My Top Tips on Being Consistent

Do something you enjoy

Regardless of how many calories you supposedly burn in a particular gym class, or how fashionable that class is, or what your friends are doing…if you don’t enjoy that particular workout or exercise style it’s going to be a pretty short-lived experience for you!

You’re much better off finding something that you enjoy doing. Because if you enjoy what you’re doing you are far more likely to keep doing it! It may not be the newest craze; it may not be what your friend raves about but if YOU love it then that is all that matters!

And if you are enjoying what you are doing, not only will your physical health improve but so will your mental health – you’ll be happy, you’ll feel proud and you’ll feel energised

Accountability

When you have others counting on you, expecting you to ‘turn up’ or ‘check in’ you are more likely to do those things. When you see others getting their workout done, or their exercise in, the idea is that you are inspired to do the same and will follow suit. This is what makes the difference between free online workouts that you can access via YouTube and the like.

Make a date with yourself

When we have important appointments, we put them in our diary – and we don’t miss them! We wouldn’t commit to meeting a friend for coffee or meeting a work colleague to discuss an important project, and then just not turn up!

The same should be said for your commitment to your health – make a date with yourself and stick to it! No excuses!

Make sure you pick workouts that suit the time you have available

Ok, so some of us have more on than others in a given week. So, we need to pick workouts/exercises that fit the time we have available.

Now before anyone tells me that I don’t have any time, I’m sorry but I don’t believe you. It is my belief that we all have 15 minutes or so each day that we can give to our health and fitness – it’s just that some of us choose to spend that time differently. It’s not a lack of time that’s preventing you pressing play or getting out on a run or doing a yoga session, it’s the choices you are making.  And if you choose to spend your time differently that’s cool, but don’t be frustrated when you don’t hit your health and fitness goals as quickly as you’d hoped.

In the FiTTRVie members club we have workouts ranging from 5 minutes to 25 minutes; we have intentionally kept them short because we know how busy life is. But if you want a longer workout you can simply tag workouts together to create something to suit the time you have.

Set yourself a goal or target

It is so much easier to stay focused and consistent when you are working towards a particular goal or target. Whether that is running your first ever 5k, running a 5K in under 30 minutes, holding a plank for 2 minutes or anything else you can imagine up, having a target in mind keeps you laser focused.

I know from my own personal experience with running (I’m not a natural runner btw) that I need to run at least 3 times per week to see any sort of progress. And this is the same for anything you are trying to improve. Consistency and focus are what get you there and having a target helps you stay consistent and focused…so you know what you need to do!

Get it done in the morning

Get it done before the excuses set in, before you run out of time! Not only will you feel proud of yourself because you’ve got that workout in but you will also feel energised and be more focused and productive during the day (did you know that exercise releases a hormone that helps grow new neural connections in the brain?).

To help you press play in the morning I suggest getting yourself ready the night before by. Here are some ideas to help:

1. lay out your gym kit the night before
2. decide what type of workout/exercise you are going to do the following morning
3. set your intentions by writing down your plan (or sharing it with your accountability group/buddy!)

Start with small, actionable and achievable goals

If you are trying to establish new habits it is not good practice to try to change too many things at once or commit to too much at once. Our brains (and bodies) can’t cope with too much change or too many challenges at once.

Instead set yourself smaller goals that you know you can hit; and when you do hit them you will be rather pleased with yourself and you’ll be inspired to do it again, and again, and again! (aka consistency!)

My recommendation for someone new to exercise is to aim for 3 workouts per week of around 15-30 minutes each and then gradually build from there. This does of course depend somewhat on what your goals are and what time you have available, but this is a good initial goal to aim for.