When you think about “success” in terms of fitness, what comes to mind?
It might be tempting to define “fitness success” as lifting a certain amount of weight, or running a race in a certain amount of time, or six pack abs. It can be easy to idealize those goals or milestones as representing “fitness perfection.”
But fitness isn’t really about perfection. Because once you meet those goals, what comes next? You won’t just stop training, right? There are always ways to keep growing, changing, and improving.
Rather than defining fitness success as “perfection,” (whatever that means!) I think a more helpful way to define fitness success is: maintaining consistency.
If you want to achieve long-term progress and success with your training, staying consistent with your workouts and healthy habits is key.
Read on to find out more about the benefits of consistency, including the ways that consistency can help with habit formation, progress, motivation, and mental health improvements.
One significant benefit of consistency is that it actually helps build habits.
A 2022 article from the peer-reviewed journal Frontier Psychology studied how people form habits over a period of three months. The researchers found that participants who consistently performed their desired behavior over the three-month period saw significant increases in transforming that desired behavior into a habit.
The authors say that “habit formation crucially depends on the repeated performance of behavior that is in line with one’s long-term goal.”
So if upping your fitness is your long-term goal, being consistent with your training will lead to habit formation, which will then help you reach that goal.
In other words, working out consistently and maintaining healthy habits can turn these behaviors into routine, effortless actions.
Remember when I asked “what comes next” once you’ve achieved your fitness goals? One thing that many people struggle with when it comes to fitness is something called a “fitness plateau.”
Plateaus can sometimes hit when you’ve achieved your goal but haven’t thought about what you’ll do after that goal has been accomplished. Without a new “north star,” people sometimes find themselves facing a fitness plateau: they’re working out, but they’re not seeing progress. In part because they’re not sure what “progress” looks like.
This can be frustrating, and fitness plateaus can be difficult to break through. But one thing that can help is habitual behavior. And how do we develop the ability to maintain habits? Through consistency. It’s all connected.
Another great benefit of consistency is that it also leads to progress.
Let’s talk about those milestones again. If you’d like to run a half-marathon, it’s important to build up to that mileage. Just going for a run every once in a while won’t be the training you need to achieve your goal.
But if you’re consistently running, you’ll also likely be consistently progressing in terms of how long you’re running, or how fast, or both. Which means that you can build up to hitting the mileage and / or speed you’ll need to successfully achieve your goal of running a half-marathon.
And when we talk about progress, we’re not just talking about meeting those big goals, like running that half-marathon. Small, consistent improvements can have a big impact over time.
For example, if you decide to start strength training, you won't simply lift the amount of weight you set as your goal right away. You’ll start with lower weight, and work your way up to that bigger goal. Along the way, consistent strength training will also result in:
And if you would prefer to focus on progressing towards BIG goals, how about the fact that strength training can actually help you live longer, and maintain better quality of life at the same time. Those are some pretty sweet goals to progress towards, right?
The most successful way to keep progressing towards those goals is to be consistent with your training and your healthy habits.
Want to make real progress with your fitness goals? A personal trainer can help you build a plan that keeps you consistent, motivated, and improving—without burning out.
You can also increase your motivation through consistency.
While you might think that consistency - or doing something regularly, and often - could lead to boredom, the opposite is actually true!
Let’s return to our strength training example. Imagine someone who starts with lighter weights and feels discouraged at first because they aren’t hitting their goal weight right away. Fast forward and after weeks of consistent training, they suddenly realize they can lift heavier weights with ease. And at that point, they’re more motivated to continue their training.
You can think of this as the “positive cycle of progress.” Seeing results from the consistent work you’ve been putting into your training tends to boost your motivation to continue. And when you consistently train, as we’ve already discussed, you’ll see more progress and you’ll continue to build habits, all of which will lead to results. And when you see results, you’ll be more motivated to continue. It’s a cycle!
Motivation can be tricky. We’ve probably all had experiences with low motivation. And when motivation is low, it can be challenging to do the thing you’re not feeling motivated to do. But fluctuating motivation is totally normal. The question is, what do you do when your motivation is low?
