Episode 420: Liron Kayvan: Simple Strategies for Making Your 2025 Fitness Habits Stick

Speaker 1 Hi, guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle, Gresham.

Speaker 1 Hey, friends, you're listening to Fitness Friday on the Habits and Hustle podcast, where myself and my friends share quick and very actionable advice for you becoming your healthiest self.

Speaker 1 So stay tuned and let me know how you leveled up.

Speaker 1 All right, guys, welcome to another episode of Fitness Friday.

Speaker 1 I also want to say something because I always forget, especially lately, guys, can you guys please leave comments and reviews and subscribe to YouTube? I can't tell you how important it is.

Speaker 1 I'm so remiss in talking about it, and it really makes a difference in the algorithm. So that's, I wanted to, I want to get that out of the way.

Speaker 2 So it helps to find out like what people like, what they think.

Speaker 1 Exactly.

Speaker 1 That's why comments are so important to me because if there's something that maybe you're just interested in in in knowing or a guess that you'd like me to try to get let me know because without your feedback i'm just kind of going rogue and just doing what i want to do one way yeah one way straight it's not like a conversation exactly which actually is a great segue into this because i'm i have lee run back on the podcast today talking all about health and fitness since it is you know january and you know if you guys don't like them, for example, yeah, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 2 Just comment, don't like.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that would never happen.
By the way, what I have noticed: someone, what was that?

Speaker 2 There's always someone.

Speaker 1 There's always somebody for sure. But I will say, and I think I've said this to you so many times, and I tell it to me, I talk about this a bunch.

Speaker 1 I think that people who have a males who have a British accent crush on social media and on podcasts. People like that.
It's crazy. Like, you don't have to have anything else going for you except

Speaker 1 there we go

Speaker 1 so it works perfectly perfect because it's literally like if you have a if you have a british accent and you are a quasi-attractive male your numbers are just gonna naturally just do well it's it's really it's like i think people should do like a case study on it yeah i think people love listening to a british accent yeah That's like pretty universal.

Speaker 2 And I don't, I don't know why it is, but even me, like if I hear a British accent, I automatically think, oh, well, I take this thing more seriously. They're selling me a product.

Speaker 2 It could be the worst product in the world, but I take it a bit more seriously.

Speaker 1 100%. Like, you could be the stupidest human on the planet, but if you have a British accent,

Speaker 1 you sound smart automatically and you sound like you know what you're talking about, which is so deceiving.

Speaker 1 Because I know a lot of people who are from the UK and probably not the smartest, but I get tricked and fooled every time. Hence why you're here over and over again talking about fitness.

Speaker 1 No, I'm just teasing. You are knowledgeable and very likable.
So I figure, you know, we do these like quick episodes.

Speaker 1 And it is January, as I'm sure we all know, it's always a new you, new year, resolutions, all that stuff.

Speaker 1 And then people like start to flail by what, March, April?

Speaker 2 If you get to March, good for you.

Speaker 1 Really? Yeah. Haven't you noticed if you go to the gym in like January, it's full and packed.
And then literally like in 30 days, there's like, it's become like a ghost town. Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's crazy. The resolutioners go back into their cave.

Speaker 1 I know. So let's talk about this, right? Because I mean, this is something we talk about year after year.
Everyone does. And why motivation?

Speaker 1 Number one, I don't believe in motivation. I think motivation wanes.

Speaker 1 And I think that if you're relying on motivation to get you from point A to point B to point Z, you're going to have a problem because there's no way you can always be motivated.

Speaker 1 So, A, I think that people should be doing things no matter how they feel. You don't, you don't act based on how you feel.

Speaker 1 You act based around what you want to achieve, right?

Speaker 2 100%.

Speaker 1 But with that being said, what are the best strategies to get people to stick with their fitness goals, with their health goals, right? Because to me,

Speaker 1 you know, fitness is so much more than just building muscle.

Speaker 1 It's so much more about like your like overall longevity and health over time, your cognitive functioning, just your ability to like walk through the world

Speaker 1 healthy for longer, the quality of your life is so much more supercharged than someone who doesn't exercise and take their fitness program.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah.
I don't know how people don't sleep. I don't know how people don't work out sometimes.
I'm just like, so what do you do?

