How to Use Behavioral Science To Instill Training Habits That Stick

Making good decisions in life is hard. We tend to overvalue the present and discount the future, which prioritizes choices that benefit us in the short-term but not the long-term. We will rather binge-watch a Netflix series while indulging in a half-gallon of Haagen-Dazs instead of working out. Locking healthy habits into place can guard against ill-advised indulgences and give yourself a little more power to eat healthier, exercise more often and sleep better.

Understanding how habits are formed and how you can influence them will get you halfway there. A few behavioral “nudges” can tap deep into your internal motivators and activate actions that eventually become habits. Why not start applying these principles and hacks today to supercharge your ability to train and live well — and ultimately lead you to achieve your long-term aspirations?

Behavioral economics first emerged in the spotlight when Daniel Kahneman and Vernon Smith were awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize for their groundbreaking work in the field. It’s now in the mainstream, with one book after another hitting the bestseller list and business leaders across all industries adopting the principles it’s revealed. Why? Because it represents real human behavior, so its principles actually work in the real world.

Companies now harness behavioral economics principles to increase customer engagement with their products and services. You can use these principles too — to make yourself a better and more resilient athlete to recode your habits.

Habits are repetitive behaviors that we perform every day. In fact, 40 percent of what we do each day is habitual. It’s not a stretch to say that your habits define who you are. But why do we need habits? Because they make it easier to get things done. They are automatic. You don’t need to think about them; they are the default things you do that don’t require you invest any mental energy on deciding whether to do them.

As an athlete, you almost surely already have exercise, nutrition, recovery and mental preparation habits in place. Some might be good habits, while others might be holding you back from achieving your full potential. Compile a list of your fitness habits and mark the ones you are proudest of and those you would like to change. Let’s look at a few to get you started.

Do you recognize any of the above items? The good news is that with conscious effort, you can replace your unhealthy habits with healthy ones. It’s important to note that it’s easier and more common to replace habits than to create or eliminate them.

Instead of ordering a side of French fries with your steak, you can order a side salad. Instead of snoozing long after your alarm rings in the morning, you can get up, drink a glass of water and head to the swimming pool.

For every habit you want to create, there is probably some other habit in place that already, that you will need to replace. In this manner, you can recode your behavior to create the new you.

It takes time to build habits, and many burn out their willpower before they reach the utopian land of healthy habits. The initial motivation that we have to form a new habit must successfully translate into sustained, repeated behavior change until it becomes automatic.

Exhibit courtesy of James Clear — Exhibit courtesy of James Clear

It takes two to four months to form a new habit, so you need to find ways to survive this transitional zone so that the new behavior doesn’t join others in the cemetery of others you’ve sought to adopt. Failed attempts to form new habits occur for various reasons, such as seeking to change too many habits at once or trying to form a new habit that’s too ambitious. But don’t worry; there are some tactics you can deploy to keep you on track.

How do you begin to adopt the cycle of behaviors that you want to repeat and turn into habits? To put it simply:

Reinforce what drives you to create the habits you want, and
Eliminate whatever stops you from engaging in those behaviors.

Momentarily I will share some concrete examples of ways that you can change behavior, including some that are promoted by fitness companies. But remember, using tools such as rewards, incentives or penalties to make yourself do something is not sustainable forever. These mechanisms may create repeat behavior that will over time turn into habits, but it’s the long-term continuation of those habits that matter.

People are driven by different motivators. Understanding what motivates you is important, as you can then pick the most effective tools from the behavioral science toolbox. You can only be effective if you tap into your motivations because you’ll know why you are doing something that’s challenging.

There are two dimensions to this reality:

Internal vs. external motivators: Are you driven by the personal desire to be the faster and more productive you, or are you driven by the friends in your circle who live paleo or the colleagues who are racking up marathons?

Finding motivation vs. making it work within your time constraints: Do you lack the drive to do something, or are you struggling to find ways to complete it due to an impossible schedule?

These two dimensions lead me to conclude there are four different types of athletes whose circumstances correspond to different tools that could most effectively help them achieve their goals.

The Aspirer is internally driven but needs motivation daily to remind himself of the big goal and why he is pursuing it
The Optimizer is also internally driven but needs help with execution as he often struggles to fit in what he needs to do.
The Socializer is externally driven and derives motivation primarily from being part of a community and doing the work with others because that’s what matters to him.
The Class Goer is also externally driven but needs help with execution, such as with workouts where everything is planned and a support group of fellow “class” people can join him in putting in the effort.

The Aspirer might still need help with execution, so Optimizer tools might also apply to him. The same might be true for the Self-Conscious Socializer. People can change personas over time too; sometimes we require more motivation, while at other times more execution helps. Prepare yourself to draw from more than one toolkit!

Here are some ideas for you on how to fuel your motivation.

Reward yourself for good behavior

Do good things in tandem. Are you trying to lose weight? Nobody likes to be on a diet all the time. Every time you do a hard workout, reward yourself with something that you like — or if you have been on a diet the whole week, pick one “cheat day” that week when you can indulge in whatever you want. You earned it! Do you have a favorite podcast but hate doing core exercises? Listen to it only in the gym (or on the drive to the gym) when you’re doing them.

Zwift, a virtual cycling game, taps into rewards really well. You collect points — the more you exercise, the more points you get, and the points can be exchanged for rewards (branded in-game gear, but you could see it apply to brand discounts in the future). In the case of studio classes, higher attendance leads to free class rewards (such as a ClassPass or SoulCycle class).

