How to Stay Consistent With Working Out? (8 No-BS Steps)
Are you tired of listening to self-help gurus always preaching the same tips: get yourself motivated, start slow, visualize your results, etc.?
Well, some of these tips may seem good, but if they are so good, why do most people fail to follow them?
Well, I want to provide what has helped me and many people I know in eight no-BS steps.
We all tend to procrastinate on working out; this seems like such a daunting activity, especially with our hectic lives and never-ending chores.
It is easy to start working out, but for how long are you staying consistent with it? That’s the real question.
Unfortunately, staying consistent with your workout routine is the most challenging part.
Whether you are a student, an employee, or a stay-at-home mom, finding time and energy to exercise can be a dilemma.
We all have ready-made reasons to skip the gym: “I don’t have time,” “I had a tiring day at work,” “I have an exam to prepare for next week.”
According to the World Health Organization, an adult should do at least 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, or at least 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week.
That’s 1.5% of your week, and if we take out the time you spend sleeping, it’s about 2.2% of your whole week.
Doesn’t your physical and mental health deserve 2.2% of your wake-up time?
So put an end to your nonsense excuses and get yourself ready for the eight steps that will get you back on a healthy path.
I can assure you that you will succeed in your endeavor if you follow these steps. You will become more consistent in your routine, and exercising will become a sustainable habit.
Table of Contents
1. Dump motivation in the trash. (You won't need it.)
Motivation is one of the biggest lies of our time.
I have been working out consistently for about 10 years, and trust me, I am rarely motivated to go to the gym.
Let me tell you something: except for some rare exceptions, working out is never going to be second nature to you; that’s not going to be something you’ll be super excited to do.
Sure, it gets easier with time, but only because you learn to do it automatically as it becomes a habit.
Like most people, you probably check your level of energy and motivation to see whether to go to the gym or stay for your favorite Netflix show. Motivation becomes a thermometer that dictates what you should and should not do.
How many times have you told yourself, “I have no energy or motivation to exercise?” more times than you can ever count.
See how much motivation is sabotaging your progress.
Stop relying on something as unpredictable and unreliable as motivation. This is a shortcut to failure.
True success is based on consistent habits, not motivation.
So, get rid of the “I need motivation” mentality and start moving toward the path of health and well-being.
2. Stop setting superficial goals.
Yes, you heard right. Goals are so overrated.
I know that goes against the common wisdom about the importance of setting goals, and yes, I have heard about the Harvard study that showed that the graduates who had written goals, decades later, were far wealthier than those who didn’t.
But I don’t care; I have been setting goals, and you also have been setting goals your whole life, and you know that doesn’t work most of the time. Don’t waste your time.
Goal setting can be detrimental to your success if you are trying to establish a lifestyle. Working out is not a goal per se; it is a journey and a lifestyle.
How many times have you set workout goals, like “I will lose 10 pounds by next month,” “I want to look like Chris Hemsworth by next summer” ,”I want 15-inch biceps” or “24-inch waist” Did you achieve them?
If you want to fail, go ahead and set superficial goals like these.
Studies show that 91 percent of people do not achieve their New Year’s Resolutions.
This goal-oriented mentality is often counterproductive, contrary to what most motivational gurus preach.
Why?
Because most fitness-related goals are superficial and based on looks.
When you set goals like these, you are faced with two scenarios:
➠ Scenario 1: You don’t reach your goal on the timeline you’ve set, and that’s a surefire way to get discouraged and demotivated, and you most likely will abandon the whole workout routine.
➠ Scenario 2: you reach your goal, and you’re so motivated to continue. But your motivation is so goal-oriented, and once you reach a plateau in your workout routine or your physical goals, which you will most likely do, your extrinsic (superficial) motivation will plummet, and you will be at high risk of abandoning your workout routine when your goals are not met.
You can set goals if that’s so important to you, but make them intrinsic and meaningful. Your goals should not be focused on weight or appearance, instead, focus on improving your performance and overall workout experience, like doing an extra mile on your next jog or lifting more weights in your next session.
