An Evidence-Based Guide to Achieving Your Exercise Goals
Creating and maintaining an exercise habit can be hard, very hard.
Every January, millions of people sign up for the gym, hoping that this will give them the push needed to exercise consistently. Then, come February, many have cancelled their membership and resumed their previous lifestyle.
But what is the difference between the few that remain and those that do not? How can we continue to exercise throughout the year without reaching the point of burnout?
Whether your goal is to lose weight, improve strength, or remain mobile into later life, maintaining an exercise habit can be hugely beneficial, but it can also be challenging. With that in mind, here are 6 tips that can help you start and maintain an exercise habit.
The Tips
- A change of mindset
- Attitude, norms and control
- Do you have an attitude problem?
- Find new friends
- I’m the captain now
- Addressing the gap
- Summary
1. A change of mindset 🧠
Often, when we start a new habit, we put a lot of time into thinking about our goal without any real thought about how we will get there. We know that we would like to lose X amount of weight, bench press Y, or run Z number of miles, but do we even consider the steps?
While setting a goal and telling people may feel good at the moment, it may do more harm than good. When we tell people our goals, we hope that it will help us feel motivated and add some sense of accountability to our venture, though this is often short-lived. Once we have told people our goal, the only thing left to do is to go out and do the work. If this is something difficult like consistently exercising, motivation can quickly go out the window once the words of encouragement subside — which they inevitably will.
Furthermore, James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, suggests that there are three key reasons why goals are not the answer (while fairly obvious, number one was a revelation when I read it for the first time):
- Winners and losers have the same goals: Everyone at the gym has relatively similar goals, yet not everyone is in great shape, so what differentiates the winners and losers?
- Achieving a goal is only a momentary change: Once we reach a goal, we must continue to maintain the habits that got us there or revert back to where we were before we achieved the goal.
- Goals restrict your happiness: We tend to believe that once we reach a goal, we will be happy, and if we don’t, we have failed. But this does not take into account the progress we have made.
Having read the last few paragraphs, you may think goals are a complete waste of time; however, this isn’t necessarily true. Goals can act as something to strive towards, a north star — but we should not solely focus on them. We all need a target; otherwise, we would just be exercising for no reason; obsessing over the goal is not the way — focusing on the process is.
“Incredibly successful people set a goal and then focus all their attention on the process necessary to achieve that goal. They set a goal and then, surprisingly, they forget the goal” — Jeff Haden (The Motivation Myth)
Small, consistent actions, not extreme, once in a lifetime changes, are what we need to do to make progress. You will never lose 30lbs in one gym session, but exercise consistently for several months, and you might.
But how do we remain consistent for months?
2. Attitude, norms and control 🕹️
Anyone can say focus on the process, trust the process, stick to the process — but how do we actually do this consistently? And what underpins meaningful behaviour change? And what does improving the process even mean?
Improving the process means getting better at doing the work that leads to progress. In an exercise context, this could be planning your sessions for off-peak times as a way to reduce the friction of going. Ultimately, this will help you go to the gym more regularly and, as a result, quicken your progress towards where you want to be.
In addition, we may also consider the underpinning psychology of behaviour change, as this can be hugely important with regards to the actual activities we engage in.
The Theory of Planned Behaviour is a psychological theory that proposes that behaviour is guided by three concepts:
- Beliefs about the likely consequences of the behaviour (referred to as behavioural beliefs/attitude)
- Beliefs about what other people think you should do or whether they perform the behaviour themselves (referred to as normative beliefs/subjective norms)
- Beliefs about your perceived ability to do the behaviour (control beliefs/perceived behavioural control)
If you satisfy these components, Ajzen (1991) proposes that you will have the intention which will lead to the behaviour. Therefore, there will be no intention and no behaviour if you do not. But how is this relevant to exercising consistently over the long term?
If we understand the underpinning psychology, we can begin to put things in place to facilitate behaviour change. A change in behaviour leads to a more consistent and efficient process which ultimately leads to us achieving our goals.
To understand this psychology, let us look at the three components in more detail.
3. Do you have an attitude problem? 😒
Do I believe that this behaviour will lead to the outcome I am looking for?