Penalize yourself for ‘misbehaving’

Make “commitment contracts” with yourself. On Stickk.com, for example, money is transferred to a charity you dislike for every workout that you miss. Imagine a gym where you pay more on months that you don’t work out — it’s like that.

Classes such as SLT and SoulCycle have opted to use the stick over the carrot too. Members who have signed up for a class and don’t show up (unless they cancel with advance notice) are charged a hefty $35 for the missed class. This motivates members to show up and cuts down on “no shows,” a headache for fitness instructors.

Create ‘high barriers of exit’ for sustained motivation

If you suspect your motivation may run out, make it hard to bail by making financial commitments. Hire a coach who will hold your feet to the fire, pre-register for races, and book your flights and hotel room in advance of race trips. Paying good money up front will make it more likely you will complete your training schedule.

Set yourself up for success by doing some advance planning when you’re at your most rational. This is usually long before the time when you’ll be completing the planned activities (workouts, diet plans, races). Then, don’t let last-minute changes in your schedule get in your way. You’ve got this.

Put it on your calendar when you’re at your strongest

We are more likely to do things when we specify how, when and where we will do them. For your weekly workout planning, look at your calendar on Sunday and plan the week ahead. Schedule your workouts as you would your meetings at work or any other appointment. Think specifically about when you are going to complete them and what time you need to wake up if they’re morning sessions.

If you are going out to dinner with friends on a Friday night, look at the dinner menu in the morning or the night before, and pick the item that you will order. Write it down. Tell your spouse. Then when you arrive at the restaurant, don’t even look at the menu!

Make it so easy to complete that you cannot fail

Remove the friction that could stop you from completing your task when you are at your weakest. I call this lowering the barriers of entry. I struggle to get out of bed in the morning, especially in the winter for pool workouts. If you do too, prepare all your workout apparel the night before and set it out where you dress in the morning. At that same time, prepare your bag with all your gear and leave it by the door. You can even order transportation for a specific time. These steps remove any decision making in the morning when you can be on autopilot until you get out the door. By then you’ll be at least half awake and semi-rational.

There are other ways, too, to redesign your environment to help you form habits. If you want to eat healthier, for example, toss out all the junk food and fill your fridge with healthy food. If it’s the only thing to eat in the house, you will have no choice. Otherwise, you’ll go right for the snack foods eventually, if not immediately.

Follow a ritual

Rituals are a sequence of steps coded in your brain, with one behavior triggering another. I don’t start the day without a cup of coffee and a shower to wake up. Before I go out for a weekend ride, I make coffee for me and my wife. I don’t eat breakfast, but I know that I will stop at mid-ride for a pastry. This is just what I always do. It’s part of the ritual.

You benefit from social comparison, so put your reputation at risk and into the public eye!

Associate with your role models

Spend time with people who model the habits you want to mirror. It’s good to have a North Star among your friends who always goes out in the rain or cold, never missing a workout for any reason. This triathlete never exceeds two glasses of wine on Friday nights so he can knock it out of the park on Saturday morning.

Make social contracts

There’s nothing more encouraging on a cold Saturday at 6 a.m. than to see your buddies waiting for you at a prearranged starting point, ready to ride (or run or swim). It makes it a little more fun because you can catch up with them about the week that just went by. More importantly, finding a workout buddy or group will hold you accountable for skipping a workout. Pulling out means you’d better have a good reason! The same holds true for signing up for a big race like a marathon or half-Ironman. Once you tell all your colleagues you are doing it, it is hard to back out (especially with a three-figure, prepaid entry fee on the line).

Put your name on the leader board

Strava taps into communities and social pressure by comparing athletes’ performances. Some group cycling classes do this in real time by displaying effort-related stats during a workout. Comparing yourself to others can be great motivation.

You benefit from having someone do the planning for you and are motivated by being with others.

Show up, join in, get faster

Hire a running coach, become a regular at a weekly bike ride or join a Masters swimming team. Any of these things will make you accountable for showing up (and you’ll typically do better workouts too). As Woody Allen famously said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

Here are two final tips that are universal, regardless of the archetype that fits you. These hacks will allow you to make it, not break it.

You may be motivated by setting a big goal, but to get in the habit zone you really need to start with an achievable goal. Then train consistently so that you’ll accomplish it before pursuing loftier goals. Settle on a goal that is sustainable in the short term and don’t do more, or you will risk overtraining or losing motivation.

Small actions are just easier to maintain until they turn into habits. Once you have a solid foundation and have irrevocably established a habit, you can then start increasing the effort.

Willpower is a limited commodity. Seeking to establish many habits at the same time will result in willpower depletion, so start with one at a time. Once it becomes a habit, add another one, then another.

Now go and achieve great performance!

There are lots of great books on behavior design and habit creation, not necessarily related to athletics. I’d recommend reading the following:

Nudge by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Blog by James Clear

About the author
phantastic is a superhuman performance lab, on a mission to help athletes reimagine the possible and realize their potential. We are a team of athletes, coaches, and scientists. But more importantly hackers, tinkerers and experimenters, obsessed with chasing faster.

About the illustrator
Jun Cen is a Chinese illustrator and animator who is currently based in New York City. His wonderful work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Vogue, amongst many others.