Transform Your Life with Daily Fitness Habits in 21 Days! Ep126

Richard Conner: [00:00:00] Have you ever heard the saying. It takes four weeks for you to notice your body changing eight weeks for your friends to notice and 12 weeks for the rest of the world to notice. Well, one of the biggest challenges that most folks face. And even getting to the first four weeks is lack of consistency. Today, I’m going to talk to you about some daily fitness habits that will help you kickstart your journey, but also the tips on how to build those habits and get the consistency needed to get results. I hope you enjoy.

Intro/Outro: Welcome to inspire to run podcast. Here, you will find inspiration, whether you’re looking to take control of your health and fitness, or you are a seasoned runner looking for community and some extra motivation, you will hear inspiring stories from amazing runners, along with helpful tips from fitness experts.

Now, here’s your host, Richard Conner.

Richard Conner: Hey, my friend 2025 is off to a roaring start and I know that we all have fully returned to [00:01:00] the hustle and bustle of life after the holidays. For my own fitness journey, I feel like I’m off to a good start. I’ve been prioritizing strength training to kick off the year. As one of my main goals is to get stronger and faster. And, you know, as time progresses, I’ll ease back into more miles. And specific trainings for our, my races this year. So thinking about your star to the year and fitness goals, like how has that going for you so far? And it’s okay.

If you say that you haven’t really started in earnest or maybe something’s just gotten the way recently. But now you have an opportunity to begin and it starts with habits. I talked about this a little in a previous episode where habits play a big role and someone may underestimate how much their habits actually impact their lives. Good and bad. So here, I’m going to give you five simple daily fitness habits. That will help kick off the year strong. Then we’ll get into [00:02:00] actually how to develop those healthy habits. So let’s get into it. The first one, the first daily fitness habit is to hydrate. I told you these are going to be simple. Hydrate your body during the day.

And it’s suggested that you even hydrate immediately after waking up to kickstart your metabolism. So the suggestion is to drink. You’ve all heard this eight to 10 glasses of water each day. Um, that’s about 64 to 80 ounces. Uh, I personally try to target around a hundred ounces just given the activity that I have and recommendation from my coach. So I try to get a little bit more than the eight to 10 glasses of water, but this is kind of the generic or general recommendation. One thing that I would add above and beyond the recommendation is, you know, for many of us who are active or thinking about getting active, it’s really important to get your electrolytes as part of [00:03:00] your hydration. And this is something that I kind of learned the hard way, which is super embarrassing, given that I’ve been running for a long time.

I’ve been running since high school. And honestly, it’s just not something that I’ve really actively thought about. Um, until that point in time came where they realized that I just wasn’t getting enough electrolytes. So I use Arbonne for my daily electrolytes, and then I have other electrolytes that I use for my actual runs and races, like tailwind nutrition, which. You know, we had a whole episode with the founder co-founder of, of tailwind nutrition on the show.

And we talked about, you know, the appropriate hydration for your races. So, this is a very simple daily fitness habit that you could do every day without much challenges, but it’s just being thoughtful about getting in that water each day throughout the day.

Next. Uh, daily fitness habit is to move every day. [00:04:00] Now, what does this mean? This means walking, running strength training, yoga, Pilates. Taking the stairs. Whatever you could do to move your body. And it could be, you know, a combination of those things. So. For me, my routine consists of running most days of the week.

So I run about five to six days a week. Uh, I wasn’t doing as much strength training over the years. So again, one of my main goals is to get stronger and faster. So I’m building in a lot more string training. Now as I get into to 2025. And, and I’m doing other things in terms of mobility and really just trying to stay healthy with my body, but I’m moving every day, even. I even bought a Peloton bike, uh, just a few months ago, as a way for me to do something as cross training at home, but also, you know, help my family kind of get involved and get active. But many years ago during that period of time when I wasn’t running and I wasn’t [00:05:00] nearly as active as I am now. One of the things that I did to try to keep moving was I worked in an office building and I worked on the seventh floor of that building.

So I remember one of my colleagues came into the office. In through the stairwell, I was like, what are you doing? And he’s like, yeah, I take the stairs every day coming up to the office. And my first thought was, that’s crazy. You know, we’re on the seventh floor, but I just realized that, you know, I wasn’t moving. Is it really wasn’t doing anything, but sitting at a desk and working all day and then going home and taking care of the kids.

And my kids were young at the time. So I tried it every day. And the cool thing about it is I didn’t have to start off by walking up seven floors of stairs right out of the gate. So I just walked up maybe a couple of stairs and I got to the first floor where we had an office, which was the fourth floor. And that was great.

