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How To Set A Fitness Goal For Beginners
Upon researching “How To Set A Fitness Goal For Beginners”, on page one of Google, an example of a good fitness goal which was number two on their list, to help you live a healthier life by a website called “Life Hack” was, I kid you not,
“Add Some Lemon and Apple Cider Vinegar to Your Water”
Confirming my urgent requirement to get this Blog Post written. When Google allows Apple Cider Vinegar and Lemon as the epitome of fitness goals and health - the world needs to be put to rights.
I got the idea for this article when I was writing the second edition of my book: “27 Ways To Faster Fat Loss”.
There was a section in there all about SMART Goals, and now that I am older, wiser and a little more experienced with Fitness compared to when I first wrote my book, I realised how dumb a SMART Goal is for a Fitness-led goal. This is despite what all Personal Trainers are taught in PT School - and what many personal trainers will tell you.
I think now we need an obligatory pitch: here’s me and my book:
I will give you this book - for free.
But there is a catch. I also want us to become friends. If we become friends, I won’t just send you this book for free, I will also send you a Free Calorie and Macro Calculator, and Two Workout Guides. I might also send you some funny stories from my life, some links to other helpful content that I create and generally some musings from my life.
If you would like to become my friend, then please send me a friend request by filling out the form:
Thank you for becoming my friend.
And now that we are friends let me show you exactly how to set your fitness goals as a beginner for success as opposed to failure - because success is what you want…isn’t it?
Table of Contents for:
How To Set A Fitness Goal For Beginners:
SMART Goals And Why They Won’t Help You
What Do Fitness Goals and The Theory of Acting Have In Common?
How To Set Process-Driven Goals
The Art of a Promise
SMART Goals And Why They Won’t Help You As A Beginner
One of my favourite all-time Joey quotes
If you are unfamiliar with the term SMART Goal then let me take a brief minute to explain them. Developed by a man called George Doran. He was a consultant and former Director of the Washington Water Power Company.
To me, this is a red flag immediately for applying a SMART Goal to a fitness desire - because business and fitness are very different beasts.
SMART stands for:
S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Achievable
R - Realistic
T - Time-Bound
And let me be clear, I don’t think SMART Goals are wrong or don’t have a place - I just don’t think they are right in a fitness setting, especially for someone new to fitness.
You can look at the acronyms and think - huh - that would make sense for a fitness goal - especially if i am a beginner.
So let’s run it through and set a SMART goal for your fitness goal:
S - To Lose 5kgs
M - I will use the scale to measure my weight loss
A - 5kgs is a realistic amount of weight in the time frame I am setting.
R - I weighed 5kgs less two years ago - I believe I can do it again
T - I want to do this in four months
As you can see - the set goal to lose 5kgs makes sense and seems perfectly fine on the surface.
But SMART Goals do have their critics away from me. One of the biggest criticisms is that they are inflexible and therefore in terms of long-term goals they can be problematic. If you’re new to fitness then the long term is where your mind wants to be.
This is the first issue with SMART Goals in a fitness setting for beginners especially.
Fitness takes time - a lot longer than people will have you believe - and therefore the larger the goal, the more flexibility you will need as you progress through your journey.
One of the other issues I have with SMART Goals, and the bigger sticking point with them in terms of starting your fitness journey is that they set you up to focus on the result a lot more than the process. This can lead you to feel like you are only accomplished or worthy of praise when the result is achieved.
This is problematic because fitness, whether that be performance-based goals, or weight loss goals, is driven by executing a process.
Even if it is your first day or your 4000th day.
In fact, this study [1] emphasises the point of why SMART Goals shouldn’t be set and need to be rethought in the fitness industry, especially when it comes to beginners.
It states that:
“Both goal types are context-dependent and it is now recognised that, in some cases, performance goals can even be detrimental to the achievement of desired outcomes. Consequently, the current practice may be theoretically appropriate for physically active individuals but a different approach (e.g., learning goals) may be preferable for inactive individuals who are new to physical activity (i.e., most of the population).”
So the goal should be about learning, not about achieving. When you focus on just achievement it can be detrimental to achieving your fitness goal.
Now that, to me, sounds like the smartest idea I have heard yet when it comes to goal setting.
What Do Fitness Goals and The Theory of Acting Have In Common?
If you are new here…a quick little bio about me:
Alas, it’s true. I’m a fitness charlatan, a fitness fraud; a downright fake.
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Acting and actually, it is one of the best blessings I ever had as a fitness professional. I was able to learn movement, the theories and application of fitness and physical work, but understanding human psychology and why people behave the way they do is all down to my career and training as an actor.
If you are interested you can find out all about my acting life here - but that won't help you set a fitness goal as a beginner.
And I apply what I learned about building a character and a role to how to go about setting fitness goals.
Now let me try to break it down as quickly and as succinctly as possible for you.
You may have heard of the Actors Studio in New York. This is one of the meccas of acting in the 20th century responsible for the likes of Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Steve McQueen, Mark Rylance, Sally Field, Sidney Poitier and many many more.
