I’m sure you’ve heard of the “80/20 Rule” of life. If not, then here’s a quick summary: It seems that 20% of what you do is responsible for 80% of your results, and vice-versa. Another application of the rule is that in most situations you’ll get about 80% of what you want. People are always chasing that extra 20% and as a result often give up their 80% and end up far worse off.
More on Fitness Results – The 80/20 Rule
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Personal Trainer - Weight Loss - Workout Tips
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This is an excerpt from an e-course that I’m releasing later this week:
On Consistency:
In my blog and my fitness business I preach (and some would say harp) on a few topics over and over again. The reason I do that is because it’s those topics that will make or break a fitness and nutrition program. Just like in business, your social life, and most anything else, the old “80/20″ rule seems to apply to fitness. That means that you’ll get about 80% of your progress from 20% of the things you do. So obviously those are the real keys and what you should focus on.
One of my favorite keys to harp on is consistency. Even a poor program (not that you should follow one) will achieve far more success if it is done day in and day out than a great program that is rarely followed will. That’s one of the big reasons that I decided to create this log book product. My own training exploded when I started consistently logging my results and examining them. The more consistent I was in my logging, the more consistent I became in my training, and the greater my results were.
When I’ve slipped in my training and not seen the results that I’m looking for, I can almost always trace that back to times when I wasn’t keeping a good log. There are times when I’ve been busy or injured or just taking a break and I got lazy about the log book. Sure enough, those times always seemed to stretch just a little further than they should, or I’d have a hard time getting restarted.
So learn to embrace consistency when it comes to getting in the best shape of your life. Not every workout has to put you on your ass, and not every meal has to be a chicken breast with celery. However, every workout and every meal should have some quality that is going to make you better than you were before. THAT is consistency, and that will build progress.
Thoughts?
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Weight Loss and Fitness Success Through Clockwork Scheduling
After the interview I decided to have a workout and just hang around the gym for a while to get the feel of it. Not a lot has changed in the three years since I’ve been there except lots of new faces. I did run into one of the members that I was friendly with way back, though, and I got to thinking that he’s an interesting case.
Mike is a great example of how to make fitness a lifestyle without making it your life. He’s a big guy, likes to lift weights and does his cardio work, and stays in very good shape by most people’s standards. Here’s the thing, though: Working out isn’t Mike’s life.
Mike is a busy business owner with a significant other, kids, and whatever other hobbies he has. There’s no question he’s a busy guy. Even with that busy lifestyle and no matter what else is going on he comes to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and spends about an hour and a half or two hours there. His workouts and days of training are like clockwork. He doesn’t spend all of his time fretting about what he’s going to do for a workout, whether he needs 38 grams of protein or 43 with his next meal, or anything in between. He just comes in consistently and gets what he needs to do done. Training is what he does because he enjoys it, he stays healthy, and it’s a good social outlet (Mike can and will talk to most anybody).
What I’m saying is that you don’t have to make exercise rule your lifestyle, and that’s what holds most people back from successfully becoming fit. They feel that they need to radically change their life and devote every waking second to the gym, their diets, and their new fit lifestyle. That’s simply not sustainable for most people.
The trainers that you see whose lives revolve around fitness aren’t the rule, they’re the exception. We actively enjoy the pursuit of fitness, whatever form we gravitate towards. For us, this is our hobby. Some people collect stamps and read historical literature, I read about business and fitness. I read about these things and think about these things because I enjoy it. While I realize that these are enjoyable activities for me, I don’t insist that my clients follow suit as they might not enjoy them as much as I do.
Make fitness work for you, not the other way around. Take a lesson from Mike: Find a way to make fitness a fun activity for you, schedule time to take care of yourself fitness-wise, and follow that schedule. Then you’re done! Cross it off the list and head on to the next part of your life until you are scheduled to train again. Making fit decisions is a lifestyle element, but it doesn’t have to be your entire lifestyle. Make your fitness like clockwork and you’ll see real, lasting success.
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Fitness Measuring Tape
I was immediately reminded of one of my old clients from Maine, Jason. You’ll probably hear a lot about Jason. He was a great client, but he had and did make most of the training mistakes that you can make. He was also very prone to following the “latest thing”, so this made him at times challenging and at other times extremely receptive.
I remember when I first started training Jason I developed a program that for some exercises had him adding weight in those same five pound increments for as long as possible. The program was for 12 weeks, when I gave it to him he replied that he wanted to make some progress in 12 weeks, not just inch along.
“Jason” I replied, “What’s 12 x 5?”