So that was kind of the halfway point. And then I could take the elevator if I just couldn’t make it the rest of the way. But eventually I got to the seventh floor. So [00:06:00] I built that habit to go up to seven floors. But I usually would always take the stairs, at least going down. So at the end of the day, I wouldn’t take the elevator.

I would take the stairs going down, but most days I would do my best to take the stairs going up. So that was my way of staying active. Uh, at that time. So that was just an example. So just make sure that you have a balanced plan for your strength, for your cardio and for your mobility. And if you’re new to running, you don’t have to run every day.

So I shared with you my plan of running five to six times a week, but I have very specific goals. So if you’re just, if you’re new to running and just kind of getting into it, or you don’t have the same type of fitness goals that I have, that’s perfectly fine. I mean, even a couch to 5k program schedules you to run only about three days a week and we happen to have one of those.

So if you come to @inspiretorunpodcast on Instagram, you can DM me.

[00:07:00]

Richard Conner: literally couch to 5k. Um, but use those exact a letter C25K. And I’ll send you a couch to 5k program. So. The bottom line is. Move every day. Find a way to do it between running, walking strength training, cardio, just move your body every day. The third daily fitness habit is to prioritize sleep. And honestly, this is kind of one of my favorites.

I like to sleep. So the recommendation is that you aim for about seven to nine hours of sleep and that’s going to help support. Muscle recovery and your overall health. So again, this is very simple. This is not new. But we don’t always do this. We either stay up very late or we get up very early and I know everybody kind of has their own thing, whether or not they can sleep for seven to nine hours.

There’s a lot going on, whether it’s with them physically or other things going on in their environment. But [00:08:00] it’s really important. To prioritize sleep and do the best you can to get that seven to nine. Hours of sleep. For me personally, I had been having trouble getting restful sleep. So not the necessarily the number of hours, but I would wake up in the morning and I just wouldn’t feel rested. So what I did about a year and a half ago, maybe. Is that I bought an Oura ring to help me with that.

So it was just to help me understand what are the days that I’m getting good sleep. When of the days and I’m not getting good sleep. And then helping me understand what could be the reasons or the causes for that. And then I could do more of the things that were helping me and then do less of the things that weren’t helping or contributing to restful sleep. So as a baseline. I just get some rest.

Tip number four, the daily fitness habit.

Number four is have balanced nutrition. I’m not a nutritionist. I’m not [00:09:00] prescribing anything specific here, but this is general information to plan your meals, to have protein fats and carbs. And I personally had a Mac, had a macro plan that I followed that absolutely worked for me. Um, for a long time, I just really struggled to get where I want it to be physically and fitness wise.

And then following this plan really, really helped me. And so I personally believe having a macro plan, uh, and tracking what you eat. We’ll help you. We’ll help you get to where you want to be. Not everyone believes that. I mean, there’s a lot of different philosophies out there. Uh, I know a lot of people are against tracking because it’s hard to do.

And if you don’t do it. You don’t get the benefits of it, or maybe there’s shame that comes with it. I personally want the data. I want to see. You know what I’m eating when I’m eating it. And I could adjust accordingly because I don’t think many folks really know [00:10:00] how much they’re eating or what their macros look like, or how much of an impact it’s having on you.

So tracking it, even if it’s just for one week, just gives you that baseline and it tells you where you are. And then from there you can make kind of the changes that you’re looking for, right. To get the results that you’re looking for. In life. So I shared with you what I do. Absolutely worked for me.

Won’t work for everybody. It just depends on your personality and the way you work. But I’ve had a couple of guests on the show, a few guests on the show who have talked about this topic, and I would encourage you to listen to one of these episodes. So I’ll share with you a couple here. The first one is episode 65.

How can running and nutrition lead to a better life with Ashley Terry? So really great perspective, really wonderful story. She talks about her weight loss story. Through running a nutrition and everything that she did. So I would recommend that you take a listen, uh, episode 65.

The next one is episode 78. Can [00:11:00] intuitive eating help you reach your health goals with Eva Rodriguez. This is a replay. This, this was such a great conversation that I had earlier in the time that I started the podcast and I summarize it and took really the best parts and put it into one episode because it was a two-part episode before, but, you know, Eva talks about intuitive eating and a lot of great tips around that.

So again, if tracking and macros and all of that stuff is just too much, and it’s not something that really aligns. with the way that you work and just what you want to do. This is a really great episode for you to listen, to, to teach you about the, kind of the guidelines around intuitive eating. So these are the two episodes that I recommend, but I have a number of other episodes on nutrition and hydration, you know, especially as you progress in your fitness journey and your races, if you do that. So there are many philosophies on this topic, but having a plan. Uh, that is sustainable [00:12:00] is really the key to longterm success. And the number five.