The first of the components within the Theory of Planned Behaviour is attitude or your behavioural beliefs. More specifically, this refers to whether or not you subjectively believe that performing the behaviour will lead to either:
- A particular outcome, for example, believing that exercising will help you lose weight (this is referred to as an instrumental behavioural belief)
- A specific experience, for example, believing that exercise is energising (this is referred to as an experiential behavioural belief)
If we aggregate these two together, we have either a positive or negative attitude towards the behaviour.
But how does this actually improve our situation?
By understanding your personal beliefs/attitude towards the behaviour, you can identify any potential shortcomings. For example, do you A) consider exercise a valuable tool that can be used to help you reach your goal? And B) enjoy the feeling of exercise? If the answer to both of these questions is no, you will likely have a negative attitude towards the behaviour.
If this is the case, your aim should be to:
- Cultivate a more favourable attitude towards exercise: This could be done through intense self-examination (am I really aware of the advantages of exercise?), or by speaking to people you know who currently exercise and asking them why they do it — what their motivations are
- Attempt to enjoy the feeling of exercise: This is more difficult than the previous attitude as it relates to a specific feeling rather than something objective that you can research. However, a straightforward way to enjoy the feeling of exercise is to not push yourself to the point of burnout every session. Yes, we must push ourselves from time to time, but not every time. Reach the point where it begins to get difficult and ease off. The aim is to reach a situation where you enjoy the feeling and want to return the next day — instead of feeling like you need a week to recover
Addressing the factors that surround exercise, making the whole event more attractive, is another way that you can change your attitude. This could include:
- joining an exercise class
- listening to a new podcast each time you exercise
- invest in a slightly more expensive gym membership to improve your environment
- schedule exercise for off-peak times
- get social with your workout by using apps like Jefit and Zombies, Run!
Making the event more attractive will primarily improve how you feel about the general process of exercising, but it may also improve how you feel during the exercise (for example, the way you feel during and after a spin class — as opposed to cycling alone).
Once you feel that you have improved your attitude towards exercise, it is time to consider if you need to…
4. Find new friends 💭
What do my friends and family think of the behaviour, and how does this impact my choices?
The second component of the Theory of Planned Behaviour concerns normative beliefs or subjective norms. This relates to the subjective probability that an important individual approves or disapproves of performing the behaviour that is being considered (known as an injunctive normative belief) or whether the essential people themselves perform the behaviour (known as descriptive normative beliefs). Similarly to attitude, it is the combination of both beliefs that contribute to the overall social pressure to engage in the behaviour.
In an exercise context, you could ask yourself:
- Do people I consider important in my life (family, close friends, coworkers etc.) approve or disapprove of exercise? Do they regard it as valuable or a waste of time?
- Do people I consider essential actually perform the behaviour themselves?
Please remember that the combination of these determines the social pressure to engage in exercise. If you have a friend who approves of exercise but does not engage in the activity themselves, this will not be as valuable as if they regularly attend the gym. It is also worth noting that the closeness and the number of individuals in your life that have these beliefs will also make a difference. If one distant relative approves of exercise, this will have much less impact than if your entire immediate family does.
So how do we use this information to help us engage in exercise?
Here, the aim is to cultivate a more supportive norm within your social group. This is not me saying replace all of your lifelong friends to exercise more regularly, but you may be surprised at the difference that adding one or two new people can make to your life and your behaviours.
An excellent way to try this is going to an exercise class, which is beneficial for two reasons: you can meet people with an interest you would like to take up, potentially making new friends in the process, while also practising the behaviour and reinforcing that it is within your control. Leading us to…
5. I’m the captain now ☠️
To what extent do you believe the behaviour is within your control?
So, after reading the previous step, you may be thinking, ‘if I go to an exercise class, of course I feel that the behaviour is within my control’, however, I would argue that going to one class is far easier than maintaining a habit over weeks, months and years.
This is where perceived behavioural control or control beliefs come in. This is the third component of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and is arguably the most important.
Perceived behavioural control relates to the presence of factors that facilitate or inhibit a behaviour. The critical point is whether you perceive the behaviour to be within your control, based on your subjective probability that a facilitating or inhibiting factor will be present in the behaviour being considered.
Control factors include skills, abilities, time or lack thereof, resources (money, equipment, clothing), cooperation with other people, environment, etc.
