I’ve been asked a lot lately about what my top tip for achieving your fitness goals now that mid-January has hit and that some of that early enthusiasm has worn off slightly!
One word always comes to mind – CONSISTENCY
Consistency is arguably the most important component when working to achieve goals, in or out of the gym. Without consistency, training plans are haphazard, workouts are unorganised, the body has a harder time adapting, recovery may be insufficient, and creating positive habits may be more challenging.
Build and Follow a Workout Programme
Whatever your goals may be, they require a consistent level of training for you to reach them. One way to develop consistency to help in achieving your goals is to build a programme and to schedule it into your weekly routine. Set aside the 2/3 days and the timeslots that you will require to complete your workout. Agree these times with those around you so they aware of this adjustment to your old routine and protect those times for your workout.
Having a preplanned programme to follow makes it much easier to stick to your new routine because you won’t have to think about what workout you’re going to do today—it’s already planned for you. Most programmes are designed to be followed for a set amount of time, typically about 4 weeks and designed with your personal end goal in mind. If you aren’t following the programme consistently, the chance of it working is reduced.
If you have a programme and you don’t follow it, the body isn’t going to be able to adapt because there isn’t an opportunity for progressive overload, which is when the amount of stress on the body is gradually increased over time, leading to increased strength, endurance, performance, etc – depending on your goal.
Create Habits
Most of us have a routine in place that encompasses work, study, family, leisure and social arrangements. Your new fitness regime should be arranged to fit in with this routine to assist you in adhering to it – it should not necessarily replace one of those elements, which is more likely to result in early relapse.
The more we do or practice something – like exercise, the more natural it becomes. It’s normal to feel out of your comfort zone when you try something new, but the more you do it, the more comfortable you feel.
Current research suggests that to create a habit it must be performed for 68 consecutive days. The idea of sticking with something brand new for 68 days may feel overwhelming for some people. When taking on a new challenge, focusing on taking it day by day might be a helpful mindset. Yes, we might be aiming to create a lifelong habit; however, thinking about just starting a habit to last for years could seem daunting. Start by doing it for one day, and then two, and then three, and so on.
Once you feel comfortable with one small change, add another small change, and so on. Small changes are more sustainable over the long term and add up to form new habits.
Life often throws a curveball at these routines; this happens us all. Don’t let it affect your long-term goal of what you want to achieve. If you miss a workout today for whatever reason life has thrown at you, ignore it and focus on getting the next one done– don’t dwell on it. There will likely be days that your plan doesn’t work out how it was supposed to, but that doesn’t mean all progress is lost.
How Aura Leisure Can Help
Our bodies adapt gradually to exercise, and, in the end, consistency will help you reach your goals, which is where Aura’s expert teams can help. We have personalised fitness programmes for beginners with Aura Fit for Life, as well as for those more advanced through Aura Lean3. These programmes will help you develop a routine to stick to and allow you to grow as well as take the necessary steps towards your fitness goals whether that starts with one step, one visit, one walk, one lift – whatever your particular target may be. Even better still our members can avail of these programmes and everything else we have to offer for free.
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