"Hustle for that muscle!" "The body achieves what the mind believes." "Push through the pain." “Get cut, get a butt.” “Move fast, lift heavy.” “Build bulk, get yoked.”
We checked and there's exactly a gazillion of these motivational workout mantras. That's because they work for a lot of people, and if you're one of them, carry on doing you.
But for those who don't know what the heck these mantras are meant to mean, don't worry, and don't worry for one good reason: almost all of these these strength-, speed- and physique-focussed fitness goals ignore the most important rule of any fitness routine: consistency is the secret to success.
That's right. It's not about how much weight you can lift, how many miles you can pound the pavement or how a certain workout will sculpt a certain part of your body. It's about being consistent.
Consistency is king and queen.
The Reason Consistency is Key
Ask anyone that loves fitness, from your Personal Trainer to our World-Class team to that fitness professional you follow on the 'gram, they'll all tell you the same thing: being consistent and regularly challenging yourself to move your body will have more long-term benefits than almost any other fitness goal. The one thing more important than consistency is form (because hello, injury prevention).
Without consistency, you'll find your gym sessions are unorganised, your body has a tough time adapting, forming healthy habits is a serious challenging, your muscles tighten, your performance is nowhere near optimum and, last but not least, you're way more likely to fatigue. Of course, there is one thing just as important as consistency and that's your form. As Grayson Wickham put it: "Consistency is huge, but if you're constantly moving with imperfect form, that's not good."
The Big Benefits of Fitness Consistency
Whether you're looking for ways to improve performance, stick to a routine or enjoy your training, being consistent with your training is the ultimate way to reap the mental and physical benefits of exercise, which is one of the reasons our fitness retreats are so popular. It creates a system of consistency that you are able to enjoy long after you leave our camp. But what do these mental and physical benefits actually look like? Well, here's a few to get you started:
Better Understand Your Mind and Body
When you move your body in some way every day, you’re much more in tune with your body and the way it works, allowing you to notice the little things that are essential to your health and fitness, like your hydration levels, sleep quality, diet, stress levels and so much more. Being tuned into yourself like this not only allows you to best look after your body, but it also helps reduce the risks of an injury. You see, throughout every workout, your body is giving you nuanced feedback and subtle cues, but you don't actually know how to listen to them, so you ignore them. That's where trouble can happen.
Consistency is Great For Sleep
When it comes to super-simple ways to improve your sleep, exercise is right up there with the best of 'em. In fact, adding any kind of movement to your routine will have a pretty positive impact on your sleep, especially if you have a lifestyle that's quite sedentary for one reason or another (office jobs, urgh). As such, when you regularly move your body in some way every day -- whether that's during one of our circuit sessions, yoga before bed, dancing around the kitchen or hitting the gym in your lunch break -- you're setting yourself up for a better sleep every single night.
Become in Tune With Your Breathing
When it comes to exercising, your breathing matters. Scratch that. Your breathing is everything. It doesn't matter whether you're doing intervals, and HIIT session, boxing, a long run or anything else, your breathing is vital. For one, it sends oxygen around to your muscles so that you can keep pushing yourself, and secondly it feeds your lungs so that you thrive and, well, survive. Of course, the way you breathe has a big impact on your performance, form and movement. By being consistent with your exercising, you'll also start to notice the way in which you breathe can support your movements, either making your workouts easier or harder.
Get Ready To Reduce Your Stress
Let's get straight to it: consistently exercising makes you wayyy more resilient to stress. That's because regularly flooding your brain with endorphins and dopamine is a sure-fire way to give your brain a chemical-induced dollop of positive vibes. But it's not just about your body producing natural chemicals; it's about consistently giving your body and mind something to focus on other than work and bills and your mother-in-law popping over unannounced all the time, which is going to reduce your stress-levels. But, yeah, the main reason consistent exercise is great for your mental health is thanks to your body producing norepinephrine, which is known to moderate your brain’s response to stress.
Mobility Exercises Are The Best For Keeping Consistent
The bad news is: mobility exercises aren't exactly the sexiest workouts.
The good news is: they're the foundation of all the movement we do and the easiest to be consistent with.
To break it down into its simplest form, mobility is your body's ability to move a joint through its full range of motion, keeping you moving and grooving freely without any pain. As for the best mobility exercises, we recommend movements like:
Hip openers
Floor windmills
Active half-kneeling stretch
Around the world
Segmented cat-camel
Savasana
Of course, this advice is mainly for beginners and those who maybe don't know how to exercise regularly. If you do, then keep that momentum up. Stick to your regular runs, head to the gym four times a week, start your day with a living room yoga session, continue that circuit session you learned at our bootcamp or, better yet, attend one of our fitness retreats so that you can overhaul your lifestyle in the most complete way possible, from your diet right through to your fitness.
Rest + Recovery Days Are Still A Must
When we say "exercise consistently", that doesn't mean you can never take another rest day again. No no no. Quite the opposite. Sure, mobility workouts are low-impact enough that you can engage in them every day, but if your workouts are on the more intense side, rest and recovery is absolutely essential. Circuits, intervals, strength training, cardio, marches, anything like that and your body will need rest days in order for you to reap the benefits of your workouts. After all, it's not until you rest that your body is able to repair your spent muscles.
To put it (James) blunt: Fail to rest your muscles and you'll fail to get stronger.
The bottom line is this: Consistency is a one of the best workout goals you can ever set yourself. One that will overhaul your lifestyle, teach you healthy habits, put you on the path to success, and help you build muscle mass, burn visceral fat and live a much healthier lifestyle because it once you're in the habit of exercising, it becomes a huge part of your life. Just don’t forget to give your body the R&R it needs to function at its best.
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