If you lose weight or build a more appealing physique, that would be a great by-product of a consistent workout, but that should not be the main reason you go to the gym.
3. Create a workout routine
Do you want to lift weights, run in the park, do yoga at home, or do a 7-minute body-weight workout ?
Do you want to workout at home, at the gym, or in the park?
Never mind; plan ahead of time and begin slowly.
This step is important because when ideas are blurred, we tend to make excuses for why they didn’t work out. To prevent that from happening, you need to have a clear plan.
Answer two questions :
What kind of workout do you want to do?
Depending on your health condition, age, and preferences, hatch a workout plan in advance. Leave nothing to chance.
Choose the type of workout you’d like to start.
- Weight training
- Treadmill Workout
- Brisk walking or jogging
- Biking
- Dancing
- Yoga exercise
- Swimming
Your workout routine may change as you progress, but you need a starting point.
If you want a detailed workout program, there are many websites that provide tailored programs and routines.
Many apps also provide good coaching and a wide range of fitness routines.
Where?
You need to have a designated place to workout so you don’t come up with any excuses.
Do you intend to workout at home, at the nearby park, or by cycling around the neighborhood ?
If you prefer the gym, start looking for a nearby gym with appropriate equipment and good reviews on Google.
Check their website or call to inquire about subscription plans.
4. Establish a strict workout schedule:
This part is paramount. You must determine when and for how long you should exercise. This schedule must be as strict as possible.
Fix a schedule for your workout routine, and don’t make it flexible.
Why ?
because flexibility makes you more inclined to come up with excuses to delay or postpone your workout. We tend to procrastinate more when we don’t have clear deadlines and timelines.
Here is an example :
You do weight training, 3 times a week (for approximately 1 hour per session).
A good schedule could look something like this:
- Workout session 1: Sunday, 02 pm -03 pm
- Workout session 2: Tuesday, 6 pm – 7 pm
- Workout session 3: Thursday, 6 pm – 7 pm
What if you have variable working hours? Say sometimes you finish at 5 p.m. and other times you finish at 8 p.m.
No problem.
You still need to fix your workout schedule. For instance, you can schedule your workout an hour after you finish work.
If you finish work late and can’t go to the gym, schedule your workout for the day after, at the same time.
5. Alter your workout environment (and overall experience).
Most experts agree that the environment is one of the most important factors in making and keeping new habits.
You need to change your environment so that your new habit is easier and more enjoyable.
Your workout routine should become a ritual, an automatic habit. And you need to accommodate your environment for that purpose.
Reduce friction and “lubricate” your environment to make room for your gym time.
You need to organize your environment before, during, and after your workout session.
Ask yourself: How can I change my surroundings to make working out easier and more fun?:
◉ Example :
⇒ Before workout:
- preparing your gym bag the night before your workout.
- Put your gym bag and workout clothes somewhere easy to get to and easy to see, maybe by the door.
- Block social media apps when it is time to workout.
⇒ During workout:
- Listen to good music and make your session more fun.
- Wear comfortable clothes.
- Join a group class.
- Workout with a friend.
- Stop watching and comparing yourself to other gym members.
⇒ After workout:
- Eat a healthy and delicious meal.
- Have a nice shower and watch a movie.
- Have a short nap.
Keep in mind that the combination of these little changes can make a huge difference in your workout experience, help you establish a ritual, and make you more likely to keep this routine long-term.
6. Track your progress: (two types of progress)
Monitoring your workout progress is one of the best ways to keep yourself consistent with your routine.
You should monitor two types of progress :
1. Habit progress
It takes an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic.
Keeping track of your habits has been shown to be a very effective way to form healthy habits and keep making progress.
So, you need to build the habit of working out by tracking your adherence to your routine schedule.
Your best bet is either a printable workout calendar or a habit tracker app that allows you to plan your habit, track your progress, and even participate in challenges.
Related: Top 7 Habit Tracker Apps.
2. Workout Progress
Monitoring your performance, and overall progress, helps you stay focused and on track.
Go slow, but try to work a bit harder each session. As the body adapts quickly to any type of physical effort, you need to ramp up the intensity of the workout while keeping track of your progress.
