Four Principles to Finding Long-Term Success in Fitness
Anecdotal evidence will tell you that the overwhelming majority of people are unhappy with their level of fitness. How common is it to hear someone complain about the 15 pounds they’ve been trying to lose for a decade? As a trainer, this is something I hear nearly every week. “I need to get back in the gym” is a phrase most people will use their whole lives, without ever following through on it.
“I think I’ll never be able to have the body I want so I have to learn to be happy with how I look”. While this is a lovely self-love sentiment (which I totally support), it is, at its core, an admission of defeat. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the vast world of fitness influencers, seemingly endless exercises to incorporate, and the sheer discipline that it takes to make it to the gym multiple times a week. Mainstream fitness tells us to spend hours walking on a treadmill to get our cardio in, and then to share machines with three other people for a half hour until we feel we’ve done enough to go home. With such a devastating raincloud hovering over our fitness ambitions, it’s no wonder all we can manage is a feeble “I need to get back in the gym”.
If you’ve found yourself stuck in this headspace, here are the 4 principles you need to make a long term change to your health: Recovery, Accountability, Consistency, Variety. Let’s dive in.
Recovery. Without rest and self care, your work in the gym will only lead you to burnout, injury, and disdain for those in better shape than you. Consistent sleep (and enough of it) is the first and biggest step in recovery. Even waking rest - an hour of watching TV or reading in the evening will go a long way to letting the body and mind recover from a strenuous day. Diet is the second piece. Too many people underfeed for fear of being overweight. But the body cannot adapt to a physical stimulus without sufficient nutrients. Protein intake will have the most impact on your recovery and adaptation. Do not be afraid to eat protein from animal sources. If you need to, research how much an active person of your height should consume daily. Aim for consistency and building diet habits. Without a good diet, your muscles will not adapt to load, and you still stall out in your program. If you are still sore from a workout more than 4 days later, this is a telltale sign you need to up your protein. Physical therapy will likely become a piece of your recovery, should you continue in your fitness journey. Every body has movement imperfections that need to be addressed for continued health. A good therapist will give you a tailored warm up routine that will address your individual issues and keep you on the right track. Do not neglect prehab exercises. Important muscles like the glutes and rhomboids can sometimes “forget” how to work properly. They need to be reminded that their input is essential to your workouts.
Accountability. It can feel nearly impossible to make it to the gym some days. Until training has been so drilled into our lives that it becomes a habit, the pull of comfort will win 99% of the time. The couch and the bed are too powerful. Rely on friends to help you when you’re unmotivated. Ask someone to be your gym buddy. Having someone waiting on you to work out can be more than enough to keep us from bailing on gym plans - it can even make us excited for the gym. Hiring a personal trainer can provide even more accountability, with the added benefit of wisdom and intentional programming. Don’t be afraid to outsource your fitness goals to someone who knows more than you.
Consistency. Adaptations to physical stimuli won’t stick around for very long without consistent training. Make a reasonable plan and stick to it. 3 days a week is good for most people, but if willpower is hard to come by, 2 days a week will do just fine. Do not set a goal that is too ambitious. Sometimes we can be excited to start and we tell ourselves a 5 days per week schedule is what we need to kickstart serious results. And while this is true, training at this frequency should be reserved for those who have developed the habits and discipline to handle it. If you come out of the gate too hot you will crash and burn in three weeks. Trainers see this all the time. If long term success is your goal, a slightly conservative start is the way to go.
Variety. Form and Function was built on the principle that variety (among other factors) drive adaptation. If a routine is too predictable, progress will stall and the adaptations will become too specific. Runners who only run 10k’s will only improve at running 10k’s, and little else. Lifters who only dead lift and bench will only get better at dead lifting and benching, while their endurance and squat suffer. Without variety, you’ll start to notice that you have holes in your fitness. For well-rounded fitness, our programs must be broad enough to encompass all major movement patterns, and train then in all varieties. This has the added benefit of keeping us from getting bored. Constant variety should be a priority in your exercise routines, but it should not overshadow testing and retesting. Every couple months, you should revisit some workouts and try to perform better than you did last time. Time yourself to complete a series of movements, or test your one-rep lifts. This is how progress can be measured so you can ensure you’re not wasting your time. The best coaches and trainers will time workouts and track numbers. If you are not getting faster, stronger, or more enduring, you are wasting your time.