Tips For Training Consistency

​Simple Tips To Get You Training Consistently

We hear time and time again the excuses of ‘my schedule is so busy’, ‘something came up last minute’ and ‘I just can’t find the motivation to train’ when chatting with clients in the clinic. We as humans are great at finding excuses to not go to the gym, particularly as it gets colder coming into winter. Most often there are a few things that you can easily change that will result in you being more consistent in your training, which will end up making you happier and healthier – nobody ever regrets a completed training session. Here are some common barriers we face, and solutions for you to try to break them down:

Find your optimal training time

We all function differently. Some people are early risers and super productive in the morning, others are night owls and prefer to do their work later in the day or night. Your training is no different! Some people train really well in the morning, others train better in the afternoon or evening. You need to find what works for you and this will help you stick to the schedule and perform your best each session. 

Have a tailored and realistic program 

This is so important! There are a number of factors that need to be taken into account when developing a successful tailored program. 

• Injury history: what exercises should you avoid/focus on, what type of warmup should you incorporate?
• Current physical shape: how strong are you? Do you have any glaring deficits? Where is your fitness level?
• Goals: are you targeting anything in particular? What do you need to focus on?
• Training history: how long have you been training? How comfortable are you with barbells or dumbells? 
• Your schedule: How many times per week is realistic and how much time can you invest per session? Setting yourself up with a 5 day program when you haven’t been training for 9 months is an easy way to set yourself up for failure.. this can be very demotivating.

All these need to be taken into account when developing a training program. It is also important to record your weights so you have an idea of where to start next session. We need progression in order to get tangible results, so if you don’t know what you were doing last session it makes it difficult to progress from week to week. When these things are done well, you will have a program that makes you motivated to get to the gym and it will be much easier for you to see progress.

Set the alarm and get out of bed!

So many people struggle to get out of bed in the morning. The best intentions are always in place the night before when you set your alarm and head off to sleep. When the alarm comes in the morning, it’s too easy to hit the snooze button. SNOOZE. SNOOZE. SNOOZE. Before you know it, you’ve snoozed through half an hour and it’s now too late for you to train and get to work on time. If this sounds like you, there’s an easy fix. Get your gym clothes ready to go the night before and put your alarm at the other side of the room – this makes you get out of bed to turn it off and once you’re up you’ve already won the battle. Throw your clothes on and head out to the gym!

Find a training partner

Finding someone to work out with can be a huge motivator. You will likely have a point of weakness and at those times it’s important to have someone there to keep you accountable, particularly in the early stages. Chances are they will need you at some point too, so find a friend and keep each other motivated!

Tick your sessions off

Find a calendar or planner and put it on the fridge or somewhere else visible. Have your sessions entered into your week and tick them off as you go. This gives you a bit of external motivation and gives you extra accountability. Ticking off your sessions also gives you a sense of accomplishment, and can be a good motivational energy boost.

Set some GOALS

Having some short term and long term goals is incredibly valuable in terms of keeping motivation high. Having something to strive for is important, and achieving short term goals that link with your long term goals is very motivating. Make sure to keep them realistic and achievable, as setting the bar too high early on can have the opposite effect. It can feel like a mountain rather than a molehill. Your short term goal may be as simple as doing 2 sessions per week for the first month. Your long term goal may be to train 5 days a week. Get yourself there slowly, don’t fall into the trap of biting off too much early on or you’ll set yourself up for failure.

Keep consistency above all else! 

Keep your schedule and adjust your session intensity if necessary. Some days you will feel like crap and you won’t want to train. These days are the most important to stay the course. Even if you don’t do your normal session, it is important to keep your routine. Go to the gym and do a warmup. If you need to train at 70% of your usual intensity, so be it. Give it a try. If you still don’t feel great, do a light mobility or bike session. It is incredibly important that you keep the routine of getting to the gym and keeping that schedule. If you fall out of the routine for one session, it can very easily spiral into a week, a few weeks and then months. Keep your routine!

There we go. Some easy tips for you to implement in order to keep your training consistency. You don’t need to do all of them, but try one or two that you think resonate the most with you and I know you’ll see results.