“60″
“Ok, so if we put 60 pounds on your bench press, for WORKING SETS, not just a one-rep max, how much is your strength and body going to change?”
“Oh. A lot.”
I could see that Jason had started to see the light. Those small increments add WAY up to big improvements. Everybody wants to see rapid and grand improvement, and if that happens I definitely don’t turn it down. However, the key to long-term, successful development of the body is to make tiny, easy changes and always improve inch by inch. Regardless of whether you’re trying to lose fat, gain muscle, or run a 4.5 40, doing the little things and improving every day will be the backbone of your success.
Oh, and Jason? In those 12 weeks he went from 135 pounds to 152 and took his best bench press from 140 to 185. He also learned a few valuable lessons about how his body responds that took him even higher later on.
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If you do a little reading, television cruising, and listening to fitness experts, it seems like fitness is a pretty simple thing. It seems that if you move like so, sweat this much, eat this amount, then before long you’ll be fit, lean, and looking great. If you listen to the fitness world, then it’s all just a mathematical system and if you follow the steps you’ll have great, linear progress.
Well, it’s not quite that free and easy. In reality the act and process of losing fat, gaining muscle, and improving your fitness (however you decide to define it) really is fairly simple. However, it’s not necessarily easy.
In everyone’s fitness journey there are what I call road blocks. These road blocks are situations and conditions that stand in the way of your goals. Just like real road blocks these fitness road blocks can stop you dead in your tracks. And just like real road blocks you have a few options. You can:
-Go around them.
-Try to drive right on through.
-Turn around and go back.
-Continue to push against them in an attempt to get through.
Today I’m going to go over three road blocks that I see my clients hit time and time again. I’m going to describe the situation and let you in on my tips for getting around these particular road blocks.
Fitness Road Block #1: Outside Stress. The human body lives with stress all of the time. Every situation you come across is full of potential stress. Is it cold outside? Stress. Did you have a couple drinks this weekend? Stress. Did your obnoxious coworker cough on you earlier today? A double helping of stress right there.
Not all stress is bad. Stress is the impetus for your body to grow, adapt, and change. When you train you are providing your body with stress to push it towards the body you want. Some stress is good, or at least is the means to a good end.
The problem is that too much stress, of any kind, can overwhelm the body. When it is overwhelmed then it doesn’t adapt well to any stress, including your training. Too many of us are running around living way too stressful lives. This daily grind and stress is sapping the energy we need to train efficiently and to enjoy our lives. This, and the hormonal reactions from the stress, leave us with more body fat, less muscle, and no motivation.
Sit down and figure out the three biggest stressors in your life. They may come from work, personal relationships, living arrangements, finances, or anywhere. In order to limit your outside stress, look at any possible way to eliminate or reduce any of these stressful situations and then take action on it. Only action will solve the problem, not planning.
Fitness Road Block #2: Parties and Social Situations. Every time of year has it’s share of holiday and social functions, and they almost all revolve around food and drink. This time of year it’s almost time for Halloween, and that means lots of Halloween candy and a growing waistline.
It can be hard to turn down the food and drink that doesn’t help you at these parties and functions. Being successful in fitness shouldn’t mean that you have to become a shut-in and shun the outside world. The two keys to holiday survival are moderation and planning.
Before you go to an event where you know that lots of tempting but unhealthy food will be served I recommend that you eat a good, healthy meal. Focus on lean foods such as a lean protein and plenty of vegetables for bulk and fiber. If your stomach is full when you walk in the door it’ll be a lot easier for you to just try a few tastes of the food there rather than fill up a couple of plates.
Fitness Roadblock #3: Not Measuring Progress. My clients all know that I’m nuts about measuring both physical and workout progress and there’s a reason for it. If I just leave it all up to subjective feelings and don’t measure things then it’s very easy for them to be swayed by good days and bad days.
Instead I frequently check their progress. If they’re making progress on volume of work, total work, lower heart rate, smaller measurements, less body fat, or more muscle, then I know they’re headed in the right direction. It’s easy to be encouraged when there’s a number right in your face that’s an improvement over the last measurement.
Test yourself regularly. Be sure to record the results and measure them against your past results. If you are improving, then you know that you’re heading in the right direction. If you’re not, then it’s time to analyze what you’re doing and figure out how to change it.
Life is full of little and big road blocks that will throw you off track if you allow them to. Rather than simply viewing these road blocks as something in your way to push against, use them as opportunities to examine where you are, where you’ve been, and how to best continue on your journey. If you look at your progress as a bunch of small, well-coordinated steps you’re far more likely to be successful than if you view it as one big, scary path.
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