So the fifth daily fitness habit that I’ll share with you is write down or mentally commit to your fitness goal for the day.

I’m sure. You’ve heard the saying. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And this is a mental game, just as much as it is a physical one. So I personally schedule all of my workouts for the week, uh, as I use my calendar all of the time. So if it doesn’t go on the calendar, most likely it’s not happening anyway, but it’s really helpful to have that, you know, visually there to know what I’m going to do that day and what I need to do for the entire week. In addition to that, I also use my tasks. So I have a task in, uh, in my phone.

And again, it’s right there along with everything else that they need to do. And that helps me figure out, okay, I need to do these three or four things and other areas of my life, but I need to do my eight mile run for my fitness. [00:13:00] So those that’s number five and these are the five daily fitness tips that are wanted to, or daily fitness habits, I should say. That I want to share with you.

So again, These are very simple, very, I would say easy to do, but we don’t always do them and we don’t always do all of them. So it’s really important that you build all these daily fitness into your, into your daily lives. Now. How do you actually develop these daily fitness habits? It’s not as easy or it’s not easy.

As habits are kind of mental shortcuts that our brains create to save energy and navigate daily life. So when you’re building a new habit, You know, that takes time and research shows that it can take anywhere from 18 days to all the way up to 254 days. With the average person taking around 65 days to incorporate a new behavior or habit into their routine. [00:14:00]

So that all depends. Right? It depends on you. It depends on the complexity of the habit. It depends on your level of motivation. Now. A simpler way to look at it is the 21/90 rule. And this was first introduced by Dr. Maxwell Maltz. And it’s a concept that suggests forming a new habit takes 21 days of consistent action. And then an additional 90 days to make it a permanent part of your daily routine. So, again, still depends on the complexity of the habit, your motivation and your personal circumstances, but it’s an easier way to think about, you know, that first 21 days to build a habit. And then the 90 days to really kind of cement it into your daily practice. So, how do you do that?

How do you actually build a new habit? So I’m going to share with you five ways to build a new habit, to support the daily fitness habits that, uh, that we talked about. And I did something a little fun with this one. I wanted to have fun and I wanted [00:15:00] to hear from the Inspire or Run community. So I put it down on Instagram and I said, share with me, you know, kind of those best practices or tips that have really worked for you.

So I’m going to share these with you. So the first one is from Marquel and Marquel says start small. So you want to begin with an easily achievable version of your habit. You know, whether it’s it’s five minutes of exercise instead of 30, or it’s walking instead of running, this is so important. Because this reduces the barrier to getting started.

How many times have you sat down to do something? Whether it’s building something from Ikea or it’s something that you just mentally you’re like, this is going to be tough. This is going to be long. This is going to be difficult. Those are all the barriers that can stop you from building those healthy habits.

So thank you, Marquel. That first one is start small. [00:16:00] The second one is from Grace. Grace says, write it down. Materialize a thought and then put it into practice. So, this is really powerful, especially the writing it down part. So that’s really powerful. From a mental standpoint, because that’s really going to solidify it in your subconscious. I would also add a few others to along this point is. Be specific. And don’t over-commit and this is something that I personally been working on is not over committing, and this is going to be my year. I have my plan.

I’m sticking to my plan and I’m not going to over-commit. I would add one more to, this is use this as when you write it down, use it as a reminder and a cue. So whether or cue, so whether it’s on a sticky note or whether you have electronic, which is what I use. I use my phone, I use my tasks and my phone and my calendar. So it just shows up. In front of you and it’s a cue for you to do that activity. And it also shows [00:17:00] you that it’s just as important as all of your other activities. So thank you, Grace.

Write it down, materialize a thought and put it into practice. Number three is stay flexible. If you miss a day. Acknowledge it learn from it and get back on track. And this one’s from Greg Thompson. Appreciate you sending the same, Greg. And, you know, I found a quote in a couple of things that will add to this is, you know, success is not final. And failure is not fatal.

And this is by Winston Churchill. And this is what I think about often. When I don’t succeed at something or in this case, like if I miss a day, Or whatever the case might be is it is really about showing up and being consistent, but it’s not all going to, you’re not going to really miss out from just one day.

In fact, maybe your body could use the rest, right? Maybe that one day is going to be good for you, but don’t miss it consistently. Right? If you just miss it. As Greg says, if you miss it, [00:18:00] acknowledge it, learn from it and get back on track. Also accept that perfection isn’t isn’t required, right. It’s really just having, you know, getting to the level that you can perform that you could deliver.

If you know that that’s the best that you can do. That’s great. And that will get you to where you want to be.