Workout apps are great tools for keeping track of your workout routine and performance improvement.
7. Create a reward system:
What is rewarded is repeated. It is that simple. Procrastinators respond more to rewards than to punishment.
Reward yourself when you accomplish your habit goals. When you finish a workout, or a streak of 3 workouts, give yourself a treat.
Be creative about your rewards; you can make a list. (A protein bar, a walk in the park, dinner with friends, watching a movie, or YouTube videos).
Please note that you shouldn’t rely solely on rewards because this is not a very good long-term strategy. In addition, you can easily become desensitized to rewards if you overdo them.
Once you’ve started a new habit and reinforced it with rewards, you should start to depend less and less on those rewards.
For instance, you can reward yourself with a chocolate bar for every workout at the beginning. Then, after the first week, reward yourself with a chocolate bar after 3 workouts in a row.
After that, you start to progressively reduce the number of rewards you give yourself. You should require a lot more of yourself before you earn a reward.
Maybe you can have one reward every month if you keep your streak going.
8. Embrace relapse (and learn from it)
Let me break it to you: You will definitely miss some sessions. You will relapse, that’s for sure.
Especially at the beginning, when you rely a lot on your motivation, you will experience moments when you think of abandoning everything. You can skip one, two, then three sessions.
That’s ok; trust me, relapse is part of progress. Guilt and disappointment are what can hold you back, not relapse.
If you accept that relapse is part of the game, you’ll have a different outlook on life. Don’t beat yourself up when you miss one or two sessions.
You tend to be particularly vulnerable to feelings of guilt and disappointment if you are a perfectionist. You tend to view the world through black-and-white lenses.
You tell yourself, “I should adhere to my workout 100%, and anything less than that is failure.”
You need to get rid of this “all or nothing” mentality.
This article goes into greater detail about how to deal with perfectionism.
So, you relapsed; that’s okay. What is next?
Next is the troubleshooting plan.
Take a pen and paper, and ask yourself:
Why did I miss my workout session? What were the circumstances that led to that? Write them down.
◉ For example :
- I came back tired from work.
- I had an argument with a colleague and felt too depressed to workout.
- I didn’t feel like going to the gym.
- I had something to do.
Now ask yourself, “What can I do next time to remediate that?”
You need to experiment with various strategies, for example :
- I came back tired from work ⇛ (Next time, I’ll take a shower as soon as I get home to energize myself).
- I had an argument with a colleague and felt not in the mood ⇛ (next time, I’ll do a 5-minute meditation to free my mind before going to the gym).
- I didn’t have enough energy ⇛ (next time, I’ll rate my energy levels before and after working out to find out how exercise affects my energy level).
- I had something to do ⇛ (I can make up for that session the day after).
See, relapse is part of the process of change, you need to relapse to grow. There is no way around that.
Key Takeaways:
Building a workout routine can be daunting, especially for procrastinators who don’t seem to get themselves to move and go to the gym.
It’s much easier to start working out, but it’s much harder to keep up a regular workout routine.
With our 8 steps, you can break the cycle and build a workout routine that lasts.
- Stop relying on motivation.
- Stop setting superficial goals.
- Create a workout routine.
- Establish a strict workout schedule.
- Alter your environment (improve your workout experience).
- Monitor your progress.
- Create a reward system.
- Don’t fear relapse; learn from it.
With these steps, you can go a long way and build a good habit that gets progressively easier as time goes on.
By : Sam David
Published December 24, 2022
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About the author
My name is Sam David. I am the founder of "Proactivity Lab," a website that provides comprehensive strategies and resources for understanding and overcoming procrastination.
The website's resources are the culmination of more than 20 years of research and experience, during which I embarked on a long and gruelling journey of study and self-discovery.
Being a former procrastinator myself, it took me years of investigation and numerous trials and errors to gain a clear understanding of the underlying causes of procrastination and the most effective and scientifically supported strategies to permanently conquer the vicious cycle of procrastination.
I would like to share my knowledge with you, for free.
