Consistency
I realized something a few weeks back. It must suck for people who are just starting to workout for their first time ever, or for those that are so inconsistent with their workouts they only make it in to the gym once or twice a week, or perhaps less. While my brother was visiting I took a week off from working out to go snowboarding and to just hang out with my brother. My first workout back, after 6 days off was nothing too crazy, but I awoke the next morning feeling like I had aged 40 years during my sleep. My back was sore, my legs ached, and my knees felt like I had just endured a 7 hour drive to L.A., crammed in the back seat of a Ford Festiva. I was really sore, no big deal, I have been sore before. The next day it was even worse, getting on and off the toilet was an ordeal, I seriously contemplated adult diapers. By day 3 it had subsided, a little. Day 4 I was still sore, but able to take the stairs instead of the elevator in order to get to the fitness floor. Within my 6 days away from working out, my body had adapted to the greatly reduced daily physical demands I had imposed on it the weeks prior. Then I began thinking about so many people who begin a workout program and quit right away. I can only imagine, if I didn’t know better, and thought this type of soreness was a result of every workout, I too may choose a sedentary lifestyle over Tabata squats! There are also those people who are inconsistent with their workouts, making it into the gym twice one week, once the next week. They may experience soreness occasionally, but most likely, because of their inconsistent workout schedule, they have settled into a level of mediocrity that produces little results and fosters workout intensities that are so low they are all but wasting their time. Consistency is a critical component if you are searching for results, be it performance, or aesthetic based results.
Consistency however, can be a double edged sword. If your intensity is high, and you stay consistent and frequent (5X per week)with your workouts, it is actually advantagous to have a “down” week once every 4-6 weeks, depending on how consistent and how intense you’ve gone in the weeks prior. Down weeks may be eliminating workouts all-together, reducing the volume, frequency, and/or intensity for that week, or changing up your modes of exercise for a week (swimming, hiking, biking, etc.). Yeah, you may be a little sore when you return to your regularly scheduled programming, but worry not, you haven’t lost any of the “fitness” you’ve been working so hard to gain… in fact the time off will allow your body to recover and you’ll likely see some of your best performances soon after a down week.
Post to comments your challenges with staying consistent, and/or things you’ve found to help you stay consistent.
