Staying Consistent
Consistency is one of the keys to success. In my opinion, it refers to the ability to work on what needs to be done, bit by bit, in regular intervals. Figure out the small things you have to do, create a habit and eventually that habit will become your way of life. I can't speak for success at your job, but I know for a fact that the people who achieve their physical goals are the ones that keep working, quietly, all year round, consistently every year.
Many people will either get discouraged before they see any tangible results and quit. Others will train too hard and injure themselves and are forced to take weeks or sometimes months off which puts them back to square one when they start again. Some will only train when it’s nice outside, or only follow their meal plan 3-4 days of the week. The excuses to stay inside and not to train are endless.
This post isn’t going to be a drill on down on how you need a razor sharp mentality to stick to your training plan. Unless you are professional athlete, you do not need crazy mental tricks to stay consistent. Instead, check out these few tips that you can use right now to stay on track with your training routine.
1 . Set goals
Sign up for a race, challenge your kids to a soccer game, go on a long hike in a exotic country, but set some concrete goals. This will keep you accountable and will motivate you to train. Training for the sake of training does not always work, unless that is your goal. Have something to work for.
To go a step further, you can tell someone what your goals are as an accountability measure. When you are held accountable to your goals, the chances of you reaching them are much higher.
2. Avoid injuries
You can't stay consistent when you are constantly injured. Identify you muscle imbalances, take care of your active and passive ranges of motion, get quality sleep and eat well are simple steps you can take to stay healthy. If you don't know how to do these things ask around! The internet is full of free resources or feel free to give me a shout and we can talk about these.
3. Make your recovery weeks fun
Recovery weeks are crucial to staying consistent. They prevent exhaustion and burn out by allowing your body to rest more. You will not be training as much during those weeks so have fun with them! Go hiking more, get some more sleep, treat yourself to some nice spa or extra gourmet foods.
A slight performance dip is expected after recovery week so don't worry about feeling a little sluggish after them. Your will reach you previous shape within 6-15 days into your new training cycle.
4. Bring friends out
Exercising with friends is a great way to stat consistent. It's much easier to go to the gym/run/hike/exercise when someone is waiting for you to show up. The only caveat with this is to avoid being dependent on your friends to work out. Be the driver, the one who keeps the others accountable.
5. Get curious
Explore what's out there in term of training. What are other people doing to reach the same goals? What are other people doing in general? What could you do differently? I love to read, and get a lot of training ideas from books. What is something that you do to keep your mind open?
This will give you the opportunity to change up your training once in a while and keep things interested.
Now that you’ve read this, go over this checklist to stay more consistent with your training:
What is your goal? Who can you tell about it?
Do you have any current nagging injuries you need to address? If so, who can help you with them?
When is your next recovery week? Make sure to plan something special during it.
Who could benefit from training with you? Who could you benefit from training with?
What are others ways to train for your goal?
As always, feel free to message me either via email or social media to chat about these points!
Cheers,
Clem