Speaker 2 You just go home from work and you like eat pasta and put the TV on. Like it just, I just, I don't really get it.
Like you feel so much better and you function so much better when you're working out.

Speaker 2 Yeah. I don't get why people wouldn't.
I do.

Speaker 1 I do, but I do get it. So I am like you, obviously, I believe that like fitness is like a transformative thing that

Speaker 1 really changes your life in every way. Like I just said.
But I think that you have to get it to a place where it becomes habitual. for you to really feel the results.

Speaker 1 Because for me, when I'm not working out, I feel it. Like my mood is really bad.
I'm in a bad mood. I'm not as focused.
I'm really scattered. I'm not as productive.

Speaker 1 Like this, this whole myth of like you have to, you know, you have to like feel like it. Like you have to feel, you've got to have the energy to work out.
Like all of these are excuses and myths.

Speaker 1 Cause to me, even when I feel like shit, I work out because I know I'll feel better after I work out. Like, I don't know anybody who said they felt worse after working out.

Speaker 2 Yeah, no. And that's what I tell people, especially my clients.

Speaker 2 I'm always like, I think the difference between people who work out regularly and people who don't is when someone doesn't work out regularly or

Speaker 2 struggles to get into a workout habit, it's because they're think their brain is picturing how it's going to feel like getting to the gym. and walking in the door.

Speaker 2 And people who are successful and have stuck with a workout plan are thinking about how they feel when they leave the gym.

Speaker 2 So everyone feels better after a workout, 9.9 times out of 10, unless you're like sick or something like that. But you're always going to feel better when you leave the gym.

Speaker 2 And fit people, people like you and me who go often, are

Speaker 2 subtly and unconsciously thinking about, they're weighing heavier the feeling of leaving the gym and feeling good and accomplished and having your juices flowing and being charged up.

Speaker 2 And people who struggle are unconsciously weighing the feeling of getting to the gym.

Speaker 1 Yes. The the feeling, so getting versus leaving, basically.
Okay, so here, I have some stuff here.

Speaker 1 I want to talk today about building fitness habits that actually you can stick to or that will stick for 2025. Because to me, it's again, it's all about building habits.

Speaker 1 That's how people really end up doing things consistently day to day. If it's not part of your daily routine consistently, you will flail and it will fall off.

Speaker 1 So to me today, I want to talk about building fitness habits that stick for 2025 and beyond. So

Speaker 1 because, and the reason why this is so important is unless it becomes habitual, you will not stick to it and it has to be part of your day-to-day routine.

Speaker 1 And that's why my first tip into making a habit habitual is to schedule it. If you don't schedule your exercise, your fitness plan, it will likely not happen.

Speaker 2 That's for sure, true. Right?

Speaker 1 You put in your calendar your dentist's appointment, your doctor's appointments, your hair appointments. Why not schedule your workout time?

Speaker 2 Or at the very least, a window of when it's going to get done. Whether it's 1 or 1:30, like there's got to be some window.
This is my workout time.

Speaker 1 I think you have to be more specific than that. I think

Speaker 1 the more specific you are and don't leave things to chance.

Speaker 1 like don't leave it to like this window between one and three like the like the like the uh telephone guy who comes to your house to fix your phone or your internet i think you have to be as deliberate and specific as possible to make it work so every morning i will say if i'm not on that treadmill by 9 15

Speaker 1 you know like that's my time and so yeah you can have some flexibility that's something you know like when i say make it as specific as possible, have a time that you're aiming for exactly like 9.15.

Speaker 1 So if you get on at 9.45 or 9.30, fine. But at least when you're specific, you have like a target that you are going for.
That helps, that helps a lot. Another really big one is making it convenient.

Speaker 1 You know, like there's a reason why my

Speaker 1 first book, my first company in the fitness space was called No Gym Required. And this was like 20 years ago, is because you don't need to go to the gym to be fit, to be healthy.

Speaker 1 It's not necessary, right? And a lot of times there's a lot of, it's not convenient, like it's 20 minutes away, it like things can happen in those 20 minutes.

Speaker 1 If you are someone who is stuck on time and have kids or whatever, don't overload yourself and overwhelm yourself with the idea that you have to go to the gym.

