“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” – Dwayne Johnson
The idea that it takes 21 days to form a habit has been thrown around quite a bit. 21 days seems manageable, but that’s only three weeks. Your life will go on for a long time past these three weeks.
Consistency is when habits become part of your lifestyle. When you make the healthy choices to exercise, eat right, and recover well week after week after week, you are consistent.
Consistency is hard to create. It takes a lot of grit and determination to make lasting life changes in anything, including fitness.
If you’ve just started your journey and are discouraged by your lack of results, just remember that good things take time to grow. If you’ve been at it a while and aren’t seeing results, remember to give yourself an honest evaluation. Ask yourself where the inconsistencies are and work to turn them around.
We all have our issues with consistency, but there are some solutions and methods to use to make it a little more manageable.
Get a Fitness Buddy
Accountability and consistency go hand in hand. When you have somebody or something that relies on you and pushes you, it’s a lot easier to make the right choices when you’re having an off day.
A fitness buddy could be anybody, like your spouse, partner, or friend. Not only will it increase your consistency, having a fitness buddy is just plain fun. Workout with somebody whose company you enjoy is a great way to make workouts more fun.
Schedule time with them a week in advance to workout, meal prep, or anything else you struggle with. Having something marked down on your calendar will give you something to look forward to. Also, nobody wants to be stood up. You’ll make it to the gym because they’re going to be at the gym.
Also, who doesn’t love a little friendly competition? Competition is a fantastic motivator in and of itself. Nobody likes to lose, so you won’t be tempted to go home early when they’re still hard at work.
On top of all that, working out with a buddy is safer. Having someone to monitor and correct issues with your technique is crucial, particularly if you’re just starting out. They’ll be able to watch your form and spot you if you need help with something.
Change up your workouts
Even when you’re drenched in sweat and exhausted, working out can be boring if you never change your routine. You can only do so many pushups, sit-ups, and dips before your mind starts to crave a little variety.
You don’t need to change much to feel the burn. For your favorite exercises, try increasing the sets, reps, or duration. Maybe you decrease the amount of rest you get between exercises. Maybe you increase resistance, or change the resistance altogether by adding kettlebells, dumbbells, or medicine balls.
The good news is there is an endless amount of possibility for changing up your workouts. You can keep things exciting with simple changes throughout your workout. In doing this, you’ll see results and also get excited about seeing if you can top your last workout.
Try a group class
This one is like finding a bunch of fitness buddies and a supportive coach who wants you to succeed.
Most importantly, going to a group class reinforces accountability. Each time you sign up for a class, you commit your time and effort to the instructor and the other Athletes in the class. You also have something on your calendar so you can plan around and look forward to the class.
Another huge benefit of taking a group class is that it takes away the planning requirement. You don’t have to ask yourself, “what do I work on today?” or “how much should I do?” or any other question that might come into your mind when heading to the gym. Taking a group class takes all the guesswork out of the equation.
At FNS, our world-renowned group of coaches will be with you every step of the way during class. They’ll show you the workouts, correct you when they see an issue, and motivate you to push through to the end. They’ll make you and your fellow Athletes feel like a valuable part of the FNS Community because you are.
Click here to read blogs on similar topics.
