Why You Suck At Consistency (and how to improve it)

Hiker on snowden, Wales — Top of Mount Snowden, Wales

Starting a new fitness routine is kind of like getting a new house plant: you're excited, full of hope and even give it a cute name...Then two weeks later is wilted in the corner because you "forgot to water it"

I see it all the time. Someone says they'll start eating cleaner, hitting the gym consistently or start yoga classes and running. After an initial burst of enthusiasm, the consistency starts to fade, or worse, the plan gets abandoned or forgotten.

Let's dive into the psychology of these patterns and how we can build fitness habits that don't wither away like Hector the fern.

Table of contents

Why new routines are hard
We a wired for short term rewards
Patience Padawan
We don't like failing
Compound small wins
Learn from mistakes
Have a habit tracker

We like stability

Think of where you are now. How you get up each morning and go to bed each night. Think about the different parts of your day. Think about what you currently do for your exercise routine.

You may classify certain behaviours as good or bad. Exercising: good! Eating ice cream: bad!

Regardless of their classifications, these behaviours are what you know how to do. They are more or less ingrained into your daily life.

You probably identified behaviours you'd like to change. Less ice cream, more cardio, for example.

Knowing what to do is a great start. Implementing these changes is a whole other beast because we are wired for stability. We like it; it makes us feel comfortable and also efficient.

I think a lot of people overlook the efficiency part of it. I like my routine because I don't waste time. This is mainly because I've found the path of least resistance in certain areas of my life and not because I've found the secret sauce of productivity.

One of the things I'm currently trying to do is train for a triathlon. I need to add cardio sessions on the bike and in the pool. I already run a decent amount.

The first obstacle I found in my way was packing more gear in my gym bag. I'm good at packing my gym kit, but now I have to pack more gear. I also need to buy swim goggles. These two actions alone are already adding friction into my well groomed path of least resistance.

Let's talk about the actual training now. I need to find an extra 45 minutes in my day to do cardio. No problem, I basically live in a gym right? Finding time to hop on a spin bike or do a few laps in the pool shouldn't be hard. Except when life gets in the way, of course.

Swimmers in a pool — I find it extremely tough to actually start swimming. I enjoy it when I'm doing it, it's just starting that's difficult. I'm the Grand Wazoo of procrastination when it comes to swimming

When I get booked up by clients, or have to do admin, or just don't feel like it, these workouts are the first to go. And believe me, I started out with confident bravado.

"Of course I can do it" I thought, I'm a trainer and have easy access to all the equipment I need.

Unfortunately, it's never that easy to change up a fitness routine. I forgot my bike workout clothes more than once, I haven't bought swim goggles yet, and I have many more excuses.

The truth is, I feel clunky when trying to start this new training. There's always something in the way. Something that just doesn't feel quite right.

Thankfully, I know a few tips and tricks to keep me on track, and we will discover them later in this article.

First, let's take a look at what I think is the biggest obstacle of all.

We are wired for short term rewards

We LOVE being rewarded right away. I've written a whole article on this, which you can read here.

The short version is that ten dollars today feels better than one hundred dollars next year.

Workout adaptations, unfortunately, are like pineapples: they take forever to grow and mature. You won't see results after one workout or one fitness class. You won't see results for at least four weeks, and that's if you do most things correctly.

So once people start their new fitness routine they're so pumped about and don't see immediate results, motivation drops faster than the stock market after the tariffs announcement.

I see it all the time as a trainer. "I haven't changed", "maybe I'll do less workouts each week", "I'm going to try something different" are phrases I often hear during the first few months of working with new clients.

As a trainer, managing expectations is a huge part of what I do. I like to get ahead of it and have a serious chat on the first session if I feel like it's necessary.

If you can manage your expectations, you'll find that working consistently will become easier.

Let's take a look at the second biggest obstacle.

We hate mistakes

Hate is a strong word and I think it's warranted in this situation.

We just don't like making mistakes. First, we avoid them at all costs, and if we ever venture in new territory and fail, we make sure to never do that again.

Let me save you some time here.

When you start a new fitness routine, you will make mistakes, lots of them. This is as certain as the sun rising tomorrow.

You will forget to meal prep. You will forget your gym kit. You will have bad workouts. You will over indulge, or at least think you over indulge. The list goes on.

What separates someone who successfully creates a new healthy routine from one who sulks about it and doesn't change is the ability to learn from these mistakes.

Forgot to meal prep and had to order greasy pizza instead? Why did you forget in the first place? Did it simply slip your mind, was your grocery shop closed, or did you have social obligations that took you away?

