A practice habit is what you have when you show up and consistently and also with a plan. I learned about having a practice habit as a boy when I began playing the guitar. My teacher said it would not do me to just “noodle around”. I needed to have a way of practicing the thing.
So what I want to say is that having a practice habit is essential for fitness as well. It will not do you to just “noodle around”, either. You need a way of practicing the thing.
Here is a structure for that:
- Do what you suck at.
- Do what you need most of.
- Do what you like.
In other words…
- Spend 10 minutes a day on the thing are most terrible at, and do that first.
- Spend 20 – 30 minutes a day on the thing most critical for getting you to your goal.
- Spend 10 – 15 minutes wrapping up with fun/games/improvisation/whatever.
This needs context to mean anything so let’s pretend you want to get more fit as a person. OK, well the first ten minutes should be spent on whatever you are weakest at or is most holding you back and you want to do the least of. Maybe that is mobility or maybe it’s something else like front squats. With guitar for me this was ear training.
But the idea is you lead in with the thing you don’t like and don’t want to spend too much time on. That way you are sure to not put it off but can actually make some progress at it. Amazing.
Next you spend a chunk of time on one or two things that are most important for getting you to your goal. This is usually pretty obvious and specific because say if for example you want to get stronger at pull ups well then you need to be doing pull ups or otherwise some progressions for pull ups like eccentric pull ups. Heavy bicep curls may make a bit of sense as well.
Now after all this you then finish up with some of the fun stuff, which a lot of times this is your “workout” and which should still involve moves that are tied to your goal but can also be more sporadic and off the cuff. Like a complex or a circuit, for say an example.
So the problem is most people don’t “practice” strength they go straight for working out, which is dumb. And what I’m saying is you want to put the stuff you most want to do at the end so you are likely to get through everything else which maybe you don’t want to do. Amazing.
OK well that is the end of this post.
Strong ON!
– Pat
PS – You might also enjoy my Inner Circle because banging your head against the wall burns only 150 calories an hour whereas the workouts in my Inner Circle burn way more, like almost 1000, even, some of them.
Kelly says
Yeah, I definitely agree that “doing what you suck at” first is a great idea. I tend to procrastinate around the things I hate doing. It’s best just to get it over and done with, then you don’t have to think about it for the rest of the day.
Britanica says
I never heard of doing something you are bad at every day but it makes sense. I remember when I was younger, I used to be horrible at playing the piano and a lot of times I quit out of frustration but when I kept at it on an almost daily basis, I got better and eventually I didn’t suck anymore. I am going to apply this to my workouts cause I know there are some weak points for me that need improving.