Workout habit

We human animals, are total creatures of habit.

We go through life performing a series of habits- whether it’s how we get up and make the coffee, then go get the paper, then shower and do we usually brush our teeth or hair first…..?
We have habits of smoking, overeating, talking too much, doing drugs, exercising, watching TV, gossiping….
So when we say we’re going to “stop” a bad habit like smoking or overeating — we usually fail because we don’t REPLACE the “bad” habit with a “good” habit!

For example my Dad smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day as well as chewed tobacco and smoked a pipe for 30 years.

When he decided to quit cold turkey, he knew he had to replace the habits of having his hands open the package, hold, light up, flick — the cigarette.
He bought lifesavers, chewing gum and sunflower seeds and he had his hands busy opening and handling these things.
He drank coke by the case to replace the energy jump he missed from the nicotene. He went to a hot springs and soaked out the toxins in his body quicker.
After a while, he was tired of the candy and seeds and gum and coke and was able to move from a terrible nicotene habit… — to a bad sugar habit… — to golfing!

When I was raising 2 young boys in a very rural part of Colorado — my SOCIAL life consisted of soccer, volleyball, running and working out at the local gym.

It kept my sanity in a terrible marriage because of the endorphin feel-good release the hard workouts gave me!
My mother-in-law accused me of being “addicted” to exercise.
Considering she was 50 lbs. overweight and completely sedentary…I probably seemed like it.

I finally decided, I Was addicted to the effects of exercise and that it was completely alright!

I chose a “good” workout habit over the many “bad” alternatives!