Consistency and Progression

Two of the most important parts of a training regimen, consistency and progression.

Consistency is key for short and long term goals; weight loss, flexibility, strength gains, etc.  The list goes on....nothing can be accomplished if it is only done sporadically.  You will constantly end in a plateau and even worse, regress, falling off of the bandwagon and having to start over, sometimes in a worse setting.  I see it far too much with new gym members that join, keep at it for a month and then fade off and complain that it just didn't work.  Fitness is a commitment that must be made.  It requires willpower, motivation, and a change of life.  Don't expect to get far without those....If you want to become more flexible, you must constantly stretch.  Practice DOES make perfect.  Consistency will drive you toward your goal.

Don't go out too hard too fast.  This often breaks consistency.  This is where progression comes into play.  If you feel good because you ran one mile tonight, you shouldn't go run 5 tomorrow night, or even 3.  You risk setting yourself up for failure, hurting yourself physically, and sometimes worse mentally, deflating your ego which can be psychologically detrimental.  Keep running that one mile a night for a week.  Let your body adapt to it, see how your breathing reacts, notice how you feel 2 nights later, study your body.

Training is best in progressive stages.  This is why there are beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes.  Each one is to build off of the previous level.  Your own workouts should be based with this same concept.  Lifting heavy weights is overloading and straining the muscles as well as every other part of your body.  Increasing this overload and strain without letting the body adapt to the current strain will surely injure you, breaking your CONSISTENCY.

A good rule of thumb in training progression is the 10% rule.  Whatever you do this week should only be increased by 10% next week.  This gives proper time for the body to adapt.  This applies to resistance, mileage, intensity, repetitions and so on.

Remember, consistency and progression work hand in hand.  They are the building blocks of a workout routine.  If you plan to succeed with your goals then don't go from 0 right to 60, remember there are other numbers in between!