Habits

This blog is aimed at making right nutrition choices and fitness choices and turning them into habits. Habits are a funny thing. We have habits that may stick with us throughout our lifetime—brushing your teeth in the morning is a great example.  I don’t even think twice about brushing anymore, it’s just a part of my every morning ritual. But habits aren’t always as good as keeping a nice healthy smile. Bad habits, as we all know, are hard to break.  I still have a bad habit of procrastinating, even if I have ample time (studying for tests the night before and staying up all night, rather than doing it a week or two before). They’re called habits for a reason; it’s a habitual action that you do without even thinking about it.  They can be good, or they can be bad, but whatever it may be, these habits were formed by repetition.  They are learned behaviors. The thing about habits, however, is that they aren’t a subconscious, ingrained entity.  They can be broken, much like any routine can be.  We have a choice.  And we just have to make the choices and have the right amount of repetition for it to become a good habit. I don’t even think twice about walking to class anymore to burn those extra calories (even if I do sweat my butt off during the summer time).  It’s habit for me to have a healthy breakfast and choosing oatmeal besides cheesy grits.  It’s habit for me to do at least 15 minutes of cardio after my training session. But these behaviors weren’t always easy to make happen—these habits came one step at a time.  Be smart about how you approach the situation. Three main points when you’re trying to start a new good habit, or try to break an old bad habit: 1) Drastic changes almost never work, but if you go too slow, you’ll become stagnant. Try and find a good medium. 2) Set realistic changes—don’t make huge obligations to yourself that you can’t ever meet.  All habits are individualized; you know yourself the best. 3) Last is to have a support system and have someone hold you accountable. It’s not always going to be a smooth roads.  Of course you’ll hit a couple of speed bumps.  If you nail these three points, the habits you set for your fitness endeavors will come.   Danny Quach is a senior at the University of Georgia and he’s studying Health Promotion and Behavior.  He’s a powerlifter at heart and has done it for over six years.  He just competed in his first bodybuilding show in Summer of 2011.  For powerlifting, he holds some Georgia records.  In his first bodybuilding competition, he placed 2^nd in Novice in INBF Southern States.  On his spare time he’s a part of the University of Georgia’s cheerleading co-ed squads; his favorite past-time? Throwing girls around and catching them.