Have you just signed up for a new gym membership or coaching plan? Congratulations! That’s the first (and one of the biggest) steps completed.
Now… let’s talk about sticking to your plan.
Because as far as you’ve come already, one of the greatest challenges of training is actually sticking with it long enough to reach and maintain the results you want.
So how can you increase your chances of staying consistent and achieving success?
There are plenty of tips we can give you, but the best one we’ve got is to make sure your program is easy and enjoyable to follow. If you’re forced to train in a way that you hate or that isn’t suitable for you, it’s going to feel impossible to stick to.
Over years of training and coaching we’ve learnt that the secret to staying consistent is to do something you don’t mind doing (it’s a stretch to say everyone will love it, but we want to make sure that you at least don’t hate it), and to do something that is effective and works for you. If you can see results and you don’t hate the process, it becomes less of an uphill battle on the days when you just don’t feel like it.
The good news is, if you’re training with us this is something we already cover so you don’t have to stress about it.
Your program is built exactly for you, and it’s designed to be something you can stick to.
And for those who aren’t training with us, or are still thinking about signing up, we’re going to use this article to give you some insight into the way we approach programming to help you achieve consistency and long term progress.
These are the 6 key things we consider when writing a program for any of our clients.
The first thing is: your goal. Everyone trains for different reasons. And although two people with different goals may have fairly similar programs, there will be subtle variations in what we prescribe, which can lead to them achieving very different outcomes over time. We’re here to guide you to the results *you* want. So the goal you set (whatever it is) is going to influence many of the training decisions we make for you.
The second factor we look at is your experience level. This will have a big influence on how we pick exercises and how fast we progress you, because beginners shouldn’t follow the exact same gym plan as someone who is more advanced (and vice versa). We need to make sure we’re prescribing exercises that are the right level of complexity and difficulty, and progressing you at the right pace.
The third thing we look at is any physical limitation you have. This includes things like injuries, pains, or bad movement patterns (usually these can be improved through training); but it also accounts for different body shapes and differently abled bodies (these often won’t change much with training). It’s never about telling you that you can’t do something; nor is it about ignoring the limitation and blindly pushing through. We want to mindfully train around your body’s structure and function, to improve your strength and movement in any way we can. Everyone can see progress with training, as long as the program takes your specific needs into account.
The next thing to look at is your lifestyle. Consistent training will lead to results, and as we’ve discussed, the simplest way to stay consistent is to make the process really easy to follow. So we ask questions like: *How many days a week can you realistically dedicate to training? What time of day do you prefer to train?* or *How much exercise can you commit to outside of your personal training sessions?* Then, we build the plan based around your responses.
The fifth thing we consider is your personality type and what you enjoy. This is an often overlooked, but very important factor when it comes to long term results. You don’t have to be obsessed with the gym, but if we can base your training around exercises you enjoy (or hate less) and find ways to make the training more fun, you’re more likely to stick to it. Plus, the whole point of going to the gym is to get more out of life, so it doesn’t make sense to force yourself to do something that you hate every single day.
The last thing we consider is how your body is responding. Did you know that everyone responds to the same training stimulus slightly differently? That’s why we won’t just write you a program then send you on your way. We are constantly checking to see how your body is responding, and adjusting the program throughout the process. Then, we use this information to inform our future programming decisions so that every plan we make is the perfect fit for you.
So there you have it. These are our 6 best techniques for building a program that’s designed perfectly around you and what you enjoy. This is your secret weapon to being consistent over time.
Like Goldilocks said, *It’s not too big, it’s not too small… it’s just right*.
You can reach out to us for a personal trainer in Pymble, Lindfield and Lane Cove.