They were schooled by a man called “Lee Strasberg” who created the “methodological approach “. This approach hails back to the work of a Russain Director and Actor called Konstantin Stanislavski.
The Drama School in London which I attended, known as The Drama Centre, is also responsible for actors such as Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Simon Callow, Emilia Clarke, Alexander Dreymon (who was actually my roommate), Rege-Jean Page and many many more, also schooled us on the workings of Konstantin Stanislavski.
Stan - as we call him in the industry - believed that each and every character in a play has one overarching “Super Objective”
Hamlet wants to avenge his father’s death. Juliet wants to be happily married and create peace between the houses. Richard III wants to be accepted by England and the Court. Prospero wants to be acknowledged as the great man he is. Iago wants to usurp Othello at any cost and get revenge on him because he believes he is the better man.
These are all my interpretations of the situation, and each actor and director will interpret different things from the text.
There is no right or wrong just exploration. Just like in fitness.
But once the Super Objective is set - you then break it down even further - into something called “Actions”.
I would then apply my actions to each scene I appear in - and over time the actions build up and lead to getting closer to my super-objective.
If I was Juliet on the balcony, for the first part of the scene would be “To plan a way to see Romeo again, in order to stay safe and protect my family” then when Romeo appears the action would change to “Collaborate with Romeo to meet safety and to show him how much I loved him, in order to seduce him into marrying me”
Then we can break it down further into an “Activity” which is literally the attitude with which you execute each line to help achieve your “Action” for the scene and this is how you break down a script to create a story and a performance.
As actors, we call it “the process of creating a role”
How To Set Process-Driven Goals?
As I mentioned previously - the SMART Goal focuses you too much on the result.
Whereas setting yourself Objectives and Actions focuses you a lot more on the process - and without a process, you simply won’t achieve your goals.
Let’s run the SMART Scenario from before setting a Super Objective, style goal, for beginners.
Super Objective: To lose 5kgs
Actions: Workout 2x a week, Increase Water, Increase Sleep, Increase Daily Steps, Eat Breakfast every day
Activities: Plan my diary to accommodate the Gym, Buy a water bottle I love drinking from, Stop scrolling on Instagram before bedtime (unless I am catching up on @the_gym_starters page), park further away from work each day, plan my breakfast the night before and protect the time I have to eat it.
Do you see how that throws you into the process of accomplishment and habit creation, whilst also prioritising your health?
Now Let’s Get Fancy…
“In Order To’s” With Your Goals
If you want to get really fancy, and I really recommend this because the more specific you are with your objectives and investigations, the more specific you will be with your actions to execute them, to be fancier, let's add the “In Order To” aspect. Having worked with 100s of beginners to fitness before I am aware that being specific about your process is really helpful.
Super Objective is set as a goal: To lose 5kgs in order to have more self-confidence
Actions:
Workout 2x a week in order to feel strong and powerful which will help my confidence increase,
Increase Water in order to keep hydrated helping me move better, digest better and curb hunger, therefore, helping me create a calorie deficit,
Increase Sleep in order to keep my emotions under control a lot more and to help decrease my stress and therefore my diet should be more aligned to my goals,
Increase Daily Steps in order to increase easily accessible movement will give me more energy as my heart health improves,
Eat Breakfast every day in order to start my day with structure around my food and therefore reduce the likelihood of binging in the evenings and snacking throughout the day
Activities:
Plan my diary to accommodate the Gym in order to be more likely to execute the movement side of my training plan
Buy a water bottle I love drinking from in order to keep up the habit and to try to get closer to my objective of 3L a day
Stop scrolling on Instagram before bedtime in order to help me sleep more restoratively and deeply as well as bring my bedtime forward a little each night - unless, of course, I am reading Adam’s posts…
Park further away from work each day in order to help me increase those little pieces of movement which add up over time and to help me compose myself ready for the next thing I have to execute in my day
Plan my breakfast the night before and protect the time I have to eat it in order to help me create a better relationship with food by spending time with my meals and setting the tone for the rest of the day
Suddenly the word “Goal” takes on a lot more meaning, and the act of setting that goal will have inspired you a lot more.
And you can see why as an actor we would be this meticulous in planning our performances…
And yes, it is a lot more work at the start as a beginner. It does take a little more time and practice of course, but by spending this time in the beginning, you are buying yourself more consistency, and better relationships with exercise and nutrition and you will reach your super-objective a lot more efficiently. Mainly because you won’t be stopping and starting over and over again…you will just execute straight away.
One Last Step: Prioritise Education
Looking at the study [1] I previously spoke about they said this:
“a different approach (e.g., learning goals) may be preferable for inactive individuals who are new to physical activity (i.e., most of the population)”
Which led me to create this:
You have to view your Fitness as your Hobby.
You have to have the same approach to it as you do your Cross Stitch, your baking and your learning to play a musical instrument.
