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21 Consecutive Days, The Key to Catching The Habit

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21 Consecutive Days, The Key to Catching The Habit

Many of us have set ourselves the goal of exercising, losing weight or dieting. But we don’t know where to start or how to be constant in order to reach our goals. Because we think that we will not be constant enough to achieve it. It is possible to do it in as little as 21 days.

This is why today we bring you the key to the success of those people who have set goals, and who have achieved them.

Catching a fitness Habit

What is a Habit?

Surely you have heard about habits. Our bodies and our brains function on the basis of habits and customs. Something that we are accustomed to do in our daily life.

These habits are automatisms that is to say, to do something automatically without needing to think that we have to do it or how we do it because it already forms part of our routine. So if we want to start doing sport regularly and make it a habit, we must repeat it daily, to get used to both our body and our mind, until it becomes an automatism.

In our brain we have the conscious part and the subconscious part. The conscious part is the one that works with the data it perceives from here and now, and reacts according to what it sees and what it feels.

Instead the subconscious stores all our memories, the data received from our conscious, with which will create our learning, and from there our habits will come out. This is why this is the part that we have to work to create a new habit.

In order for our brain to assimilate the information we give it through our consciousness and turn it into learning and then into habit, we have to repeat that same action for 21 days daily.

Why 21 days? William James Theory

make fitness your new habitYou may wonder why 21 days are needed, no more and no less. Surely you have heard about this theory on more than one occasion. Or you may have seen some challenge like “lose weight in 21 days”, “quit smoking in 21 days”, “change your life in 21 days” and it is that these routines are done in 21 days for a reason. They are based on William James’ theory.

William James is considered the father of psychology and philosopher, he published in 1890 an article called “The Habit” which is part of his work “Principles of Psychology”. In this article, he talks about the plasticity of the nervous system and the brain.

This theory, later demonstrated by other scientists, tells us that changes in our nervous system affect our brain by creating new neural circuits. These new circuits determine and modify the functioning of our brain, which translates into the modification and creation of new habits.

To produce these changes can last more or less according to each person, in addition, we cannot do it of blow, the brain accepts gradually the changes, once our nervous system has changed, our brain will establish it as a habit. These changes also serve to modify habits that we already have acquired in the brain.

These changes last an average of 21 days, which is why if our goal is to make sport a habit, we must repeat the exercises for 21 days in a row. A good way to start gently and gradually is this routine to tone your body. It is ideal to start, since it only lasts 10 minutes and makes the whole body work.

But for the body to learn a habit, we have to teach it, this process lasts 21 days. If we do something for 21 days in a row our body will see it as a habit, it will be easier and you will see it as something to do daily. Therefore, it will become a habit, it will do it automatically. Helping us in this way to reach our goals.

We have to repeat the act that we want to turn into a habit for 21 days, from then on, it became a habit and we can do it without thinking.

It is important to work on our habits, correcting them or acquiring new habits because they reduce the number of movements we have to do in order to do something, they make them more precise and reduce the fatigue and attention we must have in order to do things, because as they are automatisms, we will do them without paying attention in an automatic and fluid way, because when we have learned it, if we do it wrong, our body will automatically correct it.

Being able to correct or add new habits.

fitness tips for your lifestyle

How to Start a New Habit in 21 Days?

To be able to start a routine to establish a new habit of life today we bring you some tips that if you put them into practice will be much easier for you to start with your new routine and convert into lifestyle habits what you propose, thus achieving your goals.

Set a clear goal: the most important thing to keep in mind is that we must start with just one habit, so that the brain can get used to it correctly. If you have more than one habit that you want to integrate into your daily life, you can make a list and sort them in order of importance. And choose, then, which is the most important and which you are going to start with. It is important that the objective is clear and achievable, something we can do, for it you can imagine how you want to see once you reach your goal, what change you want to give, the benefits it will bring you and the reason why you do it. In addition, it is also advisable to set a start date and an end date.

Make an evaluation: throughout the 21 days you can evaluate how your progress is going, to be able to correct mistakes, give you an extra motivation and see that little by little, you are achieving what you had proposed in the beginning.

Be constant: constancy is a very important quality to acquire if you want to start a new habit, which is why it is important to follow your training plan and do the exercises daily, with the time and repetitions that you have set. You can start with few repetitions and little time a day, so that you do not go uphill, and as the days go by increasing both time and number of repetitions. Hence the importance of setting real and achievable goals.

Avoid distractions: before beginning with the exercises and while you are doing them, avoid everything that could distract you and move you away from your goal, if necessary, turn off the television and mobile to concentrate 100%.

Motivate yourself: in the same way that you have to avoid distractions, you have to look for stimuli that will keep you motivated, you can put on music that will help you do the repetitions or even look for a partner with whom you can exercise at the same time, so it will be much more enjoyable.

If you follow these rabbits and have the discipline and determination to exercise daily for 21 days, you will be able to integrate a new habit into your life. Once you have achieved it, you will feel more fulfilled and will be proud of yourselves. You will be able to make your habit without thinking about it, and you will be able to go for the next objective of your list.