.
Massage Therapy can push us into a deep state of relaxation, inducing a parasympathetic recovery state in the body. Deep tissue massage also helps promote blood flow into deep muscle tissue, helping the body clear out metabolites left over from previous workouts. The result is faster workout recovery.
Massage can get expensive, but there are other options, like a deep tissue massage gun, that may offer the same benefit anytime you want.
#5 Cold Treatment and Cryotherapy
The ancient Egyptians used ice to treat injuries over 4,000 years ago. We still do it today, but we’ve developed some pretty interesting new methods. Enter cryotherapy.
Cryotherapy has become mainstream in recent years, with clinics popping up in every major city.
It’s well established that using cold therapy can reduce inflammation, and current research says that cryotherapy can do the same thing.. in the whole body.
It’s hard to train with a sore body, and so reducing some of that inflammation can lead to improved workout recovery and your ability to train harder. The only way to know if it works for you is to try it for yourself.
#6 Get More Sleep
We all know that sleep is important for workout recovery.. but are you aware of just how important it really is? Getting more sleep (at least 8 hours) can:
Increase Growth Hormone production
Increase Testosterone levels
Decrease injury risk
Decrease perceived exertion/fatigue during your workouts
Numerous studies show that getting better sleep can improve recovery from exercise. If you’re researching how to recover faster from your workouts, getting enough sleep should be #1 on your to-do list.
According to Sleep.org, sleep is vital for helping the body retain improvements in body movements, muscle repair and muscle growth. All of which lead to improved performance.
Tips on Getting Better Sleep
These are some things that have worked for me and I highly recommend.
Stop using your phone an hour before bedtime. Stop watching the TV. Do something else, read, listen to music or take a shower and relax.
Make sure your room is as dark as possible. Blackout shades work wonders.
Studies have shown that a temperature between 66-68 degrees are optimal for falling asleep faster and sleeping deeper.
White noise, such as from a fan, can help the brain fall into a deeper sleep, faster.
Get new pillows, or even a new bed if you don’t feel comfortable. You spend a third of your life there.. why not invest in your sleep?
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) refers to the small time intervals between heart beats, measured in milliseconds. With a simple heart rate monitor like the Polar H10, and a free app on your phone, you can take an HRV measurement when you wake up in the morning in about 3 minutes.
HRV gives you a snapshot into your body’s current state. It can tell you how you’re responding to stress, and is essentially a measure of how stressed your body is. High HRV means you are resilient, and properly recovering from stress.
With HRV, you can track how well you’re recovering from your workouts and from all the stress you encounter in your daily life. Free apps like Elite HRV will give you a “readiness score,” which can help you know if you’re recovering or not, and can help you know how hard to train and when to back off.
HRV is being used by elite athletes, and is a simple and affordable way for you to gain vast insight into your health and fitness.
#8 HIIT Can Hurt Your Workout Recovery.
HIIT, or high intensity interval training, has become one of the most popular workout methods available. The problem is that too often, we rely on higher intensity training, which can have a lot of negative consequences.
More is NOT always better.. and it’s not correct that training harder is always going to make you better…
Working out at high intensities: Max effort and any conditioning where you’re training at a heart rate of greater than 90% of your max HR, are very stressful on the body. This stress causes a flood of catabolic hormones to be released, and puts a strain on your body’s recovery ability.
Repeating these workouts frequently causes a recovery debt to accumulate. Eventually it will reach a point where something will give.
Systems like the immune system will suffer, and injury risk becomes greater. The most likely scenario is that you’ll burn yourself out and progress will go backwards.
Studies have shown that 2 days per week of high intensity training is optimal for all but the most elite athletes. Plan your training carefully and be sure to manage high intensity training with a healthy respect for it’s power.
You can only benefit from what you can recover from. Recovery = Adaptation. And adaptation is the real purpose for working out in the first place.
#9 Use Supplements That Help Your Body Recover
Using the right supplements can definitely help you recover faster from your workouts. They can help reduce soreness and allow you to train more frequently, leading to bigger gains over time.
An article by Precision Nutrition looked at 2 studies examining the effects of Vitamins C and E on workout recovery. The studies found that after three days without supplementation, free radicals had more than doubled.
Free radicals are chemicals that damage our cells and cause inflammation in the body. After 3 days of working out AND supplementing with Vitamins C and E, free radicals didn’t increase at all!
Which Supplements Help us Recover Faster?
Using the right supplements can definitely help you recover faster and be less sore from your workouts. The following list is a good place to start for supplements that actually have plenty of research showing they work:
Creatine: increase lean mass, speed up glycogen resynthesis and speed up protein synthesis. Creatine has also been shown to improve cognitive function, as it is stored both in muscle tissue and in the brain.
