INTENSITY vs CONSISTENCY

Consistency is the key to sustainable weight loss, muscle growth/maintenance, and overall health.

The “go hard or go home” mentality may be good at times or for some situations, but going hard all the time is not a recipe for optimal health.

At any given moment, advertisements about a new “super supplement” and the next best workout program for all your trouble areas will undoubtedly be part of the feed.

The constant flow of unfeasible diet plans and extreme workout programs that simply don’t work for the majority of the population results in confusion and increased obesity rates.

A lot of business owners are currently struggling to get new business calls in the diary and clients on board.

While we face uncertain times living during a global pandemic, this isn't something new — in fact, it's the same thing I have heard for years.

When I ask people, "Ok, so what have you tried to do to turn this around?" the answer is commonly "Nothing."

It's becoming more and more common.?

What strikes me is if someone's phone flashes up "low battery," they instantly go into panic mode searching for their phone charger and will do anything to prevent their phone from turning off.

There are many pitfalls in taking the “go hard or go home” training mentality 100% of the time.

Those looking for weight loss often default to the “more” mentality when it comes to reaching goals.

More cardio. More squats. Even more gym time. More calorie restriction. But if not careful, “more” can lead to overtraining, injury, and illness.

While injury, is the worst side effects of going too hard all of the time, not maintaining consistency will impact results significantly.?

Consistency is the biggest determinant of long-term health.

Disclaimer: The information on this POST is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional advice. The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this article is for general information purposes / educational purposes only, and to ensure discussion or debate.

Thank you?….….INTENSITY IS FOR THE SHORT TERM

There will be a time and a place for intense exercise and tough diets. However, it is not necessary all the time to make progress.

Maintaining a fitness schedule trumps everything. It trumps a super lean body after killing it in some 6-week challenge only to quit for 6 months. It trumps them all in 30-day whole food diet that is often followed by pizza on days 31-40.?

Consistency is the biggest determinant of long-term health.

Paleo, vegan, whatever, if small changes aren’t taken one at a time and maintained, old habits will come back.

To truly achieve and maintain the body you desire, consistency should always be part of the equation.

Why only commit to a 3-month gym membership? What happens in 4 months then? Commit for life to some form of exercise! ?

That means staying consistent and not worrying about intensity, duration and the amount of working out that you do.

Those that maintain their weight, keep exercise in the picture for the long haul. There may be a few days, even a week or two without, but?the consistency mindset remains.

Do you want to add a word or two?....

Brushing every day is consistency. Going to the dentist is intensity.?

You need to go to the dentist so they can find any cavities, do a deep gum clean up and remove any deposits that mere brushing cannot solve.

When you do both, you have clean and healthy teeth for the rest of your life. If you only do the intensity, your teeth won’t survive. If you do only the consistency, you’ll be better, but not ideal. You need both.

In addition, intensity is a morale booster and acts as a beacon of light because it can quickly become a goal. Here are some examples:

Consistency: run an average of 5 miles per day for 90 days to lose weight and become healthy;·?????

Intensity: after 90 days, run a marathon;

Consistency: Save $100 per week for 50 weeks to create a vacation fund;·??????

Intensity: Take a $5000 vacation;

Consistency: Study for one hour every day for two months to improve your knowledge of a particular field;·??????

Intensity: Pass a difficult exam and get a diploma;

Consistency: Lose 2 pounds per week for 40 weeks to lower your blood pressure and cholesterol without medication;

Your Comments ….

As someone who is a big fan of the power of our subconscious mind as well as our internal thought system, it amazes me how many think that reading a self-help book but taking no action is the answer.

It's safe to say that if it hasn't worked for you now, it probably never will.?

While a positive mindset along with relevant action is absolutely the key to success, one critical ingredient that is commonly missed by people is consistency.?

Most business owners desire consistency in so many ways. They would like a consistent inflow of work.

They would like consistent great reviews. They would like consistent income. But yet they fail to behave in a consistent way carrying out daily tasks that deliver all of those things.

I quite often speak with business owners who will try something for a few days and when a miracle hasn't occurred, they default back to doing the same thing that they have always done, which never worked for them in the first place.

It's an absolute fact that if you can learn to do something consistently, you will discover much greater strengths and opportunities within yourself than you could have ever imagined.

So many people amount to a fraction of their true capability because they are so inconsistent with what they do.?

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The biggest enemy of any long-term process is the lack of clarity. If you don’t know what it takes, you won’t set the proper expectations.

It doesn’t matter what you are trying to accomplish.

Always start by defining the goal clearly and directly, and then identify consistency and intensity in the context of that goal.

I recommend doing this backward by starting with the root goal or?vision?and then associating intensity with it.

Once you know what intensity means, break it down into consistent steps or pieces.

So, if losing weight is your vision or goal, perhaps doing a 100 Km bike race is the intensity you associate with it.

Then, you take that intensity and split it into 100 days of a bike-training regiment that slowly builds up your resistance.