7 Fitness Habits That Changed My LifeThe Small Habits That Make a Big Impact (Plus the Top 3 Habits from 4 Other Experts)

by Leo Babauta

with contributions from Craig Ballantyne,Scott Dinsmore, Matt Frazier, and Roger Lawson

About this Book

This book is by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits, along with contributions from Craig Ballantyne, Scott Dinsmore, Matt Frazier, and Roger Lawson.

It’s a mini-ebook meant as a bonus for members of the Simple Fitness Habit.

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Table of ContentsSection! PageHow I Changed My Life With Fitness Habits" 3Habit 1: Meals--Plan Ahead" 5Habit 2: Toss Out the Junk" 6Habit 3: Mindful Eating" 8Habit 4: The Habit of Starting" 9Habit 5: Progress Gradually" 11Habit 6: Socialize Fitness" 12Habit 7: Enjoy the Habit" 13Craig Ballantyne’s 3 Habits" 14Scott Dinsmore’s 3 Habits" 17Matt Frazier’s 3 Habits" 19Roger Lawson’s 3 Habits" 21

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How I Changed My Life With Fitness HabitsBy Leo Babauta

There was a time when I sucked at creating fitness habits, and I felt horrible because of it.

I’ve told this story before to my readers, but there was a time, in 2005, when I was overweight and a smoker and sedentary and addicted to junk food (among other problems), and I was stuck. I felt like I couldn’t change things because every time I tried to start exercising or stop smoking or start eating healthier, it would last for a day or three, but never longer than about a week.

I was stuck and felt helpless. Why couldn’t I stick to a change? What was wrong with me? Do I lack discipline or am I just a loser?

I felt horrible about my body, my habits, myself. I didn’t trust myself to stick to changes. It was depressing.

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But then I did a ton of research, and focused all my energy into changing one habit (smoking). I learned a lot about changing habits--the stuff we’re sharing in the Simple Fitness Habit course--and then started the running habit. One habit at a time, I learned to stick to new habits and started getting healthier.

It’s fine to aim for the habit of exercising or eating healthier or smoking, but there are other habits that keep you fit that many people don’t know about. And that’s what I’ll share in this mini-ebook.

These habits have changed everything for me. Wanting to exercise is great, but what about the habits that help you to stick to the exercise? What about the habits that help you eat healthier for life? It’s great to want to eat veggies, but it’s not always easy. These habits have made a healthy lifestyle much easier for me.

They also have showed me that a fit lifestyle is more about the habits that keep you doing the good things, rather than just having the desire or will to do them.

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Habit 1: Meals - Plan AheadChanging your diet is pretty easy--pick some healthy meals and snacks from the dozens of healthy recipe sites on the Interwebs, then go grocery shopping and eat the healthy food. Simple, right?

Of course, if it were that simple, then anyone could stick to it. But it’s a bit more difficult than that--if you’re hungry, your discipline breaks down. If you’re at someone’s house with no alternatives other than the junk food, you’ll eat it. If you are surrounded by bad food, it’s tough. So the first important habit for eating healthy is to plan ahead.

Here’s how it works:

* Plan your meals ahead of time* Shop ahead of time* Get healthy snacks ahead of time* Know what you’ll eat when you go places* Pack meals & snacks for on the go* Cook in bulk so you have lots of healthy stuff to eat

This might sound like a lot, but really it’s just one thing--plan ahead.

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Habit 2: Toss Out the JunkWhen you’re surrounded by tempting sweets and chips and pizza and the like, you it’s really hard not to eat it. So create a healthier environment where you’re much more likely to eat healthy: toss out the junk.

If you’re ready to form healthy habits and eat a healthy diet, go through your fridge and pantry, and toss out everything unhealthy:

• Cookies• Ice cream• Chips• Frozen pizza• Any frozen convenience food other than fruits &

veggies, actually• Sweet cereal• Sodas or other sweet drinks• Roasted salty nuts (go for the raw kind)• Prepared sweets or baked goods• Breads made from white flour• Hot cocoa sweetened with sugars

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• Frozen waffles or pastries• Candy• Sports drinks• Energy bars• Cereal bars• Anything fried• Anything with trans fat• Sausages or other processed meats

You get the idea. None of these sweet, processed, fried, salty, convenience foods.

What do you want instead? Fruits, veggies, beans, nuts, whole grains, tempeh, seitan, tofu, and other stuff that’s not too processed and doesn’t have too much added sugars, saturated fats, salt, trans fats, chemicals.

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Habit 3: Mindful EatingThis is discussed in the Mindful Diet in more detail, but it really did change my life. While before I would eat mindlessly, for pleasure or out of habit, regardless of whether I was hungry or not. I ate because of stress, anger, depression, for reward and comfort. I didn’t eat until I was just sated, but until I was overfull. Mindful eating changed all that, and now I can eat tasty food but not a crazy amount of it. And I can enjoy healthy food by eating mindfully.

