Thursday 12 January 2017

How to: Make Pilates a habit

Pilates rewards consistent practice. But many people find it difficult to motivate themselves to exercise at home.

“To create a real lifelong habit, the focus should be on training your brain to succeed at a small adjustments, then gaining confidence from that success.”

According to this article, aiming to start doing a long exercise routine every day is a recipe for failure. Forcing yourself won't lead to success!

Instead an American psychologist has developed a three-step approach to successfully forming new habits. Applying this to Pilates can help you practice every day:

Step 1. What do you want to achieve by doing Pilates every day? Is it for general wellbeing, or to address a specific problem like back pain?

Whatever exercise you choose, make sure you know how to do it well ... spot the deliberate mistake in this photo!
Step 2. Ask your Pilates teacher what exercise will be most beneficial for you to do at home, ideally one you find easy to do.

Step 3. Invent a “tiny habit” by identifying a “trigger” to remind you to do your Pilates. This should be something you already do habitually.

For example, resolve to do two repetitions of your exercise while waiting for the kettle to boil in the morning, or a stretch after you brush your teeth.

Successfully introducing this new habit into your daily routine will give you a psychological boost and encourage you to increase your at-home Pilates practice naturally, gradually, and sustainably.

You can apply the “tiny habits” method to any other area of your life, so if you think it could benefit you click here to take the free training course online.

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