Ultimately, perceived behavioural control comes down to maximising resources while minimising barriers.
As the specific factors differ from person to person, it can be difficult to give recommendations that apply to everyone; instead — interrogate the reasons you give yourself for avoiding the behaviour, and then focus on these intensely. For example, if you continually use a lack of ability as an excuse for not exercising, hire a personal trainer to help you improve your technique, so you feel more confident and no longer have this to use.
Perceived behavioural control is often considered the most crucial component because it can ultimately override attitude and subjective norms — even if they are good. Even if you implicitly understand that exercise is beneficial and those around you support your decision to exercise, if you believe there are too many barriers — you will not exercise.
Control beliefs can considerably impact your intention to exercise and, ultimately, whether you will actually perform the behaviour, so it is worth addressing your reasons for not exercising and considering if they can be changed.
6. Addressing the gap 🔎
Those of you aware of the Theory of Planned behaviour may also be aware of what many consider its primary limitation, the intention-behaviour gap.
Precisely what it sounds like, the intention-behaviour gap is the difference between having the intention and actually carrying out the behaviour. As I mentioned in the introduction, many of us will start the year with good intentions, but few will continually exercise until the following January. This is the intention-behaviour gap in action.
So how do we get around this? How do we bridge the gap?
I propose, The Behaviour Change Wheel (Michie et al., 2011). The Behaviour Change Wheel is a method primarily designed for behaviour change on a broader societal scale; however, many of the recommendations can be applied at an individual level. Additionally, the vast range of intervention options allows the wheel to be used for a wide range of people in varying situations instead of a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
As we can see from the above wheel, many factors influence behaviour, from an environmental to a psychological level. However, the part we may wish to focus on are intervention functions.
Intervention functions are various strategies that we can use to change our behaviour. Below are brief descriptions of each of the functions:
Education: increasing your knowledge of the activity and its benefits
Persuasion: perhaps the most challenging intervention, allowing yourself to be open to new ideas and persuaded to engage in a behaviour
Incentivisation: creating the expectation of reward
Coercion: creating the expectation of punishment or cost (one way to do this is Beeminder)
Training: similar to education, learning new skills
Enablement: removing barriers and/or increasing resources
Modelling: ‘modelling’ or imitating the behaviour of another person
Environmental restructuring: changing your physical or social context
Restrictions: using rules to regulate your behaviour
You do not necessarily have to use all of the functions. Still, you can mix and match any of the above tasks, making the behaviour change wheel a powerful tool to address the intention-behaviour gap and ultimately change behaviour.
7. Summary 📋
Understanding the mechanisms that underpin behaviour change is an excellent way to examine your own life and identify your shortcomings. Once you have done this, you know which areas to focus on and can use the behaviour change wheel to influence behaviour change.
It is also important to internalise that the process is what you need to focus on instead of the goal. Remember that the vast majority of people have goals, but the difference between the average person and Olympic athlete is that the latter remains consistent with the process. Do everything in your power to make the process easier, more rewarding and satisfying, and before you know it, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your goals.
I would like to leave you with a quote from one of my favourite authors. This may not be particularly motivational or inspiring, but it is undoubtedly true. Good look on your journey.
“Our lives today are a consequence of decisions we made a year ago and our lives a year from now will be a consequence of the decisions we make today” — Steven Bartlett (Happy Sexy Millionaire)
References
1. Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-t
2. Bartlett, S (2021). Happy Sexy Millionaire. Yellow Kite. https://stevenbartlett.com/happy
3. Clear, J (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Penguin Publishing Group. https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits
4. Haden, J (2018). The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win. Penguin Putnam Inc. https://www.jeffhaden.com/
5. Hagger, M. S., Cameron, L. D., Hamilton, K., Hankonen, N., & Lintunen, T. (Eds.). (2020). The Handbook of Behavior Change. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108677318
6. Michie, S., van Stralen, M. M., & West, R. (2011). The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation Science, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-6-42
Design Credits
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Thank You
If you made it this far thank you — I appreciate you taking the time to read my work and sincerely hope you enjoyed it. If you would like to continue reading, I’ve included a few of my recent articles from my website below. I’d love it if you could check them out!
Thanks again.
Rob