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Habit 4: The Habit of StartingExercise is incredibly important and can not only make you fitter, but healthier in so many ways, less stressed, more energetic, more focused, etc. But you knew that … it’s just hard to do it on a regular basis.

Why is it so hard a habit to stick to? Because people think it’s hard, and so they put it off. Then put it off some more, until you’re not doing the habit, you’re just procrastinating.

I know, because that’s what I did for so long. But I’m happy to say I’ve been regularly exercising for more than 7 years now, and I’m healthier than ever.

What changed? I stopped putting it off, and instead formed the habit of starting.

The habit of starting is simply this: don’t focus on getting a great workout or a long run in … focus only on starting.

So I tell myself all I need to do is lace up my shoes and get out the door. Or just do the first few squats. Whatever the

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first step is, that’s all I have to do. After I do that, I might do more (probably will), but as long as I have the habit of starting, I succeed.

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Habit 5: Progress GraduallyPeople try to do too much at once, and want enormous results quickly. You want a superhero or supermodel’s body in 4 weeks -- or even better, in 3 days? Not going to happen.

Instead, start small, and progress gradually. Can’t do 10 pushups? Try to do 1. Or do 1 pushup on your knees. Or 1 pushup leaning against the wall. Can’t run 10 minutes? Try just 1 minute. Try walking at a slow pace, then after a week or two, pick up the pace. After a month of fast walking, try jogging in short spurts a few times during the walk. Then make the spurts a little longer. Pretty soon you’re running more than walking.

Progress comes gradually, but if you try to push it, you’ll get injured, sick, burned out, disappointed. If you take it slowly, you’ll be amazed how far you can go.

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Habit 6: Socialize FitnessThis is another powerful habit that helps make the exercise habit stick. Can’t get motivated to go for a run or workout? Make the workout social:

• Go for a walk with your spouse or a friend• Meet a running partner early in the morning three

times a week• Have a gym workout partner that you meet at certain

times• Join a running group• Sign up for a trainer or fitness bootcamp• Have an online group or Facebook group to be

accountable to• Go play some sports with your kids• Join a sports team in your community

The motivation for exercise, when it is social, it at least tenfold. Maybe more.

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Habit 7: Enjoy the HabitMany people workout or go on a diet with the hopes of achieving a body goal (nice abs, lose weight, bigger biceps, etc.) … but that won’t be reached for at least a few months, maybe a year or even two. That’s way too long before you get positive feedback for the habit.

So work on enjoying the habit, and you’ll get positive feedback immediately -- while you’re doing the habit! It’ll make it much more likely that you’ll stick to it.

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Craig Ballantyne’s3 HabitsCraig Ballantyne is a Strength & Conditioning coach in Toronto, author of Turbulence Training, a Men’s Health magazine training expert, and a member of the Training Advisory Board for Oxygen magazine. Craig Ballantyne’s work has appeared in numerous other magazines, including Women’s Health, GQ, Maxim, National Geographic, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle and Fitness Hers.

Craig Ballantyne also has an advanced research background, completing a Master’s of Science Degree in Exercise Physiology from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Craig continues to study the latest training, supplementation, and nutrition research that will help improve client’s health and wellness as well as their physical and mental performance.

Craig’s fat loss, muscle-building website www.TurbulenceTraining.com features his best-selling Turbulence Training for Fat Loss program and www.TTmembers.com offers access to all of Craig’s Turbulence Training workouts and video clips (for men and

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women who want to lose fat with only dumbbell and bodyweight exercises).

Here are his three essential habits:

1. My nutrition checklist: Every day, no matter where I am in the world, I aim to check off the following nutrition items in my diet: 1 apple, 1 cup broccoli, 1 ounce almonds, 3 liters water, 1 cup green, 1 serving fish oil. If I can get those in, then no matter how bad the rest of my diet might be because of travel and business dinners, then I am "guilt-free" and know that my health and fitness habits remain on track.

2. My old-man warm-up: As I get older, I spend more time warming up than I do training hard. My old-man warmup includes foam rolling for trouble spots, a few yoga moves, and a few traditional stretches. This can be done anywhere (if no foam roller, I'll skip that, but I often travel with a small acuball that serves as a decent substitute). This, like my nutrition checklist, makes me feel like I'm on track, no matter how shortened my training time might be.

3. My sleep-for-energy habits: Get up and go to bed at the same time every day, 7 days per week. I know, I know, BORING. But...trust me, this habit is the most effective

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way to have ALL-day energy. I fought this habit for years, but since implementing it my productivity, health, and energy have improved dramatically. So the next time you have a slow spot in your social calendar, give this a try. You'll be shocked at how effective it is for better living.

Scott Dinsmore’s3 HabitsScott Dinsmore runs Live Your Legend and is a die-hard adventurer, life-experimenter, writer, personal freedom coach and value investor, in search of the extraordinary. Scott helps people discover their path to personal freedom by helping them find and do work they love. He lives in San Francisco, and does crazy events like swimming from Alcatraz, ultramarathons and more.