Number four is use a habit tracker app journal or calendar to log your fitness activities. So this is going to help you, um, see your progress as, as well as build motivation. So for me, I use an app that my trainer provides for my workouts. Uh, I also use JEFIT, which is kind of cool because you could see a calendar and they put a little blue dot or every day that you worked out.

So that’s kind of cool to say, Hey, you know, sometimes I’m doing really well and sometimes I not, I’m not, but it gives you a visual way of seeing those times. So that’s really helpful for me. And I feel good about it. If I see a lot of blue dots. Uh, another one is Strava. You know, Strava is great. [00:19:00] Um, Strava will show you how many miles you’ve run for the week.

Shovel we’ll show, share your success with others. And, you know, they may cheer for you or they may comment. So all of these things, you know, track your progress and his motivation for you to continue. Number five is remove any obstacles to success. So as an example, set out your workout clothes the night before.

So for me personally, I go from the office to the gym. So I pack my gym bag the night before. And I found out that if I come home from the office and then change. I waste a lot of time and there is a good chance. I may not even make it to the gym just depending on what time it is. Right. So I stay at the office a little bit later.

Oh, I got time and get home. Um, I’m wasting time at home. And then before, you know, it it’s really late. And then I don’t get. My entire workout in because then I need to get back home. I need to do things here, um, or I don’t go at [00:20:00] all. So this way I remove the obstacle. I pack my gym bag at night.

I grab it in the morning. I go to the office, I leave the office that go right to the gym. I do my workout. End of story. The other example that I have is this year I started something where I wanted to wake up early. So I have a lot of things that are going on and I just felt like I just didn’t have enough time in the day.

And as I mentioned before, I like to sleep. So I wake up a little bit early to get some things done. And I always say that my brain works best in the morning. So as I’m kind of planning, you know, mapping this out, I want to wake up early. I didn’t want to wake up early on the weekends. I’m like, gosh, I can do it during the week.

But on the weekends it just felt like torture punishment. So I didn’t want to do that. So I researched and I’m like, you know what? Maybe there’s something here where I can get a little bit of reprieve on the weekends. And I researched it and the research, well research, I Googled it. So I don’t know if you call that research.

Maybe there [00:21:00] was some papers in there that I read, but basically the consensus was. Waking up at the same time every day was the best way to go. So if you don’t do that, then it could mess up your circadian rhythm and it just wouldn’t maybe get me the full benefit that I was looking for. So as disheartening as that was because I really wanted to sleep in on the weekends.

I set the same alarm during the week as I do on the weekends as I did during the week. So I’m happy to say, as I’m recording this, I think I’m on day five. Uh, which includes the weekends. So I did it at least for the five days, but as you know, I need that first to get to that first 21 days. So I still got a long way to go. So that’s number five, remove obstacles to success.

So if you find, you know, this reason kind of keeps you from. Drinking water every day or moving your body every day or getting enough sleep. Try to remove those obstacles from your life. So to recognize it and start to remove those obstacles so you can [00:22:00] build those daily fitness habits. I’ll give you a bonus one here, and this is really important.

And admittedly, I don’t know if I do a good job, so I would love your feedback and your input. If you do things here that have helped you, that you really enjoy. You know, you can come to the episode, show notes and there is an option here where you can send me a message or send me a text I’d love to hear from you. What did you do to reward yourself? Reward yourself, even for small successes. And that reinforces the positive behavior and also builds momentum.

And this was also mentioned in, um, you know, the research that I’ve done and as well as in the book, Atomic habits by James clear, which is excellent. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but really enjoyed that book, but you have to, you have to train your mind to want to do these things eventually. And this is a great way to, to do that is to reward yourself.

So go to the show notes at the beginning of the show notes, you should see [00:23:00] them, uh, an option there to send me a message I’d love to hear. What are the types of things that you do to reward yourself when you have the successes? So that was a bonus. One was to reward yourself. So I hope this was helpful for you.

I shared with you those five daily fitness habits that are really going to help you. Uh, as you kick off the year, and then I shared with you the five plus the bonus ways that you could start to build those habits. And if you’re new to running and you’re looking to start your, you know, you’re running your first five K this year, I would encourage you to come visit, inspire to run podcast on Instagram.

DM me. , I’ll send you the couch to 5k program, and I’d love to chat with you if you have any questions, but really looking forward to seeing the Inspire to Run community, be successful this year, no matter where you are in your journey. And we’d love to hear from you.

That’s it for this episode of inspire to run podcast. We hope you are [00:24:00] inspired to take control of your health and fitness and take it to the next level. Be sure to click the subscribe button to join our community. And also, please rate and review. Thanks for listening.