AnyFlipBookTooFitTooQuit

Welcome to Let’s Get 2Fit2Quit, Learn How to Make Daily
Exercise a Life-Long Practice!

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All,
I had a few requests to provide Associates with the slides and some summarized
speaking points for each of my slides from our 2Fit2Quit presentation so that the
information could be shared with family members. We want to encourage our
Associates and their family members to make daily exercise a life-long practice
(except for pre-planned rest days) so that our Associates AND their family members
and loved ones can be as healthy and fit as possible.

We started this presentation noting that in a previous Walking Works Campaign, we
started to focus on consistency in exercise. But back then, we wanted to start with
baby steps and since so many people (not just at Fortna) globally, start exercise
programs or initiatives with good intentions and never make it to the end, we focused
on consistency in exercise for just the six week period of that campaign. We taught
people how to begin to develop consistency and we had many more people make it
to the very end of the campaign than we had experienced previously.

This time, we’re focusing on making the practice of exercise sustainable for your life-
time. We want exercise to be a regular part of your life, a practice that is as automatic
as brushing your teeth or going to work each day.

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How many of us make New Year’s resolutions to get fit and stick with it when it
comes to exercise? A lot of us. It’s actually always in the top five of the most popular
New Year’s resolutions. While we start strong, by May or June, what I call most
exercise “intenders,” have already quit. In fact, that is how gyms make a lot of their
money. They count on the fact that people sign up with good intentions and a great
deal of motivation, but they also know that in a few months those same people won’t
be coming to the gym....even though they have already paid in full, or will still be
paying, for the time they are not using that gym.

Did you know that 1/3 of people who purchase online fitness products never even
download them? 67% of people who purchase gym memberships don’t use them
regularly – good for the gym, bad for the person who bought the membership. And
talk about treadmills, ellipticals, rowing machines and the like – how many end up
just collecting dust or being used to hang wet clothes on to dry? And fitness
campaigns – no matter the type, it’s considered the norm that up to ¼ of the
participants never finish.

Seems like a lot of us have great intentions but we never make them “stick.”

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During the presentation, I discussed the reasons given as to why so many people
can’t stick to an exercise regimen and end up starting and quitting over and over
again. So why do they quit? Researchers tell us that the top reasons for quitting are
lack of time to exercise, fear of injury or actual injuries due to doing too much too
soon, cost, unrealistic expectations, wanting results too quickly, and boredom.

But these reasons really are just excuses. You know as well as I do, that every one of
them can be overcome.

The reasons people quit go deeper than these reasons or excuses. Many people
aren’t using the correct psychological and behavioral tools and processes to make the
practice of daily exercise “stick.” They aren’t focusing on the right behavior
development practices to make exercise routine and expected by the body and brain.

Do you depend upon motivation to see you through to your fitness goals for the long-
term? Or...do you depend upon your will-power, determination and self-discipline to
make sure you keep exercising daily? If you are depending upon motivation or
discipline (created by using determination and will-power), you won’t make exercise
a life long regular behavior! Say WHAT? Yep, you need to develop something else in
order to make the practice of exercise “stick” for the long-term. Read on!

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Let’s start at the beginning with motivation? You know that whatever triggers your
motivation, energizes your intentions for positive change and that feels good. You
know how it feels, you feel like you can conquer the world, you are ready to get
started and you “know” you can do it this time.

A lot of people, many times the people who quit exercise regimens first, look to
motivation to see them through to their goals. But, they fail to realize that motivation
is all about “feeling,” it’s not about “doing.” And, motivation itself doesn’t stick really
well, it’s fleeting – it can disappear really quickly and when it does – there goes your
resolve to exercise daily.

It’s important to note that while motivation is very important in getting us started – it
won’t keep us going for the long-term.

Intrinsic motivation results in the most success. Extrinsic motivation really doesn’t
work well. If you want to create change, it really has to come from within. You have to
want it.

So, if you’ve been depending upon motivation for success in creating sustainability in
a lifelong program of exercise – it’s time to move on! Take your motivation and spark
a dive into discipline. Otherwise when your motivation tank runs dry, your exercise
regimen and resolutions will go right along with it.

I won’t kid you, developing discipline is hard, but you can do it!

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OK, since we know that motivation has to be solidified into discipline, it’s time to get
rid of the excuses. It’s time to pull up your boot straps and tap into your sheer
determination and will-power for a bit.
Discipline is intentional, it involves choices. You’re either going to work out today or
you’re not, the choice is yours. Your determination and will-power will help you make
the right choice.
Discipline is a behavior that can be learned. It’s a tool that can be developed, but you
need to practice it consistently.
So, how do we develop discipline?

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First of all, you need to know what you want. Write down your realistic, long-term
exercise goals and break them down into short-term mini-milestones and concentrate
on those milestones one at a time. (It’s all about building upon baby steps).

Make simple short-term plans. For example, “I’m going to walk six miles at 2:00
Monday, Wednesday and Friday – no excuses!” Once you complete that plan create
another one and so on.

Develop rituals that make STARTING your workout mindless. You want to run for the
next four mornings? Set your alarm as your psychological cue that it’s time to exercise
(and as the time you need to get up). Lay your running clothes and shoes out next to
your bed the night before so you can jump into them and get yourself out the door
before you know what hit you. When that alarm goes off, force yourself out of that
bed and into those clothes and get out that door (It will be hard the first few times). It
will get easier and the more you repeat the ritual, the more you really won’t have to
think about it – you will just do it and before you know it, the work out will be over.

Don’t think just do! Repeated rituals help us increase discipline!