Speaker 1 You can be effective by doing workouts at home, right? Like there's so much technology out there for somebody to use. They can use YouTube.
They can use all these apps.

Speaker 1 They can use, there's like so many ways that they can like get a 30-minute workout in that takes out the problem of

Speaker 1 like drive time, walk time.

Speaker 2 Agreed. To the gym.
I agreed 100%. The convenience factor is really overlooked.

Speaker 2 I always tell people that when they're asking about trying to start a fitness routine, I'm like, the first, I mean, ultimately, the only thing that's important is that you actually do it.

Speaker 2 And so, if something's really inconvenient to the point where you can't or you just don't want to do something, like if the gym is too far away or the parking isn't fun or whatever it is, right?

Speaker 2 Whatever that barrier is, if you can't surmount that and you don't go, then you could have the best gym in the world, you could have the best membership in the world, whatever it is.

Speaker 2 But if you're not going to go, it's a waste of time. Right.

Speaker 1 It's also like an excuse factor, like eliminate the ability to have excuses, right?

Speaker 1 If you eliminate that as an excuse, you can't, you can't like, you can't lean on it and like people who live in really cold climates you know like if it's super cold outside that should not deter you or stop you whatever to go and do what you need to do yeah so that's a big one and that's that also goes with like the type of exercise right people always say what kind of exercise like it's not really so much about the exercise you're doing it's about the consistency of doing that and it depends where you're coming from so if you're starting from zero which a lot of people are i don't know i don't know who who your listener base is i don't think people are starting from zero.

Speaker 1 I think that I think a lot of people, it's been like a big, like, it's been a very trendy thing.

Speaker 1 Like fitness has become, like fitness, longevity, wellness has become a really, in my opinion, has become a very trendy thing now. Yeah.
The problem is.

Speaker 1 too much information can also make you have analysis paralysis, right? You hear, this is the workout you should do. This is the diet you should do.
This is the supplement you should do.

Speaker 1 Simplify your life and stop listening to everything and like figure out like what, what you can actually do and be realistic with that stuff.

Speaker 1 So to me, it's like, you know, like, even though I love running, you hate running, right? So then don't do it. Like, right? Like, what can you do from your home? Like, to me, like.

Speaker 1 This is a whole other podcast that we could do, which is about the myths, right? Like the, about workouts that work the best versus things that work the, like things that don't work.

Speaker 1 Honestly, at the end of the day,

Speaker 1 the amount that the decimal point of like what actually moves the needle is very little. The thing that moves the needle the most is being consistent over a period of time that will get you results.

Speaker 1 So it's not about the actual workout you do. If you love Pilates, do Pilates.

Speaker 1 If you love you know, cardio, then maybe you should do cardio if that, if that's the gateway drug to get you to exercise, right? Like that to me is more important.

Speaker 1 I think walking is the best exercise. Like it's the most convenient.
There's no barrier to entry and it can start you on a path to

Speaker 1 exercise and

Speaker 1 health.

Speaker 2 I think with fitness as with pretty much anything, if you want to achieve anything of consequence, you have to use the momentum factor.

Speaker 2 So if somebody if you don't have any momentum, if you were injured or you're sick or you haven't worked out for a year or two or whatever it is, then you need to just move. You need to do something.

Speaker 2 And walking is probably your best, like your base. And people should be doing that all the time anyway.
People should be moving, period.

Speaker 2 Like whether you're old or young or heavy or light or man or woman, like everyone should be walking a good amount because it's literally how our bodies were designed.

Speaker 1 You know, there was like a lot of talk chatter last year about like how walking isn't enough for a workout plan.

Speaker 1 And I beg to differ because what I've noticed is: number one, especially if you throw on a weighted vest, you can get like

Speaker 1 that's a rocking. I don't call it rocking.
I just call it walking with a weighted vest.

Speaker 1 No, I get it.

Speaker 2 You know, it's a trendy name that somebody used to give themselves a little bit of clout.

Speaker 1 But yeah, okay, let's call it rocking. Let's call it, just call it like walking with a weighted vest.
It's so good for you.

