Consistency is Key

I had a great conversation with a client today about a recent adjustment to their training program. After experiencing back pain for the fourth year in a row this fall, the invididual decided to add an additional (third) training session in the facility about a month ago. Four weeks into the new approach, he hasn't felt this good with his back in years, and his general flexibility is also way up.

When he was most surprised that one extra session had such an immediate and effective impact, I told him that it was a matter of consistency and routine. By adding an additional session, not only was he burning more calories and improving fitness overall, he was bridging the time between the original sessions when his body would recede into negative habits and posture, as opposed to the increased strengthening we were now working on. The benefit was more than just adding 33% more during the week. It maximizes growth and continuity of progress so less time is spent undoing the damage of daily rigours and stress so we can spend more time and effort improving.

Many people underestimate the importance of consistancy and routine. I often think of one of my roommates on these situations. Though very aware of health and fitness, working in the bar industry leads her to drinking and partying a regular five to six days a week. The seventh day she eat and drinks very consiously and well, takes many many vitamins, and pats herself on the back generously for "balancing" her life. So where is the problem?

She continuously frets about her appearance in a bikini (it's December, get over yourself) and body tone yet rarely (one or twice a month) finds her way to the gym, based on the idea that she does a lot of walking at work. And her diet? Frightful the majority of the time, and overcompensating the rest. Though by weeky total standards she may be close to fine, on a daily basis she's a complete mess. What good does it do to be the world's healthiest person one day a week when the other six days are spent eating greasy appetizers and boozing in excess? Further more, if she's still unhappy with herself and her health, why does she not change her routine?

The bottome line is this; What you do most of the time is what will affect you much more and last longer than what you do some of the time. Consistency is what makes the difference between constantly fighting to find balance in a hectic life and fine tuning a weekly routine
each day to maintain optimal levels of satisfaction and well being. When a routine fails to produce the desired results, a change is necessary. But that change must come in the form of positive habits as opposed to one time solutions or knee jerk reactions and instant crash diets. Think about it... would you rather build a healthy lifestyle based on positive habits, or fight hard for ten days every two months taking necessary risks to make up for poor choices. Everyone slips up once in a while, but its the routine that saves us from the exception. When the exception becomes the norm, there is no direction or order to bring the individual back on track, and efforts to make up lost ground are wasted spinning wheels in mud and undoing bad habits instead or moving forward and improving our health, allwoing us to do the things we want to do while feeling and performing the best we can.