My top 3 tips for consistency: planning, patience, persistence

It’s that time of year again folks. You’ve (hopefully) enjoyed yourself thoroughly over the last few weeks and so you should.

Who doesn’t like getting together with family and friends and having a good time?

But it can also be a great time to think about improving your health. For me, there’s something about stuffing my face with countless roast potatoes and eating way too much sugar that gets me thinking about getting fitter. Who’d have thought.

That’s what happened 12 months ago when I decided to try and get more consistent with exercise. I found something I loved to do that I hadn’t done before (skipping), and aimed to do a jump rope workout 5 days a week for a year.

And guess what. It’s the 28^th of December and I haven’t missed one yet! That’s over 250 workouts which have made me feel a whole lot better than I did a year ago.

I have a bit of an addictive personality which has probably helped me stay consistent. But I think there’s other things too.

Here’s 3 tips that might help you stay more consistent with your fitness routine in 2022.

Plan when, plan what

A fitness routine is so much easier to stick to when you plan when you’re going to do it. Instead of deciding whether or not you feel like it on the day, plan in advance when you’re going to workout.

That changes the self talk from “I don’t feel like it today”, to “Today is Monday, and I workout on Mondays”.

This makes it much easier to form habits that you’re likely to keep. Not only does it make it easier to workout when you don’t feel like it, but it can also help you from overdoing it.

There might be times when you really feel like exercising on a rest day, but not exercising will keep you coming back for more and will ensure you recover properly.

So if you’re planning on working out 3 days a week, decide now which 3 days are suitable for you. Stick with them, and you’re more likely to exercising in 12 months time.

It’s also really helpful to plan what you’re going to do in advance too. I find that if I start a skipping session without a plan, I don’t usually get that much out of it and I don’t enjoy it quite as much.

But if I already know what I’m going to do, I feel much better after it. I know before I start my workout, something like this:

‘During my warm up I’m going to work on mic releases. The workout will include three cardio moves and 2 ab exercises’, then I get much more out of it.

You don’t need to over plan it, but just have a general idea of what you’re going to do. Don’t start a workout when you’re still undecided!

So, if you’re planning on workout out say 3 days a week, you could make those sessions look something like this:

Monday: cardio focused

Wednesday: skills focused

Friday: strength focused

Stick to that for a year and you’ll progress will be crazy!

Patience

If you come straight back in from a workout and jump on the scales you’re probably going to be disappointed. There are absolutely no quick fixes when it comes to getting fitter, which is why you need to be patient.

I liken the need to be patient to running a marathon. If you’re aiming to get fitter, it isn’t important that you go as hard as you just as the race starts. In fact, if you go too hard, you’re unlikely to finish the race.

What’s important is that you pick a tempo you can sustain over a long period. It’s more important that in 3 months, 6 months or even a year from now, you’re still skipping (or whatever kind of exercise works for you).

Thinking about getting fitter as a long term process also means that not every workout needs to be 100%. I workout 5 days a week, and 2 of those are quite intense. I still push myself on the other 3 but much less so.

If you were to follow the schedule I set out above, the Monday session could be an intense one – you’d have Tuesday to recover before a skills session on Wednesday, which would be less demanding.

The Friday strength workout could be quite intense too, because you’d have two full days of rest after it.

If you’re patient and enjoy the process, you’re far more likely to get fitter than if you’re searching for a quick fix.

Persistence

Okay, so there’s been a quite a few times that I haven’t felt like getting out and doing a workout. There were times in January when it was about 38 degrees, or times in the middle of winter when it was wet and cold.

It wasn’t just bad weather that can make it hard. It can be hardest when you just don’t have the energy, or you don’t feel up to it.

Those times can be really challenging. And they’re crucial.

I made sure that I did a workout – sometimes for just 15 minutes – regardless. And I often didn’t go very hard at all. It was just about getting out, moving my body and trying my best to enjoy it.

Even if it was on a day when I was intending to go harder, I would just take it really easy.

The thing was, I invariably felt better after it.

Being persistent, especially doing a workout when you don’t feel like it, is one of the most important aspects of getting fitter.

And even if you do miss a workout or you really just can’t be bothered, that’s okay too. Just get back into it when you’re due to workout next. Missing a handful of workouts over the course of the year will be insignificant at the end of it!

In summary

That’s it folks. This year I’ve kept eating too many roast potatoes and way too much sugar. But I haven’t missed a workout.

I’ll keep turning up, going hard when I can, and taking it easy when I want to.

Happy Holidays!