Speaker 2 I was doing it with my 28-year-old son for a while. I just put him on my front.

Speaker 1 28-year-old son? 28-year-old.

Speaker 2 28-pound.

Speaker 1 Oh, son. Yeah.
That makes more sense.

Speaker 1 That would be amazing. That would be crazy.

Speaker 2 36. I had a 28-year-old son, period.
And then I put him on my front.

Speaker 1 It worked really well because you're not.

Speaker 2 That would be fantastic. Yeah.
Well, but no, unfortunately, he's just 28 pounds, not 28 years old.

Speaker 1 28 pounds is still a lot, though. But okay,

Speaker 1 the thing is, though, like walking to me, like gets, you know, it, number one, it clears, it clears your head. Just for the mood factor of like boosting your mood, I think that in itself is worth it.

Speaker 2 Because it's how we're designed. It's like literally in our DNA.
We are designed to walk. It's what separates us from the whole animal kingdom pretty much is that we're bipedal and we walk.

Speaker 2 And that's how we're meant to function. So we're not going to, we're not going to work very well if we're not doing these basic things that we're designed for.

Speaker 2 And walking is literally just how we're... how we're built, how our bodies are built.

Speaker 1 Yes. So let's get back to the building the fitness habits to say that will actually work.

Speaker 1 Scheduling your workouts, putting your calendar, putting your schedule, making it as convenient as possible to eliminate that excuse. The other thing is joining a fitness community of some kind.

Speaker 1 Like there's so many right now. Do you know there's a huge movement of like how it used to be that people like meet up at bars and oh, yeah, and like run clubs and stuff.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but no, like people meet up bars. Now people are doing the same type of like, like cool events at like coffee shops.
Yeah, yeah. You know, for like like-minded people.

Speaker 1 Because fitness has become more trendy. Yeah.
There's so many.

Speaker 2 It's a positive social change for sure. It's a great thing.
I heard about one called Coffee and Chill. Did you hear about this one?

Speaker 1 Coffee and Chill? Coffee and Chill.

Speaker 2 So they, I guess, I don't really know.

Speaker 2 I heard it in a cursory way, but someone said that there's a club where everyone like drinks coffee and then goes to the sauna and then gets in ice baths together. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And it's definitely like, it's a scene, like from the way the guy was describing it, he was like, oh, there's chicks there and all this type of stuff.

Speaker 2 But I think people clearly need that. That's like a human thing.
Like we need that, especially if you're single, but even if you're not, we need this, we need to do things tribally.

Speaker 2 Like it's literally how we are. That's why we're so tribal about our politics.
And I think tribalism should stay out of politics.

Speaker 2 And I think fitness is a much better place for tribalism because you push each other and you, you know, it's, it's a positive feedback loop.

Speaker 2 And whether it's getting in ice baths or working out or whatever, we do need that sense of we're doing this together. We're in this together.

Speaker 1 I also think that people bond over sharing experiences. Like, and so if I'm with, if I go to these places and I meet somebody who also likes Asana and Cold Plunge and

Speaker 1 workout. I mean, and then we do those things together, it bonds you because you're doing these experiences together, right?

Speaker 1 Like, and it's a way better way of life than like going to a club and just like you know drinking a bunch of like you know

Speaker 1 just basically bonding over getting drunk together yeah not even remembering what you did waking up the next day and be like what happened like what did you get out of that and by the way if you're doing that

Speaker 1 your your your personality's been modified. So how do you guys really interact in real life doing like real things, right?

Speaker 2 You didn't integrate any of that. That didn't build your life in any way, shape, or form.
I get it. Look, I used used to do it all the time, but you're not building anything like that.

Speaker 1 No, I agree. Like, I think it's a, I think that's a really positive way for people to socialize.
Like finding, and that's how you find people that like to do the things that you like to do, right?

Speaker 1 So I love these coffee and chills or these other, I wish I can remember the article I just saw about how they're like getting like these like cool DJs to like spin at whatever coffee shop and people are just like drinking matcha or like a cold brew or whatever.