You read books on it, you study the subject, you experiment with things and you learn from as many different people as possible to get better at your hobby.
You have started in a fantastic way, you are here, reading this.
You have got further on this page than most people will have, which means you personally really want to succeed with your objectives. That immediately sets you apart. I am sure you have heard the stat that 95% of Diets fail, although we can debate the validity of this stat, it does reveal something.
Changing your physique is a really hard thing to do, and most people, the vast vast majority of those people who try, don’t succeed. I personally believe that it is because they don’t adopt an educational attitude towards their fitness journey in the beginning.
They don’t develop their own fitness brains enough, they don’t investigate themselves enough, and always remain focused on one thing and one thing only - the end goal - without a worry about what you can learn as you go through the process.
If you want to be in the minority, you have to adopt different behaviours and attitudes to what you do compared to what others have done - and that is the main reason that fitness is so terribly personal to each individual human.
“Everybody is different and every body is different”
Without a doubt the more you personalise your fitness journey and set fitness goals in a process-driven way - as opposed to comparing yourself to what others are doing and the results they are achieving, the more you will learn about yourself and the more your fitness will become a priority for yourself.
Think about the huge world that fitness is, and all that there is to learn within it.
Heck, I have been a Coach for nearly a decade and I keep learning about new things, and different ideas and investigating what fitness means to me on a day-by-day basis.
It’s a treasure trove of learning new skills and discovering new things about oneself in order to keep progressing through life.
One of the reasons I became a coach was because I was sick and tired of feeling like I had stopped learning as a human. I was sitting in my corporate office, doing the same mundane things each and every day…and I was missing a vocation in my life. Coaching has become that vocation and it is a beautiful feeling.
Looking at our goals from above, we can then add a learning outcome to them as well:
Plan my diary to accommodate the Gym in order to be more likely to execute the movement side of my training plan and then I can learn and identify the things in my life that might stop me from being as consistent as I wish.
Buy a water bottle I love drinking from in order to keep up the habit and to try to get closer to my objective of 3L a day and I can learn how much more positive my body feels in the gym and throughout my day when it is hydrated properly and whether or not I enjoy that feeling.
Stop scrolling on Instagram before bedtime (unless I am catching up on @the_gym_starters page) in order to help me sleep more restoratively and deeply as well as bring my bedtime forward a little each night - unless, of course, I am reading Adams posts…so that I can learn how to get the most out of my day and how having that focussed energy that sleep brings me can make my day so much easier to get through.
Park further away from work each day in order to help me increase those little pieces of movement which add up over time and to help me compose myself ready for the next thing I have to execute in my day and I can learn how much better my body feels for these micro-doses of steps and regulated movement
Plan my breakfast the night before and protect the time I have to eat it in order to help me create a better relationship with food by spending time with my meals and setting the tone for the rest of the day so that I can learn and discover how much better my nutrition is throughout the day when I give myself a big win at the start of the day.
As you can see, these learning outcomes refocus you onto the result of your actions as opposed to the result of your “fitness”, and when you start noticing those results that are tied into your process you will be more motivated to continue.
Other topics you can try to learn about when on a fitness journey as a beginner are:
How certain foods make you feel
How to improve your form in your exercises
How to increase your strength
How to protect yourself from Binge Eating episodes
The effect that sleep has on your day
The differences between different exercise setups and why some are more preferred than others
The nuances of a Calorie Deficit
The calories in your food
How your hormones might change the way you feel about training
How to build muscle
How to lose body fat
I could go on and on and on…
And each one will create a rabbit hole you can get lost down and discover so much about yourself as you explore and crucially learn.
The Art Of A Promise
Each week I ask my clients on their Weekly Check-In Forms to set goals for themselves in the context of a weekly promises on their movement and their nutrition.
I state the following:
“The promises you make for yourself are the most important. They are the foundation of your confidence - and should take priority in how you move towards what it is you want for yourself. Focusing on actions over outcomes means you are focusing on what you can control not what you can’t. Promises will be set and split between movement and nutrition - and these are non-negotiable - they are the standards you set for you - and these promises will create actions which will ultimately get you closer to where you want to be”
When you view your goals which you set as a promise to yourself, you are more likely to fully commit to them.
It’s very interesting to me that we are all more than accepting of the idea that we would keep a promise to a friend - and make sure that we did not betray that trust or not keep our word to that person, yet when it comes to ourselves it’s almost normal to let ourselves down.
It’s almost accepted as the default state.
I would like to propose that this is completely inverted.
For if you cannot keep a promise to yourself, how would your friend truly know that they would be able to trust you when you can’t trust yourself?
As Plato said:
““The first and best victory is to conquer self””
and Mahatma Ghandi said:
“Your capacity to keep your vow will depend on the purity of your life”
I know so many people who just cannot keep a promise to themselves, and their confidence has hit rock bottom, they question everything and never feel like they are good enough for themselves - let alone others.
This then leads them to look for validation from others - so they then begin to over-commit to everyone else around them - and they are left with no time to actually set promises for themselves, let alone execute on them too.
