In this weeks’ blog post Jimmy introduces why maintaining consistency in your fitness journey is so important:

con·sist·en·cy

Definition: conformity in the application of something, typically that which is necessary for the sake of logic, accuracy, or fairness.

Why is consistency key to being successful in your fitness journey ? Results take time.

One of the main reason why consistency is important is that things don’t just happen in a split second–you’ll need time to get stronger, build muscle, and lose fat. You’re not going to do a set of hamstring curls one day and wake up with massive hamstrings. Your efforts add up, and maybe even compound, over time.

Consistency forms habits

Another reason why consistency is key? Your habits–rituals and behaviors you perform automatically–are grounded in consistency. Just so you know, your habits (e.g. reaching out for a pint of ice cream instead of working out after work) don’t just appear out of nowhere. They aren’t the results of genetics or random chance. Instead, they’re merely products of your behavior, accumulated over repeated instances.

For instance, you wake up at 5 am one day to work out and go about your business as usual. You wake up the next day at 5 am, work out again, and resume your regular activities. After a few days of this, you’re almost going to feel like you’re ‘programmed’ to wake up at 5 am. And you’d feel off the entire day if you don’t get to break a sweat.

Imaginably, relying on your habits to get you to the gym (for example) is much better than simply sitting around and waiting for motivation to hit you

How to develop consistency

Now you know how important consistency is but that still doesn’t mean you know how to be consistent in your fitness journey. Don’t worry, here are a few tips.

#1 – Dedicate a block of time to workouts

If you fail to schedule your workout sessions, chances are, you’re going to skip them when things get overwhelming. Tiring day at work? Quarrelled with your partner? Or, you just don’t feel like it?

These can all lead to you not showing up at the gym. To avoid this, you want to dedicate a block of your schedule to workouts. Do it right now. Go onto your Google calendar and block at least an hour of your time a day to get active. This way, you don’t have any (illegitimate) excuses.

#2 – Start small

Don’t go from training one day a week to 5 days a week right away. Go slow. Try to make as little change to your daily routine as possible. Aim for just 2 to 3 times a week–and whenever possible, increase the intensity of your workouts first before adding more sessions to your calendar.

Going from zero to hardcore instantly reduces the likelihood that you’ll be consistent.

#3 – Log your workouts

Last but not least, you should track and record your workouts. Having a visual reminder of your workout streak motivates you to keep going–and is, therefore, why you should find some way to log your workouts. An easy way to do this would be to mark a cross on your notebook after every successful training session.