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Creatures of Habit.
By Linton McClain
Personal Trainer, Superior Body Sculpting
We are all creatures of habit. We create habits because they give us a certain amount of confidence and security. Habits help us navigate through all areas of our lives. Carefully, we have to consider if our habits are good or bad. As Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, or Coasties, you have to know when your habits are acceptable for your current situation. For example, deployment habits may not be acceptable upon your return to your home base.
Habits help us adapt accordingly. Often, as military members, we find ourselves struggling to adapt our fitness routine from one arena to the next. Have you adapted your habits to your current situation? In this article we will discuss habits of fitness while being deployed versus being at the home base.
Home Base Habits
Habits come in many forms while being on the home base. You may struggle or thrive with your fitness program depending on the number of years on the base. It’s never easy to adapt and it usually comes with time. Be patient, do your research, and incorporate your fitness routine. Take the time to develop the proper fitness routine to have a positive experience at your home base.
With a family, habits are a very important part of getting into a workable routine. Getting your family into the routine and developing a system is crucial in maintaining stability. Take a look around you and become familiar with the policies and procedures for that particular base. Leave your likes and dislikes from your previous base in the past and understand that this will be a new experience. Becoming familiar with your new command, getting your family settled in, and researching your city are great ways to build a workable fitness routine in a new environment. What are you waiting for? Start building those habits!
Linton demonstrates how to improve your push-up form!
Habits of Deployment
Every active duty military member knows that things change after leaving the home base. Sometimes deployment brings out the best and the worst in our fitness program. Deployment is challenging and it takes an extreme amount of discipline to stay focused on the mission. While being deployed, we don’t want to deal with the conditions and we would rather be someplace less stressful while getting a good night of sleep.
Developing good habits of exercise are extremely important while deployed. In the end, your habits will save your life and the lives of those around you. Decide on when, how, and how long you will exercise. These items will help you reach your goal and keep your focus. Stay focused while you are deployed. Take care of things at home so that your mind can stay on the mission. Be a team player and learn to make everyone else’s experience tolerable. As always, pay attention to detail. It’s the things you don’t see coming that damage your routine. While being deployed, the mission is everyone’s responsibility.
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Finish your tasks more effectively by staying in shape. Don’t be too emotional about things working or not working. Maintain a good balance in your mind. Shift your mind to adapt to your environment; heat, cold, hostility, challenging terrains, etc. Maintain your strength, stamina, and endurance at all times to avoid injury while maximizing performance. We all need to contribute. We all need to make it back alive. By developing good habits, we can all make our deployments a memorable experience.
Your Mission
Discover the habits needed for your current scenario. You will notice that some of your habits are good for the home base and some work better on deployment. Decide what works best for your situation. Avoid complications by developing the right habits. Be a creature of habit. Just make sure you adjust to the right environment. For more information on health and wellness visit www.sbsculptme.com.