Hiking in Corsica, GR20 — Hiking in Corsica with my dad. We make mistakes pretty much every outings, but so far always had fun.

Making mistakes is normal. In fact I'd argue the faster we make them the better. I want to know what I'm doing wrong sooner rather than later. The sooner I know, the faster I can rectify my strategy.

The other thing to understand is that mistakes are normal.

In one of his speeches, Roger Federer told a group of students he only won 51% of his points. That means he lost 49% of them due to some sort of mistake.

Making mistakes 49% of the time didn't stop him from becoming one of the most successful tennis players of all time.

Let's now take a look at the last obstacle in the way of consistency.

It takes time

Basic, but true.

I'm not going to give you an exact number like "it takes 90 days to form new habits". I don't think any of these claims are valid, I just know it takes a while to create lasting change.

We're not trying to grow one house plant here, we're pretty much starting a new garden. We want to change our behaviour, which usually involves our lifestyle. That stuff isn't easy.

If I want to complete my triathlon without demolishing my body in the process, I need to accept that spending more time training and less time with my friends is non negotiable. That will take time to accept and develop.

How long? I know for me it usually takes two months. That's what I've noticed in the past. Will it take two months for you? I wouldn't even know how to evaluate that for you. Only you can.

I can tell you with certainty it will take longer than a month.

Ok so now that we've covered all the gloomy parts of consistency, let's see what you can do to be better at it.

Consistency tip 1: Pay attention to small wins

Lifting slightly heavier weights, drinking more water or sleeping an extra thirty minutes are examples of small fitness wins. They happen quite frequently and are easy to engineer.

They are also mostly overlooked 99% of the time.

Yes, most people miss these wins because they are too small. We want big wins! And we want them yesterday.

You may experience big wins at first. Starting a gym routine, buying your first running shoes, and conquering the social anxiety to do your first workout class in a large group.

During your newbie gains phase, you'll smash PRs on a weekly basis. Great! But once you become accustomed to your gym workouts, big wins will become rarer. You'll lose weight more slowly, PRs will happen on a monthly basis, not weekly.

The truth is that a successful fitness regimen is a boring regimen. Learn the basics, get good at them, and keep doing them.

Paying attention to small wins will keep you motivated in the long term.

Here are a few examples of small wins, and I am sure you can find more that are relevant to you.

Fitting in a shorter workout during a hectic day
Drinking enough water when you forgot to bring your water bottle
Going for a run even though you really didn't want to
Resisting the urge to watch a new episode of your favourite show to go to bed on time
Enjoying a night out with your friends without stressing about the calories
Drinking one less beer with your friends than your usual number
Doing a home workout instead of a gym workout when you had to stay home to take care of a loved one
Suggesting you go for a walk with your friend instead of watching a movie
Talking to someone new in your gym
Improving your technique on a lift
Tracking all your gym workouts for a whole month
Learning how many calories are in the foods you eat
Pushing yourself a little bit past your usual limit during a fitness class

The list goes on....

Healthy meal prep to lose weight — Healthy meal prep for the win

These small wins often slip our minds. We don't even think of them as improvements because of how incongruous they feel.

When I track my client's progress, I'm often shocked at how underwhelmed they are by what I consider incredible improvements.

I've seen people add 20 pounds to their bench over a couple of months and brush it off. "Yeah but I don't feel different" or "It's not that much". For reference, taking your bench from 160 to 180 in two months is a 12% increase! Over 8 weeks! That's huge!

For reference, elite lifters increase the weights they push 5-10% on a yearly basis.

I think people get stuck thinking about the end result. We want to cross a river without building a bridge or learning how to swim. We keep focusing solely on how much greener the other side is.

This is often frustrating because it leads to a feeling of being stuck. Why can't we just be across the river already!

Once you start acknowledging your small wins, you'll start to feel like you are moving closer to your goals. You'll notice that you are not only building a bridge across the torrent but doing so regularly and quicker than you thought.

Keeping a journal is, so far, the best way I've found to record such wins. Tracking your workouts will help you notice your wins inside the gym. But as we've seen, small fitness wins can happen everywhere. Having a journal will help you record these out of gym achievements.

A week or two without small wins is a great way to learn from your mistakes, which is our next point.

Clem fitness bench press — I track all my workouts on an app. I try to make my workouts 1-2% tougher each week. 1-2% is barely noticeable. Honestly sometimes it's just doing one extra rep during the whole workout. It seems so small. But doing it regularly is how I've been able to get stronger and fitter over time

Consistency tip 2: Learn from your mistakes

I'll keep this brief because I'm sure you've already heard that mistakes "are just an opportunity to learn"...ugh I hate cliches.

