Habits to fuel your fitness intention for 2022
Contemplating intentions.
The new year always brings a torrent of resolutions. Did you set any? How are they coming along? Rather than setting a resolution, I am renewing my intention to live my healthiest and most fit life possible.
The biggest changes are often created through the accumulation of tiny steps. Your daily habits have transformative power (read The Power of Habit!). To this end, I encourage you to think about the daily habits that are going to help you reach your big goals.
Here are the habits I’m personally committing to this year to live my healthiest and most fit life possible. I encourage you to join me!
Hydrate! Most of us are not drinking enough water, the magical source of life that has countless health benefits. Set a tone for the day by drinking 8 ounces of room temperature water first thing in the morning. This also cues your body that it’s time to wake up and get the day started. For the rest of the day, keep a waterbottle that’s filled up to the amount of water you want to drink in a day (or know that you want to drink X full waterbottles per day). Then throughout the day, make sure to take a drink – even when you don’t “feel” thirsty, you probably could use more water in your system!
Eat protein with every meal. For athletes, protein is critical because it helps your body recover and grow. The most efficient way I’ve found of ensuring I get the desired amount of protein with every meal is to plan. Supplementation, through the forms of protein shakes, yogurts, deli meats, etc., is also helpful and convenient.
Sleep! Tim Ferriss recently cited sleep as his biggest “force multiplier” – I agree! There’s an abundance of science supporting the importance of sleep. The benefits are both physical and mental. Take it from one of the greatest athletes of all time: Lebron James sleeps 12 hours a night! I’m just going for 7 hours because, you know, I’m not a pro NBA athlete.
Check your sleep hygiene. The iPhone comes with a Bedtime feature, which will remind you of when you want to get to sleep to get your desired sleep hours and also automatically turn off notifications. Consider other things that impact your sleep too. For example, I shared my sleep goals with my partner so that we can sync our schedules or otherwise plan accordingly to respect each other’s sleep schedules.
I’m excited to practice these habits. I know they will make a difference for my fitness and strength, how I show up for my athletes, and also my ability to take on all that life will throw at me in the coming year.
What habits will you put into practice in 2022? Give me a shout – I’d love to hear!
Andrew
