A while ago, I was only half-listening to a conversation between friends when I thought I heard someone say “the importance of being honest”, when actually, of course, they said “the importance of being earnest”.
It made me laugh at the time but as I thought more about it, I realised that being honest, particularly being honest with yourself, is much, much more important. Especially when it comes to progressing in the gym.
That humerous moment led to a post that I wrote, the importance of being: honest. I enjoyed writing it so much that I turned it into a mini-series and wrote about the importance of being: educated and the importance of being: resilient. I’m probably going to wrap it up with this one, though, the importance of being: consistent.
Why consistency?
I guess I believe that without consistency, you get nowhere in the gym.
Honesty is great for establishing where you’re starting from (as Mike T says, you’ve got to know where point A is before you can set off for point B!). But if you’re not consistently honest then sooner or later you start telling yourself little white lies again and progress grinds to a halt.
Education is great for working out what needs to be done and avoiding giving over the responsibility for your injuries and limitations to other people. But if you’re not consistent in keeping up that education then sooner or later there’ll be something that trips you up.
And resilience will get you through many a bad situation, from injuries to disappointment. But if you let one thing get to you then it can set you back for longer than it should.
So consistency is what makes the other virtues work.
Virtues? You’re starting to sound like St. Paul
I can do that.
Even if I’m honest about my progress most of the time, if I’m not consistently honest, I achieve nothing. Even if I pride myself on being educated, if I don’t have consistency in the application of that education or my investment in that continuing education, then I achieve nothing. And even if I am the most resilient person in the world (most of the time) but let my guard down for a day and fail to be consistently resilient, then I can be beaten down and achieve nothing.
OK, so that fun. What shall we try next?
Stop showing off and tell us how being consistent has helped you
Of course. Looking back, it’s actually easier to see how not being consistent has hindered me rather than the other way around. But ignoring those lost opportunities, here are a few of my key ah-ha moments that made me realise just how important consistency is…
- Weighted chins - I started out my quest for a big weighted chin up with about 20kg (45lbs) under my belt. So I wasn’t by any means a beginner when it came to doing them. I hadn’t trained them for a few years because I’d been concentrating on getting as much time in the water as possible. When I moved house, though, I lost access to my swimming club and started hitting the gym again. I fixed on a simple 3 sets of 5 reps routine and did two or three sessions per week. I tried to add a rep or 1.25kg each session. Sometimes, I stalled for a couple of sessions but I just kept going and gradually the weights crept upwards. After about 9 months, I started to get soft tissue problems in my rhomboids and rotator cuff and at that point I didn’t know how to deal with them. It took me 3 months to understand how soft tissue work could be done with a hockey ball or a baseball. Once I’d cracked that, I went back to the same routine and pushed on for another 9 months. I got all the way to about 60kg (135lbs) without changing the routine. To take myself to 72.5kg (160lbs) and a double-bodyweight chin, I used max-effort work, working up to a new 3RM each week. But the bulk of the work was done with the simplest of routines and a bag full of consistency.
- Gaining weight - I set out last winter with the goal of putting on about 10kg (20lbs) and applied myself to the dinner table accordingly. By setting out a meal plan and eating the same level of calories consistently every day for about four months it was like magic dust had been sprinkled on me. I grew like a weed and put on no end of muscle with very little change in my workout programme. At the end of it all, I realised that gaining weight is just a matter of how much you are prepared to eat… consistently.
- Dieting - when I had finished eating myself into a stupor, I set myself the task of stripping off some of the fat. Five weeks of low calorie grumpiness later, I was about 5kg (10lbs) lighter and a whole lot better looking (hey, I need all the help I can get!). Again, I didn’t really change my workout programme that much at all. At the end of it all, I realised that dieting is just a matter of how little you are prepared to eat… consistently.
- Soft tissue work - not so long ago, I upset my left shoulder benching. Afterwards, I gave myself a real talking to about not looking after myself properly. Since then, I’ve not missed a single day of soft tissue work with the roller or the baseball and I feel completely different. In fact, it only took a week of doing a brief routine every day to make the biggest change. Consistency is king, again.
Consistency has been kind to me. Now I just need to buckle down and make it work for me again.
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So true!
But so hard to do.