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Normally, I always tell you to change up your exercise routines so you don’t plateau.
But while you are consciously developing discipline in regular exercise, it’s all about
repetition – repeated behaviors. So during this time, exercise at the same time every
day. Listen to the same workout music every day. Go ahead and change up the actual
exercises, but keep some aspects of your workouts boringly routine. Why? You’ll be
creating neural pathways that will make the activity of exercise something expected
by your brain and your body and so working out won’t depend so much upon will-
power. Once you’ve made exercise automatic, you can vary your music, the time you
exercise and of course your exercise routine so that your muscles, body and brain
don’t get used to your exercise routine and cause you to plateau.

Use strategies. Trick yourself into getting started on your workout because the “start”
of a workout is often the most difficult part. You have no will power? Employ the two
minute rule. Lace up your sneakers, fill your water bottle and just step outside your
door. Tell yourself that’s all you have to do to complete that day’s workout. The two-
minute strategy will psychologically kick-start you into taking the next step and
completing your workout. Just focus on getting started in some way – let your mind
then push you to finish you workout.

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When you are developing discipline in exercise, that’s what you want to consciously
focus on the process you are using to create the routine and the behaviors you are
doing to create the routine. It’s easy to focus on the exercise or the exercise benefits.
But for right now, let those things take care of themselves and just focus on creating
the discipline needed to establish your new physical and psychological norm. You’ll
still be getting the great benefits from your exercise, but you need to create discipline
and push yourself to focus on creating behaviors that you’re going to want to be
sustainable for life. Later, when you find it your “norm” to exercise everyday, and you
don’t have to push yourself to do it, you can focus on your exercise and the great
benefits you’re getting from it.

Reward yourself every day once you complete your exercise goal for the day. It can be
simple, your favorite herb tea, maybe an old fashioned gold star on a chart, but you
need that psychological pat on the back for a job well done to build upon discipline.

Forgive yourself. You will fall off of the exercise wagon. Don’t give up. Just get up
brush yourself off and get back at it the next day. Even with will-power and
determination, discipline is about starting over and over again until a positive
behavior becomes HABIT.

Discipline sounds like the key to sustaining a life long practice of daily exercise right?
NO! Too many people depend upon the discipline they’ve worked so hard to create to
see them through to their goals but discipline depends upon will-power and will-
power is a limited resource. Once it goes, so do your goals!

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So, do you see a pattern yet? Where are you “stuck” in behaviors or using
psychological tools to create a new norm that you’ve, so far, failed to create?

If you depending upon motivation, you’re not going create the sustainable behavior
of life long exercise – motivation is only the spark that gets you going but it can’t
sustain you. If you depend upon discipline, (even though it was so hard to create,
you’d think it’d be the key to sustainability) – you’re still going to fail in making
exercise a life-long daily habit because discipline depends upon psychological factors
such as will-power and will-power is a limited resource which can slip away quickly.
Even high levels of determination only last just so long before they crumble. So, there
you are struggling to create a sustainable behavior using psychological tools that set
you up for failure if you depend upon them and don’t progress to developing the real
key to sustainability.

But when you’ve worked through the stages of motivation and discipline, and you
you’ve practiced discipline over a period of time, knowing that you are creating
HABIT, then you will succeed as habit IS the key to sustaining the practice of daily
exercise over the course of a lifetime.

Why? Because HABIT doesn’t depend upon motivation, determination, will-power or
discipline. It’s an ingrained learned behavior. Once exercise is a habit, it will be as
automatic as brushing your teeth – you don’t think about it, you just do it!

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As I said, you don’t need to force yourself to brush your teeth ever day, you just do it.
You most likely no longer “think” about and “decide” to put on your seatbelt when
you get in the car, you just do it! Think about how you’d feel if you didn’t brush your
teeth for a whole day or you drove without your seatbelt. If these are ingrained
habits, you would feel very uncomfortable if you didn’t do them.

Once exercise becomes a healthy habit, I can guarantee you that you won’t feel good
if you skip days other than your predetermined days of rest. It actually becomes
easier to exercise than it is not to exercise. I hate the feeling I get when I skip a day of
exercise. It feels like something is missing, the day doesn’t feel right, I don’t feel right,
it kind of gnaws at me. It’s so much better to just exercise than to feel those feelings.

Now, it’s important to understand that I’m not talking about making exercise an
unhealthy addiction or obsession. We want balance in our lives. So, I’m talking about
making exercise a healthy HABIT in your life.

So, the take away is: To create sustainability for the lifelong practice of daily exercise
use your motivation to spark you to create discipline through the use of
determination and will-power, and then use repeatedly practiced discipline to create
the key to sustainability in daily exercise for a lifetime - which is HABIT. If you do this,
you’ll finally be 2Fit2Quit.

Remember these habit developing tips can be used to create healthy habits in things
like finance, stress reduction, sleep patterns, and dietary practices as well.

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You can review details of the campaign in the following slides.
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This is the timeline of the campaign
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Week one

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Week two

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Week three

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Week four

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Week five

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Week six

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Things to remember

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Reminders

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The following are slides that were used by the Health Educator during her part of the
presentation. I have not included speaking points, but you can hear them on the
recorded session which is on the portal.

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If you currently have Capital BlueCross coverage, you will select member. Remember
to check that you accept the terms and conditions.

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If you do not have Capital BlueCross coverage, you will select other. Remember to
check that you accept the terms and conditions.

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You will only need to complete the information in the top portion including your
name, email address and telephone number. You do not need to complete any fields
under eligibility information.

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