Happy Tuesday Friends! Something I stress a lot is consistency. Being consistent without exercise and movement is far more important than exactly what your program looks like. It’s more critical than motivation. Yet, we focus on the other stuff, and I think I may have inadvertently stumbled on a really important reason why.

As often happens, a question from one of my students inspired this. He asked me what does it mean to be consistent. And I had to stop for minute and have think. I know what I mean after years of working with clients and students. I mean the clients who focus on the most important bits day in and day out. The students who can put in a B effort week in and week out without wavering a whole lot.

Which is how I initially answered the question. But this student pushed back with, “okay, but what does that look like practically?” Dang but I love it when my students really want to get into the meat of things. If I’m being honest, practically, this probably looks a bit different person to person. And it probably looks a bit different during different seasons of life.

I’ve talked about those things here on MMW quite a bit. But it doesn’t really answer the question in, you know, a practical way. So here is my practical, and hopefully useful answer. If you are doing the important things 80-90% of the time, that’s consistency.

And what are the important things? That’s a bit goal dependent. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, being in a calorie deficit is tops of the important list. On the other hand, if you are trying to build muscle, you’ll need to be in a calorie surplus. Under both circumstances, you’ll want to prioritize protein intake (for weight loss it keeps you full, for muscle building it provides those building blocks).

From an exercise or movement standpoint, the same goal focus applies. If you are trying to increase physical function, you’ll want to do simple things frequently. If you are looking for that muscle building, it’s about intensity of training. And if you are looking to boost fitness levels, your focus should be on sets, reps, and number of exercises.

Under all of these conditions, your focus should be on a mix of cardiovascular work (less if you are really trying to build a lot of muscle) and strength training. Strength training should be comprised of mostly compound and foundational motion based exercises, keeping at 48 hours of rest between training sessions of the same muscle group.

After that, what is important is really individual. Some busy seasons of life, just getting the exercise in may be enough. When you have more time, energy, and your body is cooperative, you can add to the list.

But you have to be able to check off 80-90% of the boxes week to week. Sure, even when things are running smoothly life wise, you’ll still have a week where you get sick (or the kids do) or there is some emergency situation that throws things off. Those are the exception, though, not the rule. The rule has to be 80% or better on a weekly basis.

If you can’t meet the 80% eighty percent of the time, then you need to adjust. And here is where the real rub of consistency comes in. Most people work on that all or none idea; if I can’t manage perfection then why bother? We bother because while it might be harder to think of things as dimmer switch, it’s better for the body (and mind) long term.

This is my way of saying there is no shame in adjusting because you set a target that you aren’t able to meet. If more people were able to do this, there would be far less of a fitness cliff in gyms come mid February. Of course, you need to be honest and examine if you really don’t have the bandwidth to make that 80% or if it’s just difficult.

Nothing health and fitness-wise is going to be easy. You have to be willing to do difficult things for extended periods. But difficult shouldn’t take over your entire life. That’s called impossible. If it helps, actually list out the weekly steps for your health and fitness goals starting with the most important. Check them off as you go through each week.

You’ll be able to see where you are focusing effort and if it’s on those most important things. You’ll also be able to see if you are expecting too much of yourself and have an idea of what to trim back.

Consistent will always beat perfect and I hope this idea of 80% helps! Until next time, move well friends!

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