I’m sure you can see the vicious cycle that gets created here.
And I am sure you can relate to the people-pleasing nature that occurs in these situations.
If you struggle with your confidence, and if you struggle with people-pleasing, then I have a worksheet for you to fill out in order to start rebuilding that confidence for you. To access it then all you need to do is click on the button below - and it will open up a Google Form for you.
Please feel free to fill it out and start working on yourself in this manner.
Setting promises is an art form, and setting fitness goals for beginners is an art form.
And the more you work on the art, you develop the skill, the more you investigate, the more beautiful the journey becomes.
What’s Next?
I really hope you found this article useful, and that you feel a lot better about setting goals as a beginner in fitness.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my work, it really does mean a lot to me to have you here.
I also have some other articles you might find useful to help you navigate the early stages of your Fitness Journey:
Added to all of that, don’t forget to add me as your friend, and you can get two workout guides from me, a calorie calculator AND my book: “27 Ways To Faster Fat Loss”
Thank you so much for reading my work and for being here.
References:
Swann C, Rosenbaum S, Lawrence A, Vella SA, McEwan D, Ekkekakis P. Updating goal-setting theory in physical activity promotion: a critical conceptual review. Health Psychol Rev. 2021 Mar;15(1):34-50. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2019.1706616. Epub 2020 Jan 27. PMID: 31900043.
How To Keep Your New Years Resolutions - 5 Ways To Never Fail Again
The studies are clear.
80% of people can’t stick to their New Years Resolutions, and it's perplexing because it's something society keeps going back to year after year…and we keep getting the same results.
Failure.
What was it Einstein said?
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
A study by Bupa and ComRes in the UK asked 2,014 adults about their New Years Resolutions in November 2015.
Topics relating to improving health accounted for the top three resolutions. And of that group of people, 66% said it lasted one month or less. 12% of people said they managed to keep a resolution. [1]
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR “HOW TO KEEP YOUR NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS - 5 WAYS TO NEVER FAIL AGAIN
How To Keep Your New Years Resolutions — 5 Ways To Never Fail Again
1. Don’t Set A New Years Resolution
It's too simple, right? But if you don’t set one you can’t fail at it. Now I am not saying don’t implement change. Of course, I want you to become the best version of you that you possibly can be. But how many times in your life have you had a New Years Resolution and failed at it.
Then you do it again next year.
And fail again.
Your story, in fact, everyone’s story relating to New Years Resolutions is one of failure, and therefore when you set one, you will be looking through the lens of failure. Not success.
If I told you to not think of a huge pink elephant…
Then if I showed you a picture of the huge pink elephant…and still asked you not to think about it…
2. Get a Stress Ball
Any habit change is a test of Willpower, and Stress Balls have been proven to improve willpower. Participants were told they had to drink a “Vinegar Health Tonic” and those who were on tiptoes, clenching their calves drank more of said tonic. Another group as they were flexing their Biceps said they would be far less likely to break their diet.
According to the researchers “Steely Muscles led to a Steely resolve” however…you have to want the outcome.
Researchers also found that those who drank more of the tonic also viewed fitness as a virtue.
So for this to work, you must want what your New Years Resolution is working towards…and I don’t mean…“Yeah, it’d be nice”. You have to literally be resolved against it…and that means accepting a period of willful suffering whilst you allow yourself to change.
How To Keep Your New Years Resolutions — 5 Ways To Never Fail Again
3. The Two Minute Rule
Resolutions tend to focus on the long term result. Not the process, and building your process is more important than the long term result.
Think of giving yourself a 2-minute rule as explained by James Clear in his book Atomic Habits.
Because in truth the action doesn’t succeed or fail when you are doing it. It succeeds or fails just before. Therefore you need to lower your point of entry in order to make it something you do. If you got to the gym. Did two minutes and realized it wasn’t your day…then you can leave.
The act of getting there, being there and experiencing it will strengthen your ability to do it again. And doing it, again and again, will make it stick and grow.
Eventually, if you give yourself enough opportunity to grow you will succeed.
4. Focus on the Process
New Years Resolutions traditionally focus on the end result.
Lose 2 stone
Eat Clean (yawn!)
Travel more
Get Healthy
This list is all result focussed. How are you going to achieve these things?
How do you Lose 2 stone? Maybe start with 1lb and repeat that process over and over.
Eat Clean, although I can’t stand the premise, in truth is add more vegetables to your dinner each day.
Travel More…in order to do that…you should probably save more and plan your vacations from work for the year.
Get Healthy…becomes…go for more walks and build the habits of a healthy person.
Once you get yourself working on the process the result will take care of itself, and you will find building up slowly far more sustainable than going all out on Jan 01st.
Remember: It’s not
“What you want to achieve”
It’s: “How are you going to do it?”
How To Keep Your New Years Resolutions — 5 Ways To Never Fail Again
5. Realize its a new YEAR resolution
Why the rush? Why does everyone want to do their resolution on Jan 01st? And hit their goal by February 01st.
