So how do you ensure that you are going to succeed at your new training and nutrition program?
Firstly you need to ask yourself three questions before you even start your training:
1. Is the new program going to be effective in helping me achieve the goals I have.
2. Can I make the program efficient by making time to complete the program?
3. Will I continue to complete the program until I reach my goals?
If you answered no to any of the questions then you need to ask yourself why are you about to start this training program? What purpose does it serve if it isn't helping yo reach your goals, you can't make time to complete it, or you know you are going to program hop whethe you reach your goals or not.
So hopefully you answered yes to all three above? Good. But now you need to work out how you are going to implement your training program smartly.
So how do you actually succeed?
The trick is to Identify the smallest changes that will trigger more changes. At this point it is important to understand that going from nothing to everything is unsustainable. It never works and always leaves you right back at the beginning. How many times have you yourself, or have you heard of someone else starting a new program where they go from zero training sessions a week to five? Within a month they burn themselves out and quit, before starting a different program the next month again placing similar unrealistic expectations upon themselves.
So in order to identify changes that trigger more changes, you need to avoid adopting too many new things at once.
If you want to drop 5 kg's of fat through good nutrition and your current diet consists of 50% healthy and 50% unhealthy food, how can you possibly expect yourself to cope with emptying your cupboards and replacing foods that you are used to, with foods that you are unfamiliar with, possibly dislike and unsure of what recipes they go with?
You need a process, a strategy and a smart implementation.
Taking the same example as above, instead of altering 50% of your foods, why don't you aim to change 10% per week until you have 80-90% healthy foods in your cupboards. This gradual change will leave more room for adaptation and help you get used to the alterations which you are more likely to maintain.
You need to realise that adopting 1 change at a time for a few weeks will help you to turn this change into a behaviour which is the key to the change becoming permanent. After 2-4 weeks of adopting the single change into a behaviour, you will then be ready to add in a new behaviour and repeat the process.
Consistent practice of adding in single changes creates a domino effect and is called the layering of behaviours and it can be extremely effective in permanent lifestyle change.
So take your time, don't rush and build small changes into your life that will trigger more changes. The end result will be a sustained lifestyle change that will allow you to achieve all the fitness goals you want.
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Matt
About the author
Matthew
Healey is a qualified personal trainer and sports therapist. Matt is the owner
of Synergy Fitness Systems
in the UK which has been helping people change their body and improve human and
sports performance for several years.
Matt
has worked with many different types of clients from professional athletes, to
recreational sports people to the general fitness population.
Matt
has extensive experience in the fitness industry and has worked in many
different settings including a top
human performance centre in San Diego owned by Todd
Durkin as well as working with sports teams and individual athletes and
clients.
Matt’s
area of interest is human and sports performance, and injury prevention and
rehabilitation. At Synergy
Fitness Systems, Matt focusses on improving the function, efficiency and performance
of each of his clients and athletes.