If you’re not feeling motivated to do something (like, say, work out!) consistency can be the thing that pushes you to hit the gym anyway. The habits you’ve formed through your consistent training, the progress you’ve seen, and the other benefits you’ve experienced (more on that next!), can help you overcome that low motivation and keep working towards the goals you’ve set for yourself.
One of the most meaningful benefits of consistency, in my opinion, is that it improves mental health.
This is huge. Mental health has an impact on everything we do. It shapes how we are able to interact with the world around us. But working on - and improving - our mental health isn’t always easy.
One way to improve your mental health is to include consistent training in your routine. Studies have shown that consistent physical activity can:
Even if this all sounds appealing, if you’re struggling with your mental health it can be hard to imagine adding a new workout routine to your schedule. But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
For example, you can start by simply adding in ten minutes of body weight exercises a couple of days a week. The physical activity and the consistency of that activity can both end up having a significant impact on your mental health, even if it doesn’t feel like much.
Remember: little changes can add up.
Fear and self-doubt can be some of the biggest obstacles to staying consistent. But you don’t have to let them hold you back. Download our free guide to overcoming the fear of working out and start building habits that last.
So, the big takeaway here is: consistency is great! It has a ton of benefits, from physical to mental.
But how do you actually maintain consistency?
Here are a few tips for being consistent with your training and your healthy habits:
Remember our example of setting a goal of lifting a certain amount of weight? It’s great to be ambitious with goals, but it’s also important to set realistic goals that you can achieve while on your way to hitting that big goal.
One way of setting realistic goals is by using the SMART framework for setting goals. That is, goals should be:
So if you’ve got a big goal in mind, break it down into small increments and give yourself a deadline. Want to be able to do 10 pull ups in three months? Maybe start with mastering a certain number of assisted pull ups within a month. Want to be able to lift 50 lbs? Start with bodyweight exercises to strengthen those muscles.
Breaking down big goals into smaller incremental goals can help you stay motivated as you progress in your fitness journey.
One thing that can negatively impact our ability to maintain consistency is when we don’t have an idea of when we’ll fit our workout into our already busy schedule.
By creating a routine you follow regularly, you’re building habits for your mental and physical well-being. And as we know, habits are both a benefit of and a way to support consistency.
Take a look at your schedule and identify when you might be able to fit in ten, twenty, or even thirty minutes of training. Then think about what you might need or want to do before or after you’re training.
For example, maybe three days a week you add in twenty minutes of exercise before lunch, and then sit down for a healthy post-workout meal. That’s a routine! And sticking to that routine can help you maintain that consistency.
Sometimes, the best way to stick to a consistent training routine is to have someone else holding you accountable.
Maybe you decide to meet a friend at the gym twice a week. Maybe you find an online group of moms who let each other know what kind of physical activity they’ve done at the end of each week. Or maybe you connect with a trainer who you can text when you’re feeling unmotivated.
Any of these can be a great external motivation to keep working towards your goals when you’re struggling with your internal motivation.
It can be tempting to think that the trick to meeting your fitness goals is to work out harder, faster, and more frequently.
But actually? The key is consistency. Working out harder, faster, and more frequently is great, but if you’re not doing that consistently, you likely won’t find the same success you would otherwise.
And maintaining consistency has a ton of significant benefits. It builds habits, leads to progress, increases motivation, and can even improve your mental health.
So rather than idealizing “perfection” (I’m not even sure what perfection looks like, if I’m being honest!), let’s prioritize consistency and enjoy the journey of finding out what our bodies and minds are capable of, slowly but surely.
But as I mentioned above, it can be tricky to get started with a consistent routine. And once you do get started, it’s important to maintain your consistency, which can sometimes be challenging, especially with a busy schedule.
One resource that can help you meet these challenges? A personal trainer. A personal trainer can help you set goals, maintain consistency, and stay motivated. And what if that personal trainer could support you while you worked out at home?
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Written by Ella Browning.