A year is 12 months. You have that long to achieve your New Year Resolution. When clients ask me about them I give them this strategy.
Pick one resolution and get that mastered. Then move onto the next one. And then the next one come September or October. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. If by the end of year you have only mastered two of your new years resolutions…that's a lot better than failing by February 01st on all five.
What’s Next?
I have plenty more articles about Mindset for Fitness throughout my Website.
Here is a selection I think would make great further reading for you:
You are also invited to get a bundle of Fat Loss Goodies from me including:
Get yourself a free month of workouts (Home and Gym-based options)
Get yourself a free copy of my e-book ”27 Ways To Faster Fast Loss”
Get yourself a free customized Calorie Calculator
Straight to your Inbox
All you have to do is put your email address in below:
References:
Comresglobal.com. 2020. BUPA New Year Resolution Survey « Savanta Comres. [online] Available at: <https://comresglobal.com/polls/bupa-new-year-resolution-survey/> [Accessed 26 July 2020].
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
The other day on Instagram I was asked this lovely question:
How Do I Maintain Consistency?
This is something I see so many of my clients struggling with time and time again, and as my clients are exactly the same as you, I figured this would be a helpful topic for everyone…not just my social media following.
Which if you do not follow me…then it would be awesome to connect with you - because I like making new friends.
In fact…send me a Friend Request right now. If you do, I must warn you: I will send you things. Things that are funny, things that are educational, things about my life, and probably things that are inappropriate…
But that’s what being friends is right…
To send me a friend request just put in your details below - and I’ll send you some freebies right away…
Thank you.
Now back to the topic:
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
The first quote I think I ever came across when it came to the topic of Consistency was this:
I think I read it in a book by Jamie Alderton…or a Podcast I was listening to once upon a time and it has always lived with me.
In my life, there are three huge achievements that I accredit to consistency and others accredit to luck and fortune.
How I keep my physique
Being in one of the most successful West End plays of all time
The Strong & Confident Program and my Personal Training Business.
What people always seem to miss when it comes to these three topics in my life is my diligent ability to understand what Bruce Lee said.
I have built all of these things with the principle of consistency being more important than intensity:
The fact I have never gone more than a month without a workout in my entire life as a minimum, and I stick to my caloric allowance at least 80% of the time and I hit my 10k steps at least 6 days a week.
No one saw the 3000 rejections it took in my acting career and showing up to the auditions day in and day out to get my dream job. No one saw the toll the rejections had on me and my relationships.
People don’t see the fact I post on Social Media at least 3 times a day and have done for 4 years, or the emails I send at 11pm just to make sure I check in with you, the person reading it, or the 9 hours it takes me to write, edit and upload an article like this. This is on top of all my actual Coaching hours too.
I’m not bragging. Not at all. I love and adore my job and seeing the positive effect it has on my clients is truly amazing.
But this is the difference between Intensity and Consistency.
This is the difference between what I actually do…and what people see me do.
And that is what consistency truly is.
Doing the stuff that no one sees over long periods of time. Doing the stuff that the only person that sees the benefit is you - whether that is from mental health benefits by feeling productive and creative - financial benefits - or health benefits.
Consistency is the single place where your results lie.
Table of Contents for 6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise:
Step 1: Have no time limit on your goals
Step 2: It’s got to be hella fun
Step 3: Make sure your goal is achievable
Step 4: Create Bright Lines
Step 5: Have Structured Accountability
Step 6: It’s got to be hella fun
Why is Consistency so important?
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
These 6 Steps have no real order…or rather they have no priority. They are all as important as the next and equally as important as the last.
You have to embrace all of them if you truly want to continue on your path for a period of time that will truly change your life.
They will also help you with consistency in weight loss, business, or anything else you are struggling with in terms of being able to do something you need to do to reach your goals on a more regular basis.
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
Step 1: Have No Time Limit On Your Goals
Time Limits suck. They suck so much that they will play havoc with your ability to be consistent.
Nothing in this world comes quickly.
Sorry…nothing that is associated with long term success comes quickly.
And if you set out on a Health and Fitness Journey with a time limit attached to when your goal must be achieved you have fallen foul to two things:
Even your most conservative estimate for what is achievable is still too quick.
Your results will never come quick enough to you.
This isn’t necessarily your fault. The Fitness Industry has sold you “quick results”, “fast progress” and 12 week transformations by the dozen load and it has skewed everyone’s belief in what is actually possible.
As you progress through the weeks on your new fitness program, with the goal of being done in 8-12 weeks, the realization that it's all taking a little bit longer than you had hoped will slowly play on your mind, and then it will only take a week of no movement towards said goals, or a plateau, whether in Fat Loss or trying to get heavier weights on your lifts and bang.
You will miss a Gym session.
You will skip your diet.
You will not be as adherent as you could have been in the first period.
