“Lunchtime fitness…”

Shared by Breanne Smedley

Nearly 100 days ago, I started a program called GRIT.

I needed some way to get more accountability and structure into my workout routine while I was in the thick of a busy volleyball season.

One HIIT/CrossFit style workout a day, for 28 days.

Post results into the community, along with a short written context.

Get points for your team.

Miss one, you’re out.

“Sounds good. I’ll do it for a month to get me through the season,” I thought.

As I started looking at my schedule on most days, I noticed that there only seemed to be one block of time completely free.

Lunch. My 30 minute “duty-free” lunch.

I had no other choice.

I’m highly motivated by social contracts.

The thought of getting kicked out of the group was enough to ensure that I was getting the workout done by any means necessary.

So, the end of 4th period was my cue every day.

Bell rings, I walk into the bathroom with my workout clothes.

Change.

Speed walk to the weight room.

Get the workout done.

Change back.

Greet 5th period with a red face and sweaty hair.

Questions of, “What were you just doing?!” Have now turned into: “What was your workout, today Mrs. Smedley?”

It’s become routine.

And once the first 28-day GRIT was over, I re-upped for the second.

And the third.

And now, the fourth.

It’s now my lunchtime habit.

Speaking of habits, I read James Clear’s book “Atomic Habits” recently.

In it, he says that building a new habit requires four critical components:
Cue. Craving. Response. Reward.

Most people, including me, have the last three down.

For example, I want to workout (craving). When I do it (response), I get the reward of feeling good.

Or, I want to read more books (craving). When I do it (response), I become wiser and more knowledgeable (reward).

But without the actual cue, nothing happens.

We’ve all been there. We want to lose weight, get up earlier, eat better, work out more, spend more time with our family.

We say we’re going to do it.

We make resolutions.

But two weeks later, things don’t look much any different.

What’s missing? The cue.

Wanting to do something isn’t a cue.

A cue needs to be specific. No room to talk yourself out of it.

The cue triggers the response.

When the bell rings for the end of 4th period, I go to the bathroom to change.

After I change, I walk to the weight room and workout.

No questions about it.

No trying to find the willpower or talk myself into it.

Because some days, I don’t want to do it. But, it’s as if my body is working like a robot, following specific instructions.

Whether my mind likes it or not.

Just like a dog, obeying a whistle, the bell is my cue.

And that cue has lead to a 100-day habit of working out.

Cue. Craving. Response. Reward.

Now, to apply this concept to the 50 other habits I’m “trying” to build!

Reminder to myself: Start with the cue.

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