We all have certain traits and behaviours that we tend to stick to as we navigate life, but which traits seem to be the most important for creating a lifestyle change through exercise and training. Here are 7 of the top traits that over our 12+ years of experience through personal training within our gym in Bristol has taught us.
1. Consistency in effort and training
Consistency trumps every other trait when it comes to being successful in changing your lifestyle and health. Our most successful clients are the ones that appreciate the need to be consistent in their training routines and prioritise their exercise sessions over all the other major life distractions. They endeavour to make the time to train “that day” and tend not to super-seed it with the non-urgent work meeting or the lunch date that always ends in too many glasses of vino or beer.
Sound familiar? If so, make the commitment to yourself that your exercise session will super-seed all non-urgent appointments and start pushing your health up the priority list.
2. “All or Nothing” Attitude..No chance!
So many people that come to visit us admit that they have an all or nothing approach to life and that they can’t do anything about it, it’s just who they are. Unfortunately this approach to exercise and lifestyle change rarely works as there will always be something that comes along to upset the apple cart and throw you off course. When you adopt the all or nothing mindset you are basically setting yourself up to fail before you have even set foot in the gym and it also gives you the opportunity to make excuses not to fulfill your health and fitness goals. Something out of my control, my “all or nothing” attitude failed me again.
Our successful clients do not adopt this mindset to life and instead understand that their will always be bumps and road blocks along the way, but as long as they consistently put effort into the behaviours and actions they can control then they will eventually be successful and not fall at the first major hurdle life throws in their path.
If you want to be successful in changing anything in life, in our experience do not adopt the ”all or nothing” mentality, choose a more balanced, consistent mind-set instead.
3. An appreciation for lifestyle change over short-term fix
When you commit to a long-term lifestyle change you start to see your health more as a journey and not a short-term destination. This is what the successful clients we see take on-board quicker than others and understand the importance of smaller, long-term progressions over short-term triumphs.
Lifestyle change is not an exciting concept, it is not sexy, it is not adrenaline inducing - but it is ultimately what drives the successful people to stay successful and on top of their health and fitness for life, not just for Christmas!!
4. The right amount of discipline to stick with a plan - 80% of the time
Sticking to a plan is always harder than it would initially appear especially when your levels of motivation are unrealistically through the roof during an initial consultation phase. But the people that have the ability to stick to a plan to allow it to work over-time always get to their goals quicker than people that dip in and out of several different plans over the same time.
Successful clients learn that by sticking to a well structured, detailed plan with adherence levels at a minimum of 80% will bring the desired results and progression they need to then move onto the next plan. This is where the consistency trait again trumps all other traits to help ingrain the healthy habits and a positive relationship with exercise that is required to be successful.
5. Taking ownership over actions and the consequences attached
Every action and behaviour we adopt has an effect on us. The people that understand this to the core tend to get to where they want to be quicker and stay there for longer than people that don’t. There is nothing wrong with eating a slice of cake, as long as you take responsibility for eating it and appreciate the consequences of doing so. In this case, adding an extra 300+ kcal to your diet.
As long as you become aware of your actions and take ownership over the resulting consequences, you then learn to make more informed, under-controlled decisions everyday. This ownership mentality for all our actions is very self-rewarding and fulfilling, knowing that we have control over all our actions and although there will be many influencing factors we ultimately make the final call.
If you are missing some or all of these successful traits for meaningful lifestyle change, then pick one or two out and focus on improving on these areas for a month or until they are becoming automatic in nature. Once you have mastered these you can then look to add some more into your lifestyle until the changes you want to your health and fitness stick for the long-term.
If you do need some extra professional help and guidance on anything discussed within this article or any training advice, then please do let us know at info@functionalfitness.me
Good health,
FF Team