This isn’t because you aren’t good enough, or don’t want it enough - this is just the course of life for most adults. Family, Work and all other kinds of stressors do and will get to you.
And that will mean missed moments - on a very very tight schedule.
And the significance of these missed moments will get larger and larger and larger the more the days tick past…and the more sessions you need to miss.
And then you will begin to realize that your goal is even further away now, but the deadline is the same…and you will grind to a halt.
I bet you are sat there…reading this going….my goodness…GET OUT OF MY BRAIN ADAM!!!!!
Especially if you have ever tried a 12-week Fat Loss Program!
I’m not in your brain. I say this to you because it's one of the most common traps people fall into.
Its because I see this every day - and I am truly blessed that the people I work with on my Strong & Confident Program seem to comprehende this really quickly, and convert themselves to adopting an active lifestyle as opposed to trying to “shred to get wed”.
Therefore by releasing yourself from the time pressure of your goals you will be more focussed on the journey, more focussed on the process and you may even have time to take stock and actually enjoy what you are doing, rather than think its waiting for you like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Whenever I am having this conversation with a client I always remember this quote:
“Becoming is better than being”
You will hear many many many Personal Trainers on the internet refer to “enjoying the process as opposed to focussing on the result”.
That is very very easy to say - and very hard to do.
But this is the first step to learning how to enjoy the process. Forgetting about the result.
When would perform Shakespeare I had to adopt the same process here. You have to learn the words of Hamlet, Othello or my personal favourite character: Benvolio and then when you are on stage you have to just forget that you know the words. When it comes to the performance - you have to just breathe and enjoy the ride. The second you start to think about the words you have to say - you forget them. When you hear actors talking about being in the moment - this is one very crucial aspect of that.
On stage we never think about the performance - the result - we just step on stage and let rip.
Its an incredibly freeing feeling - and you too must do the same with your fitness journey.
I actually have an episode of The Fitness Solution Podcast which is dedicated to this entire principle - with my dear friend Jodie Walker.
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
STEP 2: ITS GOT TO BE HELLA FUN
Adherence: “The attachment or commitment to a person, cause or belief”
Sorry to be “that” guy. You know…
“The Oxford Dictionary defines Adherence as….”
But here we are…anywhooooo….
One of the many reasons I managed to go through 3000 auditions as an actor and get rejected from them, one of the many reasons I have been able to write non stop content for four years on Personal Training, and one of the many reasons I am able to keep my calories in order is because all of those things bring me joy.
Let’s take my acting for example. You may well be thinking to yourself that I’m crazy.
Which is fair.
I am sitting here openly telling you that I enjoyed being rejected 3000 times.
I didn’t.
But I loved my days in London Auditioning. The result was inconsequential to me. Of course, I wanted to get the job. But that didn’t stop me enjoying the day I got going through the experience of trying.
For me, it was a day away from my office job. It was something new to talk about. It was exposing myself to an opportunity of improvement, of challenge, and of new experience.
It was a moment to grow.
It was also a moment to fail.
Not that I wanted to walk into the audtion knowing I would fail - believe me - every job i have ever been up for I have given everything I had for it.
But learning from that failure is a joyful experience. Its a badge of honour. I had the courage to risk failure, i felt that fear, did it anyway and opened myself up to vulnerability and strength.
Plus, who cares that I failed. I lost nothing except maybe a little bit of pride - and the opportunity of what I might gain one day form all of these experiences adding up is something that the micro fiaulures along the way are worth going through.
If you can attach this reframing of “failure” to your fitness journey you will be better off than the far majority of everyone else in the world.
80% of diets fail - this isn’t because diets are broken - its because dieting is really really hard - and one of the hardest aspects of them is being able to see the opportunity in the failures along the way.
I can honestly say that out of my 3000 auditions…I truly cared about getting the job maybe 3 or 4 times, and I know that now because I can remember those auditions:
Notes On A Scandal, Eastenders, BT Commercial, Hollyoaks and Kick-Ass.
That was it. Those Auditions were the ones that hurt when I didn’t get them…because I was extremely attached to the goal behind them. I really wanted that job. I truly believed those were the jobs that would change my life. They were the jobs that would have killed my ability to expose myself to it time and time again.
All the others…I can barely remember. But what I do remember is enjoying the process. Enjoying learning new plays, learning new speeches, and discovering new characters.
I didn’t enjoy it. I bloody loved it.
And if you aren’t having fun…there is no way you will be able to carry on doing it for long enough to get the results you want.
I call this the Adherence Loop:
Fun → Adherence → Consistency/Action → Results → Motivation
Make fun your priority in everything you do.
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
STEP 3: MAKE SURE YOU ARE TRYING TO STICK TO SOMETHING THAT IS TRULY ACHIEVABLE
By now you should be seeing a common theme with consistency: when you don’t see the results you re after that's what stops you from taking action.
And not setting yourself up for failure is critical to that.
As a personal trainer I see people setting the bar too high all the time:
Setting Calories too low.
Trying to exercise 4–5 times a week.
