At the start of my fitness journey, I remember going to the gym 7 days a week and pushing myself to exhaustion every time. I would push my body so hard that I would get physically ill. My body just couldn’t handle the strain which then forced me to rest for weeks in order to get back to feeling 100%. That in turn would affect my motivation to workout and I would avoid the gym for another couple of weeks. What an unproductive cycle! As you read over this, I’m sure you’re thinking “It’s obvious that isn’t the way to achieve fitness goals or gain consistency.” The problem is, we’ve all done something like this before. We feel like we need to make up for not being active for a period of time, so we try to make up for it all in one workout at the gym. Then, at the end of your workout, you realize how spent you feel and don’t think this is something you can maintain.
This does nothing but take away any motivation you have left and you put off exercising again until even more time has passed. Sound familiar?
It was only after trying to focus on shorter periods of time in the gym that I finally started feeling like my routine was maintainable. In addition, I began including rest days for my body to recover which helped me become consistent. I began enjoying my workouts so much more and seeing all the benefits that come with consistency. Without sounding cliché, we start with baby steps. Three steps that I have used and encouraged my clients to use are: find out what you like to do, start with 20-30 minutes a day, and pay attention to how you feel at the end of your workouts. It may take some time but, don’t be afraid to explore various ways of being active. Consistency is much more important than intensity or the time spent in one workout. So, choose an amount of time that you can realistically stick to. Lastly, take a moment at the end of your workout to pat yourself on the back. It’s hard to stay consistent in being active but, you’ve proven that you can do hard things.
One of the struggles when navigating consistency is the fact that daily life rarely ever goes according to plan. The reality is, no matter how good you are at sticking to a routine, life happens! Somedays, other responsibilities or unexpected events take priority in your day and then you end up with no time left to get in a proper workout. Or, your body (not so quietly) lets you know it needs to rest. Perhaps you end up waking up to body aches and feel certain you've just been hit by a truck. The alert that you’ve pushed yourself a
bit too far. The reality is, even if you have “rest days” in your schedule, life itself is stressful at times and your body reacts to that stress. There will be some days where your body can’t handle the stress you put on it from your workouts AND life to the same extent it could the week before. That doesn’t make you weak, lazy, or less than in any way. It makes you human.
Working out every single day is not the same as having a consistent fitness routine. Being consistent means that you have some type of routine or schedule and you follow it to the best of your ability. When something comes up and you miss a workout, you get back to the regularly scheduled program as soon as possible. That’s how you achieve and maintain consistency!
Keri Harvey is a NASM certified personal trainer who specializes in beginner strength training. She is currently training clients at Form Fitness Brooklyn in Brooklyn, NY.Instagram Handle: @kharveyfit TikTok Handle: @kharveyfit
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