Creating Sustainability In Training....

I would argue that the biggest determining factor in training is consistency, hell i've branded my company around the principle of consistency so it must mean something to me. But it's true. We've heard it from every successful athlete, coach, or business person. Consistency followed in hard work equates to success. So it would seem like the most logical way to approach building sustainability in your training. And that it is!

Firstly, let's look at why building sustainability is the focus of this article. Why not 'building consistency' or 'building rigidity' or 'how to build the best program for training' is not the focus?

Sustainability is important in reaching your goals whether it is short term or longer term. What happens in taking a sustainable approach is allowing for leeway, it allows you to operate within a threshold that provides comfort in the things that you enjoy whilst remaining on the positive side of change. If you were to adopt a restrictive approach or an 'all or nothing' approach the outcome is most often a return to your original habits, binging, or running the risk of injury, sickness, or burn out. Something that is sustainable is able to repopulate to >50% of its original capacity within the lifecycle of the user, easiest example is trees. We view trees as a sustainable resource because in our lifetime a tree can effectively be harvested, re-planted, re-grown, and re-harvested. Now adopt this same principle to your training habits. Remember! Training habits are not solely restricted to in-gym training (lifting / conditioning / stretching / re/pre-hab), it is every aspect of training; sleeping, nutrition, hydration, positive social environment, relationships, lifestyle (smoking & alcohol), and self perception. A task I like to encourage all my clients and athletes I work with is to strive for 80% perfection, something I've spoken about a few times now. Aiming for 80% is an easy way to access change, calculate outcome, and maintain consistency in your practice whilst not overdoing it. Aiming for 80% effectively leaves a little wiggle room, reducing stress when you don't get everything done, or enhancing the sense of success when you have the capacity to hit 100%. This 80% rule is adopted in nutrition, training, and lifestyle alike. 80% of the time eat within the parameters of what you need to be healthy and perform well, 20% have a damn bowl of ice cream. 80% of the time hit every rep and set, 20% skip an exercise because you don't feel great, hell take a day off. 80% of the time do what's best for your mind & body to recover ahead of the next session, 20% of the time stay up till 5am and enjoy a few bevies with your friends. Always striving for 100% is unrealistic and what is has done is force feed you this idea that 'if i'm not on 100% of the time 24/7, 365, then I won't be successful, I won't be consistent, and I will fail at my goal'. Where in reality consistently being average is more likely to lead you to success then being great once in a while. This is precisely why sustainability is a key factor in your success. The all or nothing approach is kin to the ' I want it now' train of thought. Sustainability allows for progressive change without the inherent risk of falling apart or returning to old bad habits. Setting the finish goal on an ever moving point allows for endless growth, fixation only leaves to regression.

So what's the best way to build sustainable habits in regards to your training recalling that we are incorporating all aspects of training?

There are two approaches. Firstly, if you find yourself to be someone who can maintain multiple lines of expectations at once then approach 1 is for you. This means you can handle setting 5-10 target goals on the daily without getting stressed over it. You're someone who is already a high functioning organized person but is looking to implement more health related habits into your routine.

Approach 1: The daily check list

Set up an excel spreadsheet or a paper to-do list. keep that tab open or paste that paper to your fridge. Write down 5-10 simple tasks that you currently struggle with (i.e 30mins of exercise, drinking 2L of water, sleep 8hrs) and good habits that you know make you feel good when you do them (i.e avoid dairy, walk 10mins in the morning, read a book in the sun). These are your non-negotiables, tasks that in your mind you need to cultivate as critical daily tasks. Recall once again the important of the 80:20. Knowing that at the end of the week you're striving for the 80% and above outcome. This compounds over the month and over the year, so a week of 60% isn't the end of the world as much as a 0% day is to a week.

The checklist builds tangible accountability, keeps you organized, and makes good habits more regimented. Over time these habits become solidified in your routine and are simply a daily task that doesn't need reminders. From here you can graduate to other habits effectively building strong habits yearly. And because you are never stressing yourself for perfection you are sustainably growing day to day, month to month, and year to year.

Approach 2 may be better suited for those who struggle to ride the bus while holding a coffee and talking on the phone; for lack of better words you suck at multi tasking. And that's totally fine! Approach 2 takes the guess work out of things by reducing your non-negotiables to 1. You pick one habit, small or large, to focus on. You're always encouraged to expand out and attack different habits all at once, but this approach's success is dependent on your ability to focus on one task at a time. So this may look as simple as making your bed every morning. If this habit tangibly improves your productivity over the day then that's a task you need to focus solely on. The nice thing about this approach is habits form quicker, allowing you to add more positive attributes to your daily routine on a frequent bases. You can also set macro goals like hitting every single rep and set of each workout from warm-up to cool-down. Regardless the task, it's imperative that you set a strong tracking system like approach 1, you adopt the 80% rule, and you treat it as a non-negotiable.

Why habits matter so much in building a sustainable routine is that habits become automatic. This autonomy allows for progressive growth over time, time being an important factor as the goal is to improve step by step, not immediately. The tree doesn't grow from seedling to 100 feet in one season. It grows ring by ring, season by season. Slow and steady wins the race.

Bonus tip:

Reducing stress is a really good way to help you organize yourself and attack your tasks effectively, and the best way to do that is by hiring a coach. Online coaches especially have the tools to meticulously plan out your programming to match your schedule, lifestyle, and goals. They're the best suited to organize you, check in on you, and keep you accountable along your journey. There is no value on health, it's priceless. Invest in yourself.

Evolve Through Xperience - ETX

"Progression is built through consistency and tested by passion"

JB