9 Small Habit Changes to Help Improve Your Fitness

We all have bad habits we want to eliminate, but what about establishing good habits that help us achieve our fitness goals? Whether we want to lose weight, get more sleep, eat healthier, or exercise more, tapping into the power of habits may help make it easier to reach our objectives.

What is a Habit?

Habits are behaviors that we perform without much thought. They are characterized by:

• Prompted by a Cue - Psychology tells us that any behavior happens because of a stimulus. For instance, when your stomach feels empty (stimulus), you are motivated to eat (response). In other words, we scratch because of an itch.
• Rewarding Behavior – When we scratch, the itch goes away. This is a reward that tells the brain that the behavior was effective.
• Frequent Repetition – Behaviors become habits when the stimulus happens often, and the behavioral response becomes automatic; we express the behavior without even thinking about it.
• Low Effort: Once formed, habits take little mental energy to perform.

Habits can be positive or negative. Unfortunately, bad habits tend to arise without much thought because they typically offer more immediate rewards. For example, eating junk food delivers an instant taste prize. Conversely, forming good habits usually involves delayed rewards, which must be cultivated with intention.

Nine Habits to Improve Fitness

How can you form good habits to boost your fitness? A good first step is to set goals that are both modest and meaningful. Examples are "I will walk at least 30 minutes every day for the next month" or "I will drink one gallon of water each day." Keeping them small will increase the chances of achieving them and making them meaningful will enhance the feeling of satisfaction with your daily accomplishments.

It’s also important to avoid setting too many goals simultaneously, especially at the start. Since they are small, you might be tempted to take on too many. Follow the mantra of “keep it simple” to make the process manageable and increase your chances of success.

Here are nine examples of positive fitness habits that are modest, meaningful, and manageable.

1. Take the Stairs

Do you automatically opt for an elevator ride to go up one or two floors? Take the stairs instead! It provides a short burst of rapid activity that benefits your circulation and overall cardiac health. It also alters your breathing pattern, allowing more oxygen to reach your cells.

Stair climbing requires approximately 8-11 kcal of energy per minute, which is high compared to other moderate-level physical activities. A study by the European Society for Cardiology found people who regularly avoided the elevator in favor of the stairs had a “24% reduced risk of dying prematurely from any cause and a 39% lower likelihood of dying from heart disease, compared to people who skipped stairs.”

2. Wear a Fitness Tracker

A fitness tracker can encourage you to get up and achieve your goals for steps, calories, and other metrics. You can view your statuses, including your sleep time, heart rate, time spent walking, and other statistics. This information can help you see a more comprehensive picture of your fitness, enabling you to make better day-to-day health choices. For example, on days with less activity, you'll also feel encouraged to get up and move around. Fitness trackers will track your progress and provide reminders to help you stay on track to achieve your goals.

3. Get Up and Move While Watching TV.

While watching TV is not inherently unhealthy, it can lead to prolonged periods of inactivity and also serve as a trigger for unhealthy snacking.

When watching your favorite TV shows, consider getting up from the couch during commercial breaks or at the end of an episode. Walk to the faucet and fill your glass with water, walk up and down the stairs once or twice, or do a quick household chore. However, try to stay out of the kitchen during your activity period to avoid temptations that lead to unnecessary eating or drinking.

4. Replace Beverages with Water

Substitute plain water for beverages such as juice, soda, milk, or coffee with creamer. Drinking water offers numerous benefits. Studies show that people who drink enough water tend to consume fewer calories per day. Also, drinking water can help burn calories and reduce hunger cravings.

5. Park Further from the Door

Whenever you park your car, do it further from the door. This will make your walk across the parking lot a little bit longer each time. Those additional steps can start to add up, requiring very little extra time and effort. It’s a great example of a small change you can make every day that will help contribute to a healthier lifestyle over time.

6. Keep a Food Journal (Or Use a Food Tracking App)

You're likely familiar with the saying, "What gets measured gets managed". Keeping a food journal will help you track your dietary choices and make informed eating decisions. Without tracking your diet, it's easy to forget what you’ve already eaten, which can allow you to feel justified in adding a few extra snacks or desserts each day. Over time, this can cause your caloric intake to spiral out of control before even realizing there’s a problem.

Making a habit of recording everything you eat will help you identify patterns in your diet. Becoming more aware of where you're overindulging will make it easier to avoid certain foods. It can also show positive food choices that you can continue to emphasize.

If writing everything down seems like too much of a chore, there are smartphone apps that make recording your food intake easier. These apps have databases of food choices that automatically calculate the number of calories and provide a running total to help you manage your daily goal. Some can scan barcodes, so you can even skip typing in the food name. They also typically have notifications to help remind you to record meals in your food journal.

7. Take a Bike or Walk Instead of Driving

If you're traveling a short distance, consider walking or biking instead. Both will increase your physical activity and get you outdoors for some fresh air. You’ll also save money on gas and contribute to a greener environment.

8. Try a Standing Desk

Whether you are working at home, participating in a hobby, or even just taking care of chores, many of us spend a lot of time sitting at desks. If this applies to you, consider switching to a standing desk. While standing doesn’t necessarily burn significantly more calories than sitting, studies have shown that blood sugar levels return to normal faster after a meal for people who stand for longer periods. Standing may also help reduce shoulder and back pain compared to sitting.

9. Carry a Shopping Basket Instead of Pushing a Cart

When you go to the grocery store, try carrying a basket instead of pushing a cart. You’ll get a mini workout for both your upper and lower body as you carry your groceries through the store. You may also end up buying fewer items and shortening your shopping trip. This practice may even encourage you to shop more frequently, allowing you to do your grocery store exercise more often.

Good habits often start small, but their impact grows the more you stick with them. Choosing the stairs, keeping a food journal, or walking a little farther each day might feel minor at first, yet over time those choices build real momentum. Before long, they become part of your routine and make staying active feel less like a chore and more like second nature. With steady effort and consistency, these simple shifts can put you on a path toward better fitness, more energy, and a healthier lifestyle that lasts.

Trying to replace a different habit? Check out our post,
Improving Every Day: 10 Strategies for Breaking Bad Habits!

Let us know in the comments below - what's your favorite small fitness-boosting habit?