How I made working out a habit

I use to be extremely lazy when it came to exercise. I'm sure a lot of people can relate. Every year when it was summer my past schools gave out a flyer to each kid motivating them to exercise. I always felt empty and neutral because I knew it wasn't happening. When I was in middle school all my class mates were showing off their biceps. I would feel like crap since I had sticks for arms. Sure I bought weights and tried different workout routines, but i would give up within a week. It wasn't until the summer of my junior year when I started working out for reals that I stumbled onto a technique that I now use to form all the habits I want.

When I started I wasn't aware of how strong I was, so I lifted very light weights. I would start at a weight i would lift comfortably for eight reps, and add one rep a week until I could do 12 reps. When I could do 12 reps I would five more pounds to the bar. However after doing it for six weeks my ego got in the way I started adding weights every workout. I was adding like 5-10 pounds a week. I got so motivated by my progress that I looked forward to going to the gym . After 12 weeks and on working out became something normal to me. In fact if I missed a workout I would feel quite weird about it.

Now what exactly did I do?

-I started out small.

Though it was an accident I started out lifting really light weights about 20 pounds for my dead lift for example. Since I increased the intensity at small pace I didn't burn out. Therefore I was able to keep going long enough for it to be a habit.

-I kept at it for 12 weeks.

12 weeks is a perfect number because it is long enough for you to know that the routine you did have become a habit. Why do you think the p90X is so successful? Even if the participants didn't get the exact looks they wanted in those 90 days they developed a workout/healthy diet habit.

It was actually that simple. I also refined what I learned from this into a habit installing technique that I had a lot of success with. I will eventually make a post about that.

Cheers