Tart Cherry Juice/Turmeric: Both potent antioxidants, they can reduce inflammation.. causing less soreness from training and faster recovery of muscle damaged muscle tissues. Use only after higher intensity days so you don’t hurt your body’s own natural abilities.
BCAA’s: Help your body spare muscle tissue while you work out. Can make fatigue take longer to set in, and can help the body recover faster after your workout.
Protein Supplementation: Additional protein can help keep the body in an anabolic state, repairing and building muscle throughout the day and while you sleep.
I prefer to get my supplements from Bulk Supplements. It’s cheaper, you get more, and the supplements are pure, with no added fillers or harmful chemicals.
#10 Use a Cool-Down After Every Workout to Recover Faster
Especially after higher intensity sessions, your body is ramped up and in a sympathetic, stress-driven state. While this may feel good, it is not conducive to recovery. Take a few minutes after every workout to perform a proper cool-down to help push your body into a faster recovery state.
Perform 5 minutes of low intensity cardiovascular exercise
Perform light, relaxing stretching. Use foam rolling if you have the time and the means.
Assume a relaxing pose, such as the child’s pose in Yoga
Breathe and relax. Try to force your heart rate down as low as possible
A cool down can help you get into a recovery mode faster, leading to faster recovery before your next workout. These small differences each time you work out can have big effects over time. Don’t walk out of the gym amped up. The workout is over, and now it’s time to refuel and recover.
Conclusion
The art of workout recovery should be important to anyone seeking to improve their physical abilities. The faster you can recover from your workouts, the sooner you can get back in the gym and actually reap the benefits of your efforts.
Implement these 10 strategies and you will have given yourself a huge boost, and will no doubt reap many benefits for a long time to come. Recover faster from your workouts and get to the next level of you!
Mike (Supastrong)
Bioforce Certified Conditioning Coach and personal trainer. I’ve run boot camps and served as the wellness coordinator for a fortune 500 company. Currently a Federal Agent in San Diego, CA, and an Infantryman in the Army Reserve.
“Every adversity, every failure carries with it the seed of an equivalent advantage.” -Napolean Hill
One of the best success books of all time. Check it out if you want a great, motivating read: Think and Grow Rich
“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”
“The clock is ticking.. Are you becoming the person you want to be?”
“The question isn’t who is going to let me. It’s who is going to stop me?” -Ayn Rand
Deep Thought Quotes
“Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets, and makes the night air smell better.” –Henry Rollins
“Silence is a source of great power.” -Lao Tzu
A quote from Lao Tzu’s “Tao Te Ching.” A really great read and an epic, timeless work.
“A star could never shine without darkness”
“The best way out is always through.”
“Faith is the fire that lights the flame.”
“In this life we are all either kings, or pawns.” -Napolean Bonaparte
“Your mind is the result of a thousand yesterdays.” -Bruce Lee
“Train yourself to let go of all that you fear to lose.” -Master Yoda
“There is no traffic jam on the extra mile.”
I hope you enjoyed these badass quotes. Quotes are great for sparking our inspiration, but are of no use without ACTION.
If you’re feeling motivated right now.. take action. Even if it’s just a small step; a walk, a 5 minute workout, writing one page.. get it done.. it could be the start of something much bigger.
“An acorn holds the potential of an entire forest.” One small spark. One small action.. can become your dream.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to share these if you like them. And feel free to contact me as well. Contact@supastrong.net
ISSA Tactical Conditioning Specialist, Former Army 11B. I’ve run boot camps and served as the wellness coordinator for a fortune 500 company. Currently a Federal Agent in San Diego, CA, and an Infantryman in the Army Reserve.
“If you think lifting is dangerous.. Try being weak.” –Bret Contreras
“Fate Loves the Fearless“
“No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training… what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” -Socrates
“If it’s important, do it every day. If it isn’t.. Don’t do it at all.” -Dan John
“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.” -Muhammad Ali
“Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body.” -Arnold Schwarzenegger
“People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole. I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.”
“If you want to learn to swim, jump into the water. On dry land, no frame of mind is ever going to help you.” -Bruce Lee
“To feel strong, to walk amongst humans with a tremendous feeling of confidence and superiority is not at all wrong. The sense of superiority in bodily strength is borne out by the long history of mankind paying homage in folklore, song and poetry to strong men”.
Fred Hatfield
“The good lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It’s your mind you’ve got to convince.” -Vince Lombardi
“Your love for what you do, and willingness to push yourself where others aren’t prepared to go is what will make you great.”
-Laurence Shahlaei
“The road to nowhere is paved with excuses.” -Mark Bell
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed these badass workout quotes.
Hopefully you’re out there getting after it today.
It only takes a spark to set in motion some amazing things.
Hopefully these badass quotes helped you get that spark and put it into action.
Here are a couple other articles I think you’d enjoy:
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