Discover why building healthy habits isn’t about willpower, but about environment, identity, and simple choices that make training easier and more consistent.
Sometimes you teach fitness for decades and still uncover something that changes how you think about behavior.
This one did it for me.
For years, I believed people needed to start building healthy habits by forcing fitness into their weekly schedule. Repeat it long enough, and eventually it would become a habit.
Except it never really does.
And for a long time I couldn’t figure out why.
Turns out, I was misunderstanding what a habit actually is.
What a Habit Really Is
When most people say “habit,” they mean a routine they do consistently.
But that’s not what a habit is.
A habit is something you do without thinking.
Automatic. Reflexive. Below conscious awareness.
A simple definition:
A habit is a behavior your brain has automated.
The more formal definition (psychology research):
A habit is a learned behavior that becomes automatic through context-dependent repetition.
In other words, your brain links a cue → to an action → to a reward, and eventually runs the loop on autopilot.
The word comes from the Latin habitus — meaning state, condition, or way of being.
Not “task.”
Not “workout.”
A state.
That matters.
What Real Habits Look Like
Driving to work on autopilot.
Locking your front door without realizing you did it.
Brushing your teeth at night because your body just walks you to the bathroom.
Pouring coffee in the morning with zero decision-making.
Opening the fridge when you’re bored—even if you’re not hungry.
These are habits: unconscious, low-effort loops your brain runs to save energy.
Here’s what’s not a habit:
Snapping out of a daze and realizing you’re halfway through a set of goblet squats and didn’t notice you started.
That has never happened to any human, ever.
Workouts don’t become habits.
Health behaviors rarely do.
They require awareness, intention, preparation, and identity.
But here’s the good news:
You can build habits around the things that make training possible.
And that’s where building healthy habits actually begins.
Identity First. Habits Second.
Most of us aren’t trying to become people who “have a fitness habit.”
We want to become people who train every week.
People who make healthy choices.
People who move, feel, and live better.
Training itself won’t become unconscious.
But the choices that support it can.
At Block, we’ve watched thousands of clients who struggled with consistency finally turn the corner when they shifted from:
“I need to make workouts a habit,”
to
“I need habits that make workouts easy to start.”
That’s the difference.
Build Habits Around the Decision
Here’s what we’ve found works in real life:
1. Make scheduling automatic.
One of the most helpful ways of building healthy habits is this:
Every Sunday → schedule the week.
Not “hope to train.”
Not “fit it in when you can.”
A simple, repeatable loop:
Sunday = schedule.
Over time, that becomes automatic.
And when the schedule is set, consistency follows.
2. Make preparation automatic.
Preparation is half the battle—but it can become a habit.
Examples that work for our clients:
- Lay out gym clothes the night before.
- Pack your bag and put it by the door.
- Pre-fill your water bottle.
- Put your supplements next to your toothbrush so the cue triggers the action.
These tiny choices remove morning friction.
And the less friction, the easier it is to follow through.
This is building healthy habits by design, not by willpower.
3. Make environment your teammate.
I’m team Anti-Willpower.
You don’t win long-term health by trying harder—you win by designing smarter.
Your willpower is like swimming upstream.
You can do it…but not for long.
A better strategy?
Turn the river around.
When your environment supports you, discipline becomes almost irrelevant.
Some simple examples we use inside Block:
- Put the foods you want to eat front and center.
- Add friction to the things that derail you (move the sweets, close the wine cabinet, take apps off your home screen).
- Keep weights or mobility tools where you actually see them.
- Book your training sessions ahead of time so the decision is already made.
Environment does the heavy lifting.
And when the environment is aligned, you don’t rely on brute-force discipline.
You just follow the path you’ve already built.
QUICK TAKE: Building Healthy Habits
Q: Why can’t workouts become habits?
A: Because they require conscious effort, planning, and physical exertion—none of which the brain automates.
Q: So how do I stay consistent?
A: Build habits around the inputs: scheduling, prepping, setting environment, and anchoring to supportive people.
Q: What role does willpower actually play?
A: It can start a change, but environment sustains it. Willpower runs out. Environment doesn’t.
Q: What habits actually help?
A: Sunday scheduling, laying out clothes, placing water bottles, setting supplements next to breakfast, packing your gym bag, and removing friction points.
The Real Lesson
I used to think people needed more discipline.
More willpower.
More internal fire.
But what we’ve seen at Block—and what the research backs—is that people don’t need to push harder.
They need to set up their lives so the next healthy choice is the easiest one.
Building healthy habits starts with building the environment, the identity, and the system that makes those choices possible.
That’s how you move better.
That’s how you feel better.
That’s how you live stronger.
If you want help building your own system, book an assessment or hop on a call with a Block coach. We’ll walk the path with you.
References
- Wood, W., & Rünger, D. (2016). Psychology of habit. Annual Review of Psychology.
- Gardner, B. (2015). A review and analysis of the use of “habit” in understanding behavior. Health Psychology Review.
- Lally, P., et al. (2010). How are habits formed? European Journal of Social Psychology.
- Neal, D. T., Wood, W., & Quinn, J. M. (2006). Habits—A repeat performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science.
- ACSM & NSCA behavior-change and adherence guidelines.