Speaker 1 And just like, also just like hanging out you're doing all the things that we we would previously doing at clubs except you're doing it a bit more during the day and you're not filling your body with poison but you're getting really all the upsides without the downsides yeah and you're finding you're not going to sleep at 4 a.m and ruining the the next day you're just doing it during the day and you're getting most of those benefits well also you're you're you're finding your as you call it your your tribe or your community which by the way a part the biggest part of wellness and the most important piece of wellness and overall health has been shown to be socialization.

Speaker 1 Has been, you know, loneliness is such an epidemic that people are like literally dying from loneliness.

Speaker 2 Especially as we move into the technological.

Speaker 1 Well, yeah. This, yeah.
And so like here, it gives people an opportunity to meet people and socialize doing like things that they like to do outside of this isolated area.

Speaker 1 Because a lot of things in like, you know, a lot of things can be.

Speaker 2 Especially like real life, like physically together.

Speaker 1 Physically together.

Speaker 2 That's what what i'm saying not digitally like which is maybe one step better than just being in your room by yourself but like i think like being on a facebook group is not going to give you the same benefits like in terms of your body and the wellness factor that you just mentioned yeah i think you physically have to be around those people i totally agree so To me, the community, the socialization, so important.

Speaker 1 What else is there that we think that you think that would be a good idea?

Speaker 2 In terms of building habits?

Speaker 1 Building habits that people can really stick to. Yeah.

Speaker 2 I think there's a common theme because you can go into a million, million ways, right? But I think the

Speaker 1 binding.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah. But there's a million little tricks you could use.
But I'm saying one of the real common themes that binds it all together is the enjoyment piece, which you could take this the wrong way.

Speaker 2 People could take this the wrong way and saying, I always have to feel like doing something. And it's that's not true at all.
Your feelings are really momentary and fleeting. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And you and I, at least with regard to the things that we're successful at and that we are doing well with, for example, fitness, we don't really pay much attention to our feelings because we know they're fleeting.

Speaker 2 But at the same time, we are doing something we're passionate and that we love. Like overall, we love our fitness and we're passionate and we do enjoy it.

Speaker 1 Well, that's why I started this whole thing by saying the first, like, one of the first things that people should never rely on is motivation, right? And how they feel.

Speaker 1 By the way, most of the things that I do in my life, I don't feel like doing them.

Speaker 1 You know, I don't feel like waking up early and making the same sandwich or lunch for my kids every second, every day. You know, like I don't feel like doing it, but I still do it, right?

Speaker 1 Because of the result, right? Because my kids will go to school without eating if I do that, right? And they'll starve.

Speaker 2 But then let me, going back to the thing I said before, let me ask you with regard to like making your kids a sandwich or whatever. Do you feel better? after you've done it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I do feel better because you know what? Like, I feel like I mothered them, I took care of them. I nurtured them.
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 Like that's why you should never ever go by motivation or feeling. I always rely on how I feel after the fact,

Speaker 1 not before the fact.

Speaker 1 And I think that that is a really great reframe for people to start actually acting versus being in this position where they procrastinate and they don't do it. For sure.

Speaker 1 Because by the way, what will happen is then you will, you will feel badly about yourself that you didn't follow through oh yeah it's a completely negative spiral you're just gonna spiral down at that point and that's a negative loop right right and so that's the other thing and like the other thing is like you don't need to spend a lot of money you can do things super simple at home oh yeah with regards to fitness yeah oh for sure and so why i'm bringing that up is like really try to like reframe ideas in your head about like what is necessary to live a healthier, fitter life, right?

Speaker 1 Like, again, like I'm bringing back this whole no gym request. I want to, I really,

Speaker 1 I would love to bring back that book. It was like, I wrote it in like 2009.

Speaker 2 As a gym owner, I wholeheartedly support that.

Speaker 1 I don't think, yeah, exactly. I was going to say you own a gym.
But I never.

Speaker 2 No, but I love it, like calisthenics and stuff. I do so much calisthenics in my life.

Speaker 1 By the way, like, let's be clear. Okay.
So Leor, like, Leroy has like ridiculous fit, like ridiculous. He has like a 20-pack.
It's kind of sickening. Now, some of it's genetics.

Speaker 1 I don't care what you say.

Speaker 2 If you saw my dad, you wouldn't say that.

Speaker 1 Well, okay. I like to believe it's genetics.
It makes me feel better.