Here are Scott’s epic habits:

1. Hang around the right people. The fastest way to do the impossible is hang around people already doing it. Environment is everything. If you want to run a marathon but spend your time with a bunch of buddies who drink beers and barely even walk a mile in a week, you'll get nowhere. But if you start hanging around people who run 10 or 20 miles as a warm up, your reality starts to change. That's why I love working out with Leo!

2. Just start moving. The first step of every project is the hardest, but once you get yourself to start moving, the momentum builds very quickly. This goes for the first day

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of a new diet or workout routine or even the first step of a run. Just get yourself moving and your mind and body will take care of the rest.

3. Have fun! If we don't like what we're doing, we won't do it. I used to have all these crazy schedules and restrictions on different workouts and what I ate. But it got exhausting. Now I just do the physical things that excite me - and I try to do them with friends as often as possible. Sometimes that might be sprinting through the woods or climbing trees. Other times it might be yoga down by the water or handstand contests (I love handstands!). Or maybe just a tennis date with my wife. If you enjoy it, you will find reasons to make it happen no matter what potential excuses exist. The same goes for diet. I don't eat mostly plants because I think I have to. I do it because I love the taste of food that feels like it was just picked in the garden, I love the energy that comes with feeding my body the right way and I love getting creative with new recipes with my wife.

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Matt Frazier’s 3 HabitsMatt Frazier founded No Meat Athlete in 2009, at about the same time he went vegetarian. Six months later, Matt qualified for the Boston Marathon with a time of 3:09:59 at the Wineglass Marathon, over 100 minutes faster than his first marathon time seven years prior.

In June 2010, Matt ran his first 50-mile ultramarathon, and has run several more ultras and marathons each year since.

Here are Matt’s key fitness habits:

1. Having a smoothie every morning and a salad every afternoon. These two small meals act as anchors in my day: I found that once they became habitual and I got used how great I felt eating them, I actually started to crave junk food less. They're also a great way to deliver lots of raw fruits and vegetables to your body in a way that I find more enjoyable than eating the fruits or vegetables by themselves.

2. Learning to run slowly. For my entire childhood, I hated running. The reason was because I thought "running" meant "running fast." When I learned to do most of my

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runs at 1 to 2 minutes slower than I was capable of doing them, I finally understood what it meant to enjoy running. I also stopped getting injured!

3. Enjoying the act of training, even when the workout itself is hard. I still can't say I enjoy the feeling of exercising at an uncomfortable intensity for longer than a few minutes -- and I doubt there are many out there who truly do. But I've learned that for me, the motivation to keep at it comes from working toward something that inspires me, being able to step back and see the changes I've made and understand that the difficult moments are part of that process of improvement. And in small doses, those intense moments actually become enjoyable in some way.

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Roger Lawson’s 3 HabitsRoger Lawson is the founder of Rog Law Fitness, where his goal is to make 100,000 people feel good and look great without turning it into a full-time job, all while having a hellvua lot of fun along the way.

Here are Roger’s killer fitness habits:

1. Make it fun. When I first started on my fitness journey, I had a laser like focus on my goals. I dialed every aspect of my training and diet in. I meticulously packed my meals, I scheduled my workouts several weeks in advance. I became completely committed to getting results by any means necessary. But somewhere along the line, the results alone weren't enough to sustain me. I was obtaining the body of my dreams, but it came at the cost of my social life and enjoyment.

Several years later looking back on those days, I now realize that if I had found ways to make the process more fun, I would have enjoyed the path to my own awesomeness a lot more while achieving the same, or better, results. Rome

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wasn't built in a day, and neither will your physique. Find both large and small ways to inject fun into your workouts, diet and lifestyle and you'll be handsomely rewarded.

2. Learn to laugh. I'll tell you right now – there will be days when you fail in spectacular fashion. Your best laid plans will fall apart and you'll wonder where it came from and how it all happened so quickly. You'll want to give up and berate yourself for not being able to stick to it, convincing yourself that you simply don't want it badly enough.

In these moments, I want you to do one thing: laugh. Laugh, pick yourself back up, and continue moving forward. One (or several) days is not not even a blip on your life's radar. Any mistake that doesn't kill you can be recovered from, and being able to chuckle at your own follies takes the power away from your emotional response and puts it back in your hands, allowing you to see where you faltered, learn from your mistakes, and do better next time without the negative self talk.

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3. Be your own hero. Take a character from a book, movie or TV show that you love. What traits do they embody that makes you admire them?

Imagine you’re the main character in a video game, or you’re playing the starring role in the supremely megafantastic movie called YOUR LIFE – act accordingly.

What would they do? What choices would they make? This mind shift alone can fundamentally change the way that you approach difficult situations.

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