Lifting such heavyweight to the detriment of form.
Trying to do too much cardio ontop of lifting.
Spending too much money on quick fixes and shortcuts that they can’t keep it up.
Jumping constantly onto the “next big thing”
All of these will result in you not being able to remain consistent - and then ultimately giving up.
This is predominantly the fault of the internet and media - where in fitness we learnt that the quicker the fix - the more you will pay for that product.
And then when you don’t see the results - we aren’t accountable to you financially - you already paid - you already agreed to that “element of risk”. The most classic example of this you will see is something like:
“If you do exactly what we say, you will get the results you want or we will refund you”
And the trianer saying that knows exactly that no human ever will do exactly what they say - because no one can hit their calories each day perfectly. No one can track their food perfectly each day. No one can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they did “everything that was asked of them”.
Therefore, no one will ever be able to claim their money back.
The whole premise is a lie to make the trianer look good - and to coax you into the sale - because when you sign up you either believe you will do everything that is asked of you, or you are naieve to what is actually required.
You must make sure that what you are setting out to do is achievable but the problem is…how do you know if it is or isn’t without experiencing failure from time to time?
You might not be able to avoid that. Failure is always part of the process and every path to success is paved with it, my 3000 rejections for example.
One way of insuring yourself against this is to give yourself micro-goals.
So as opposed to wanting to lose 10 stone in 4 months try this:
Do everything you can to lose 1lb in 4 months…and repeat.
As opposed to trying to run a 5km in 20mins
Do everything you can to just complete the distance…and repeat.
“Practice makes progress”
Through the repetition of achieving such small goals over and over you will give yourself a feedback loop of success…and the big picture will take care of itself.
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
STEP 4: CREATE BRIGHT LINES — What is a Bright Line?
A bright-line rule (or bright-line test) is a clearly defined rule or standard, composed of objective factors, which leaves little or no room for varying interpretation. The purpose of a bright-line rule is to produce predictable and consistent results in its application [1]
Jokes aside - how wonderful is it that Britney Spears has managed to get out of the conservatorship.
Back to the topic at hand:
Now is the time for you to get strict. Not restrictive.
A lot of people when they set up a Bright Line in search of consistency they set it up overly restrictively.
A common Bright Line we see in fitness is something like this:
“I’m going to give up Carbs”
It’s a Bright Line: No Carbs for the rest of your life.
But it is also very very restrictive and will, therefore, cause lots of angst and potentially lead to higher intakes of Carbs…you know…“I can’t have it so I want it” syndrome. Whenever you take something completely off the table, you become more obsessed with it.
A better Bright Line in this instance would be:
“I will limit eating Chips to the weekends only”
Let us test it:
It has a clearly defined rule which aligns towards your bigger goal of wanting to lose weight: Limit eating chips.
It’s made up of an objective factor: You can only eat the chips at the weekend.
There is no varying interpretation: You either ate chips during the week or you didn’t.
Will it create a predictable and consistent result? Yes. Because you are eating chips only at the weekends.
A Bright Line doesn’t have to be about restriction though. It could be:
I will eat five different vegetables with every dinner I cook at home.
or
I will go to the Gym at least 2 times every single week
They aren’t pass/fail tests. If you miss a gym session in a week it doesn’t mean you failed completely, it means you just missed out on that one bright line.
This is why it will be wise each week to set three or four bright lines. If you miss one, you can then still find success in the other three, and you know what the priority for the upcoming week is.
I used to think brought lines were strict - but they aren’t - they are there to inspire discipline. I wish I could tell you that you can have total freedom and still achieve your goals - or rather - you don’t need to do any work and still achieve your goals.
But you can’t. There has to be discipline attached to your actions over time.
The key for you to being able to stick to your Bright Lines is making sure they don’t restrict you…but empower you.
One of my favourite phrases when it comes to weight loss is:
“Focus on production, not reduction”
Meaning:
Look at everything you can do to achieve your goal, not what you have to miss out on. Many many many people see weight loss as not having their favourite foods, not being able to enjoy alcohol, and not being social with their friends.
But the truth is, if you focus on production, if you focus on being more active, if you focus on eating as much as you can within your caloric window, if you focus on drinking more water, on going to the gym you live in a world of abundance towards your goals.
And that is more inspiring, than closing things off.
And it allows you to still do the things that might have originally been “off the table”.
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
STEP 5: HAVE STRUCTURED ACCOUNTABILITY
In my near 10 year career in this industry I have always worked online and in person.
Without a doubt - those who are more successful are my online clients - because they have to build their own structured accountability - and this empowers them.
You see - when people see me in person, they think that is being accountable enough. They put the ownness on me to create their result. Whereas online - the ownness is on them - and I find that empowers them to achieve so much more.
Tracking your consistency is one thing that is really going to help you keep consistent.
I know it sounds obvious…but you would be amazed at how many people think they are being consistent with their process…and then actually are not.
I almost promise you…that you are not as consistent as you think you are.