Speaker 1 But a lot of the things that you do, and by the way, a lot of people I know who aesthetically look the best, it's not because they're using hardcore machines.

Speaker 1 They're doing a lot of body weight exercises. They're doing a ton of pull-ups.
They're doing a ton of like walking lunges and isometrical

Speaker 2 push-ups. My philosophy is exactly actually coming from that.

Speaker 1 Like I think that you should like calisthenics should be your base and then you add on to calisthenics like if you can't do a bodyweight squat or a push-up or a pull-up you shouldn't be doing heavy squats or bench press or totally or get the basics down first yeah yeah and that's the other thing i think that to build a fitness habit and if you are a beginner this is great for a beginner is that i think that you get get good at the basics before moving on to the big leagues because i think what happens happens a lot of times is people feel they try to like do something that is beyond their fitness level and then they can't do it.

Speaker 1 And it discourages you to do something again or to try it. And so

Speaker 1 by the way, that happens with people even like me who's been doing this forever. Is that if I don't do the things that I don't like to do, or I'm bad at, or I'm bad at, that's the thing.

Speaker 1 You know, I'm bad at single leg squats. So I just stay away from them.
Or I'm like really weak on this glute. So I don't want to do any kind of like exercises with that.

Speaker 2 So what helps with that a lot is something we spoke about earlier is the momentum piece. Like don't worry about it.

Speaker 1 Oh, wait, let me finish my thought.

Speaker 1 My thought is this, that get really good at doing the basics because that will give you pride and confidence and like self-esteem really. Feel like, oh, I did this.
I got this down. All right.

Speaker 1 I can, I'll do that again. I'll keep on doing it.
I'll go back. I'll do this.
I'll do that. Because it gives you like a sense of, yeah, a feeling of like, wow, look at like go me.

Speaker 1 As opposed to trying this thing and then like you can't do it and then you feel shitty and then you don't do it again. Okay.
Now.

Speaker 2 Well, that's exactly what I was going to say is, is the momentum piece is start easy.

Speaker 2 Like your first workout of a new program or if you haven't worked out for a while or whatever, whenever you're starting a new phase of something, it should be dead easy.

Speaker 2 You should like just leave and be like, damn, I probably could have done more.

Speaker 2 As opposed to crushing yourself right at the beginning, because the ego and even the body is not really ready for that at the beginning.

Speaker 2 You need to generate this, you need to get the snowball kind of rolling. Totally.
Most people want to jump in at the deep end and they wonder why they're drowning all the time.

Speaker 2 It's like, no, start easy, leave, come back, make it a little bit harder, leave, come back, make it a little bit harder. And before you know it, you're flying.

Speaker 2 But you've got to start simple and easy and then generate the momentum.

Speaker 1 I love that. Okay.
I think that's good for our little short episodes here.

Speaker 1 So, again, guys, this is stuff that I know that I feel that's worked for people I know, my clients when I used to do it, me, you, and we might be missing a couple. Let me know if I am.

Speaker 1 But I think those are overall what really helped.

Speaker 2 I'm curious to see what other people find effective for them too.

Speaker 1 Yeah, me too. I'm always curious about that.
You know, like that's that's basically what we got going here.

Speaker 1 So try those out if you are new to fitness or if you're having an issue sustaining, maintaining a fitness program. Try to try to think about those things.
Don't go to the gym.

Speaker 1 Make it as convenient for yourself as possible. Find a community.
Use it, you know, use, this is where technology actually can help.

Speaker 1 Like, you know, like find something online where you can join a group where you can meet in real life. You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 Go to these, go to these like meetups at these coffee shops. And I'm sure there are some near you.
And remember, it's not about the intensity. It's about the consistency.
So start small.

Speaker 1 Just, you know, don't try to overwhelm yourself by doing an hour, two hours a day. 30 minutes works just as well.

Speaker 1 So you'll see a really big jump or a great incline in your overall fitness level by just doing something over and over again, as opposed to killing yourself once and twice or twice and never coming back again.

Speaker 1 Anything else?

Speaker 2 Thumbs it up.

Speaker 1 Thank you. Have a great day.
Bye, everybody.