Consistency: Your Most Powerful Tool
Strengthen the skill of getting back on track and nothing can stop you.
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I am writing this from my bed thanks to the flu shot I received that is really working my immune system (yes I know it’s a good thing! yes I know it’s working! and yes it’s still awful! All are true!) I’ve got it all: fever, headache, sore muscles and my nightstand is a balancing act of a thermometer, an oversized cup of coffee, a water glass, and orange slices. Any chance of teaching my classes is out and so is my personal workout. And it’s okay. Because I will eventually feel better and get back on track. Life happens. Not letting things derail you is one of the most powerful tools on your fitness journey. Consistency is a skill. It’s not about having a perfect record. It’s the ability to step back on track when you’ve unintentionally or intentionally (yes there are times!) fallen off, which is guaranteed to happen.
In order to step back on track, you need a clear plan in place: set your daily calories in accordance to your goal, create strength workouts for yourself, and implement cardio all within a timeline that works best for you. Having a plan is critical.
When I first started training, I spent a long time jumping from program to program. I would search for “best workout for [insert muscle group here]” and try it out for a week or so. Until I saw someone else doing an exercise I thought I was cooler. I would go home, search for another workout program, and try again. I would even show up the gym without a plan and walk in thinking “maybe I’ll do [insert muscle group here] today because I haven’t done it in a while.” There was literally no plan, and I saw no results.
“Consistency is a skill. It’s not about having a perfect record. It’s the ability to step back on track…”
Program hopping is a concept in strength training that refers to constantly switching up workouts. It might be exciting to try something new every time you go into the gym, but it’s not a good practice. It makes progressive overload almost impossible to execute. The concept of “muscle confusion” is ineffective. You can’t push yourself a little harder each workout if the workout is always different. Focus on one program and do your best.
Additionally, it keeps you from having to make too many choices in the gym. Instead of having to come up with plan every time you walk in, you’ll know exactly what you’re doing, in a particular order. It saves you time and unnecessary work. A win!
CONSISTENCY IS FLEXIBILITY
You don’t have to be perfect to get results. You have to be consistent to get results. Read the following and let me know if you’ve been here before:
A triggering event occurs: your jeans don’t fit the same way, the scale is higher than you expect, someone makes a rude comment, etc.
You hyper-restrict food groups (no carbs, no sugar, no wine, etc) and you decide to take on a lot of workouts.
It works, but you’re miserable: you’re spending all your free time worried about food or getting to the gym. You pass on hanging out with friends or going to celebrations out of fear of being tempted by food. You’re lonely and hungry and frustrated. You can’t take it anymore.
You say “I’m over this” and down an entire frozen pizza, feel guilty and decide you’ve fucked up so hard that you might as well give up.
Repeat cycle.
What if I told you there is no way you can fuck this up so badly that you can’t get back on track? Building the skill of consistency is about embracing flexibility. It’s about knowing that life happens and there will be times when we don’t adhere perfectly, and that’s okay. We will fuck up occasionally. And we can always get back to the plan.
“There will never be a perfect time to start. Why not start now and focus on getting it right most of the time…”
You’ll be invited to the bachelorette dinner, you’ll have a best friend’s birthday, you’ll get promoted and want to celebrate, there’s always a holidays party, etc. There will never be a perfect time to start. Why not start now and focus on getting it right most of the time and make room for those things that bring you joy? You can have both.
USING A CONSISTENCY CALENDAR
A consistency calendar is a tool that helps make the practice of consistency more visual and tactile. It allows you to see your progress and how well you are staying on track towards your goals. It can also be a helpful reality check: sometimes we think we are being more consistent than we really are. Aim for 80% consistency when using this calendar: enough to adhere to your plan most of the time while allowing for flexibility of life. In a 30 day period, 80% consistency is 24 days of successfully hitting your goals.
Before working with the calendar, establish three goals that align with your nutrition and strength plans. You can always start with one goal and work your way up to three goals. Start small and build from there if needed. These goals are split up into three different categories: nutrition, movement, and hydration/wellness. Some examples to get you started:
GOAL #1: NUTRITION
Adhere to your overall calorie intake (the most influential to any goal; start here)
Hit a certain amount of protein each day
Have vegetables with dinner
Eat a salad everyday
GOAL #2: MOVEMENT
Execute your workouts when applicable to your plan
Walk 7,000+ steps per day
GOAL #3: HYDRATION / WELLNESS
Drink 2-3 bottles of water daily
Take 10 minutes each day to journal your thoughts
Prioritize mini self-care sessions
Get 7+ hours of sleep
“Aim for 80% consistency when using this calendar: enough to adhere to your plan most of the time while allowing for flexibility of life.”
The hyper-restriction example from above would look something like this (do you need to do green/red? No! Go wild!)
Instead, work with goals that align with the plan you’ve created and make room for flexibility. In this example, an individual is working on a calorie deficit with specific goals in mind. Perhaps on Day 20 and 21, they had a weekend away with friends. Great! Notice how they get right back on? That’s the skill of consistency at work.
Download this Digital Consistency Calendar to track progress towards your goals. Hit “Make a Copy” when you follow the link to edit the template.
You don’t have to be perfect to achieve what you want. In fact, obsessing about doing it perfectly usually guarantees failure. Get it right most of the time. Allow yourself the flexibility you need to enjoy your life and use the skill of consistency to get back on track right after. Use the calendar as a guide and a tool.
12 WEEK PLAN-TO-ACTION PROGRAM STARTS 12/17
Starting December 17th, I will be coaching paid subscribers through a 12 week PLAN-TO-ACTION program. We will take all that we have learned from the newsletter so far and work towards our own specific goals over the course of 12 weeks. It’s time to put all this work into action.
I will also be participating in my own program; I will be right in it with you. Paid subscribers will have access to a 12-Week Helpline that I will monitor to answer questions throughout. I will be posting my progress via Instagram for everyone to follow along.
Before we start you will need:
A bathroom scale to measure body weight: the one that I use is $26 on Amazon and it comes with it’s own app to store data.
A kitchen scale to measure calorie intake: you can get this one for less than $10.
Any food tracking app that works for you, there are plenty free ones out there to use!
If you are not yet a paid-subscriber and have been looking for a sign to get started, this is it.
Hello! How do I follow your 12 WEEK PLAN-TO-ACTION PROGRAM? Also, how can we keep strong with the plan during the christmas holidays?