written by: Nem There's a saying "Environment is stronger than willpower". No matter how much willpower we have, if the environment is working against us, it will eventually "win" and we will falter in our efforts. In the health and fitness world, people often blame a lack of willpower or self-control when they fail to keep up with their healthy habits. Having strong willpower and self-control is important and excellent qualities to have. However, have you ever taken into consideration how much influence our environment has over us? How much it affects our thoughts and actions? Researchers think of willpower as a finite resource. Meaning, there is only so much willpower and self-control we can exert throughout the day. Once we exhaust these resources, we are more likely to give in and revert back to our old undesirable behavior. If we live in an environment where we are constantly fighting to keep up with our healthy habits, we are significantly decreasing our chances of succeeding. Conversely, if we live in an environment that supports our healthy habits, we are more likely to succeed since it takes less willpower and self-control to stay on track. For example, let's say your goal is to start eating healthy and exercising. You are determined and ready to make a change but you have the following working against you:
You can see how all this would require you to exert a lot much willpower and self-control to keep up with healthy habits and resist these temptations. Wouldn't it be much easier to reach your health and fitness goal if you have the following:
These are just some of the examples and I'm sure you can think of some yourself. Now that you are aware of this, think about how you can start engineering your environment to be more conducive to your health and fitness goals. Think about the examples with provided. What can you change, replace or add in your life, that will support you? Make your environment work for you and not against you. If you need an exercise and nutrition professional help who can guide you and be one of your biggest supporters and fans on your health & fitness journey, TO Kinesiology can help! We are a team of personal trainers and kinesiologists from Toronto providing professional exercise and nutrition coaching services. We specialize in working with individuals with musculoskeletal issues and medical conditions. Whether you are looking to improve health, fitness or the way you look, move and feel, schedule a consult with us to discuss in more detail how we can assist you. Other blog posts you might be interested in:
- Set "SMARTER" health and fitness goals - How to choose a personal trainer in Toronto - Difference between a personal trainer and kinesiologist - Exercise and low back pain: rehab and conditioning Here are some of the ways we can help you: - In-person training and kinesiology in Toronto and GTA - Online personal training and kinesiology - Our full service offering - Get in touch with us and let us know how we can help - Subscribe to our email list to get our latest updates Comments are closed.
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