In the same way, you underestimate the number of calories you are truly eating [2] you’re also overestimating how consistent you are being.
And this is where structured accountability comes into the fold.
A huge part of what I provide to my clients is structured accountability. But this is far less effective for my clients than accountability they develop and maintain themselves.
Again - I want you to be empowered.
One of my go-to systems for clients is this:
Get a Big Wall Calendar
Stick it on your wall
Set up three-four Bright Lines you are going to do daily and weekly.
Track your consistency on these Bright Lines every day.
If you stuck to the Bright Lines put a big Red Circle on your day:
6. If you don’t stick to the Bright Lines put a Double Exclamation Mark on the day (different colour would be preferable)
Then over the months, you want to be hitting the 80/20 rule. Because remember consistency is more important than intensity and consistency doesn’t mean perfection either.
So for a month, you should have 25 Red Circles — meaning you are consistent - and will be hurtling towards your goals far quicker than if you took one of those “quick fixes”
Ironic isn’t it?
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
STEP 6: ITS GOT TO BE HELLA FUN
Yes. I know this was Step 2 as well.
But it's important. REALLY IMPORTANT.
What you do must be enjoyable. If you don’t enjoy it you will never stick to it.
And I’m not sure that point can’t be said enough.
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
Why is Consistency important?
Consistency is so important as it is your guiding light when it comes to balance. It is your buffer against you failing. If you can be consistent in the ways I have laid out in my 6 Steps then when a slip up occurs you will have so much other information that makes you feel proud of yourself.
Consistency reduces the significance of missed moments - and enhances your sense of overall achievement.
The other joyous thing about consistency is that it grows with you. The more consistent you are, the better it feels, and it just keeps going round and round and round. Then what took effort, soon becomes habit and that allows you to try and be consistent on something that is a level up to what you were dong before.
Understanding that you need to be consistent also allows you to understand that you must have flexibility and balance.
Consistency does not mean you need to be perfect.
Perfection is the enemy of consistency. It is the opposite.
I have many people tell me what their fitness wishes are, and very very often people will say to me:
“To be consistent with diet and exercise”
At which point I ask them: “What numbers are you attaching to that? How often do you need to do it in order to be consistent?”
“Every day” they respond with.
“Thats perfection” I remind them.
And you can see the weight from their shoulders lift immediately. Suddenly what seemed overwhelming is now achievable.
That is a big deal.
My friend on Instagram was talking about how she had an upcoming family holiday and wanted to pack all her stuff to go to the gym whilst she was on holiday. She was very worried about the voice in her head, her voice that was saying
“You are failing if you miss your sessions”
I explain to her that she has control over her thoughts and that she needs to start treating her “thoughts as things”. The only reason a thought becomes important is the weight we give it and whether or not we choose to focus on it.
So we had this chat:
If you take one thing away from this article please let it be this.
Perfection is not necessary and the quest for perfection will eventually lead to you giving up on yourself because it isn’t possible.
Consistency and Balance are possible, and that's what you must always strive for.
So if you are worried about whether or not you are not “being good enough” or whether a day off will wreck your progress ask yourself the same two questions I sent on Instagram:
Is this thought worth thinking?
Does this thought fit into my narrative of consistency over perfection?
And if the answer is no to both, then forget about it and move on with your day.
Consistency will be the ultimate answer for your quest for success in any field.
Business, Relationships, Fitness, Fat Loss.
It doesn’t matter what you want to succeed at you must be consistent and consistency isn’t sexy.
It creates regularity and helps form habits day in and day out. It is the foundation of habit formation. It takes conscious effort to being with, and then develops into something that is more automated.
You brush your teeth every day not because you know that by doing it one day you will stop your teeth from falling out, but because doing it every day will stop your teeth from falling out.
You save your money not because you know £50 one week will help you in the future, but doing that every week for 10 years will pay for your child's university fees.
Your child will never see the £50 a week. They will only know that you are paying for their tuition. There is nothing glamourous about £50 a week, but over a decade £26,000 is a lot of money to anyone.
I’m sure you have seen this in the past:
But its always worth reminding yourself of what success truly looks like.
There is also something wonderful about being consistent each and every day, and that is the concept of compound interest.
Once you begin to be consistent, once you turn those consistent behaviours into habits, and once they become just what you do…then the more room and space you will have to keep learning and trying to incorporate new things.
And that constant picking up of new ideas, habits and behaviours is what will change your life.
If you refuse to allow consistency to rule the roost in your journey you will always be stuck at phase one of your goals, and you can only focus on that for a certain amount of time until you get bored, frustrated and then eventually give up altogether.
What’s Next?
I really hope you found this article useful, and you feel a lot more comfortable about how to keep more consistent with your diet and exercise.
I also have some other articles you might find useful to help you navigate your Fitness Journey:
Added to all of that, if you would like a Free Calorie and Macro Calculator then just put your email in here:
Thank you so much for reading my article.
Speak Soon
Coach Adam