But sadly, they are true. When we make a mistake, we can either wallow about it or quickly adjust.

Here is a list of common mistakes and the reflections they offer.

Forgetting to meal prep

Find out what happened. Were you too tired or too busy? Personally, sometimes I struggle to meal prep on Sundays if I have a very social day. I don't have the time and always forget to do it on Saturday instead.

My solution has been to try and do most of my social endeavours on Saturdays and reserve Sundays for food prep and resting.

Missing a workout

Again, what happened? Did you let work get in the way? Did you have to go pick up your kids early from school? What prevented you from foreseeing what kept you away from your training?

Could you have done a shorter workout instead? Why didn't you do a shorter workout? Was there something that prevented you from doing a 10 minute workout at home instead of your gym workout?

Did you forget your gym kit? Can you leave a spare gym kit either at work or in your car in the future?

What can you do in the future to avoid this again?

If you need a quick workout on those busy day, this one was spicy!

Having low energy

Feeling less energy than usual is normal. There's so many factors influencing this, it's unrealistic to always feel 100%.

In this situation, I like to look at my sleep and recovery to make sure I'm not doing too much work.

Have I been sleeping well recently? If not, why? What is causing me to sleep poorly?

Are my workouts too hard or too close together? Have I taken a recovery week recently?

Try to identify the main cause of your lethargy.

I'm going to keep this one short because we really could go down a huge rabbit hole when it comes to our energy levels and talk about hormones, sleep, nutrition and how it is all interconnected.

If your drowsiness is random, meaning you usually have a good level of energy, you should be able to find the root cause of the issue. If, on the other hand, your are chronically in a low energy state, and can't find a solution, talk to your doctor about it.

Relying on motivation

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

Motivation is a quack

Relying on motivation to go to the gym is like packing a picnic and expecting the sandwich to grow legs and walk you to the park. Cute idea, but you have to do the walking.

If you wait to feel motivated to hit the weight room, you'll get as far as that sandwich. Nowhere.

You may feel bursts of motivation, which will quickly wane. Trust me. Instead, focus on creating a workout plan you enjoy doing. Find exercises in the gym you find fun. Challenge yourself and progressively make your workouts tougher and tougher.

Find a gym, or fitness studio, you like going to. You need to enjoy something about going to the gym. This could mean going a little further from your house to find the right one, or on the other hand forgoing a nice gym for a smaller one that is conveniently beside your house. It could mean going with a friend or working with a personal trainer. There are many options out there, take the time to find the right ones for you.

If you don't like a certain exercise, don't do it. At first, what matters most is that you actually enjoy doing what you are doing. As long as you are hitting your major muscle groups in a safe way, go nuts.

Consistency tip 3: practice being consistent

Consistency is a skill. It can be practiced intentionally.

What does practicing consistency look like? It's about doing the best you can each day, not being perfect all the time.

Consistency chart — Consistency means showing up daily. It is NOT about being perfect all the time

Here's a secret: I rarely finish all my workouts. A lot of them are too long, or too hard.

But I rarely, if ever, skip a workout.

Some days I do the whole workout, some days I do half of the workout and some days I only do one exercise.

But ever single day I have a workout scheduled, I train.

Meal prep is another one. Sometimes I have the time and patience to meal prep all my food. Protein, grains, fruits and veggies.

Most Sundays though I don't do all of this. I do some sort of meal prep, but it's far from perfect every time.

Consistency tip 4: Have a habit tracker

A habit tracker will help your visualize your progress and help you stack your small wins.

It's been invaluable for me.

healthy habit tracker — My completed October habit tracker. Each day jot down anything of note on a line and I've got my four habits columns on the right hand side of the left page. As you can see, I did not do all of them each day and that's fine. Overall though, you can see I stuck with these habits fairly consistently throughout the month.

I quickly glance at it and I know immediately if I've progressed towards my goals. It's helped me read more, stretch and meditate on a consistent basis.

Remember, this tool is to help you. Not to make you feel crappy about missing some days.

Some habits will be more important than others. Being consistent with those ones should be your first priority. If you can only handle tracking one habit, only track the one.

We don't want to be overwhelmed by this tool.

You can also track your healthy habits on your phone, computer, or a piece of paper on your fridge. Whatever is easiest for you. It should be somewhere you look often and can easily access.