Tips for Sticking to Your Training Routine

It can be challenging to stick to a fitness routine. There are many distractions, personal and professional scheduling problems, and motivational issues that can prevent a trainee from getting into the gym when they need to. There are a few pieces of advice that will help improve compliance, and as a result, progress.

Have a well-defined routine

Training, by definition, requires a plan that is designed to achieve a result. "Going to the gym and working out" is not training. It's better than sitting on the couch and eating ice cream, but it's not going to produce a specific result long term. This means that if you want to achieve your long term goal, you need to plan out what you're going to do. Variables like exercises, exercise technique, sets, reps, weight, number of days in the gym, specific scheduling in the gym all need to be understood and defined before you ever set foot in the weight room. The better defined these are, the more likely you will be to follow the training plan because you're making concrete steps toward your goals.

Furthermore, a routine that doesn't produce results is a routine you're not going to follow. A training plan should produce results and have a plan if results are not being achieved. The biggest reason I see clients and gym-goers stop training is that they stop making progress. Make progress and if you aren't, figure out what's going on and fix it.

Schedule time for yourself

You wouldn't stand up your boss for a meeting they scheduled. You wouldn't tell your spouse "I'll stay home this morning and watch a movie. I don't need to go to that dentist appointment I scheduled six months ago". You wouldn't bail on your friend who you told you would help load his stuff into a moving van so he can move houses.

So you shouldn't call off a workout because you don't feel like it. That's your time! That's time you set aside to make yourself better, both in mind and body. A lot of people are willing to sacrifice for others, but they don't realize that over time, that takes a lot out of them. You need to have your own self-interest in mind and take time for yourself as well. Additionally, you will be a better person, parent, friend, and spouse if you are physically fit and less stressed. Anyone who has tried to be patient and considerate on three hours of sleep knows this.

Schedule a specific time for yourself. Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 5 pm after work. Every single time. Don't call it off because you don't feel like it. You have an appointment with yourself. Don't miss it.

Leverage your strengths. Minimize your weaknesses

You know what mistakes you've made in the past and what you're good at. If you know you have no self-control when you wake up, scheduling your workouts for 6 am is a bad idea. The most common instance of this is not working out after work. Many people finish nine hours at work, feel active, but then go home. They sit for five minutes, and they have no energy. Use that active feeling and go straight to workout after work. It's a lot of effort, but it's less effort than trying to overcome the inertia of sitting down at home.

These are examples, but the point is that personal variables influence routines. You'll need to identify what is working and keep doing that and try to minimize or eliminate that which doesn't work.

Oftentimes, training isn’t the hard part. Being consistent with your routine is. But there are many ways to make it more manageable. Having a well-defined routine, scheduling time for yourself, and optimizing for your own strengths and weaknesses are a few tactics that will help you stick to your fitness routine and make progress long term.