1. Clarify Your Goals:
Lack of clarity is a major issue many people struggle with. Some want to be strong, but they also want to be lean, but also big, and also athletic, and fast, you see where this is going. But the reality is you need to pick a target and shoot for that. If you try to accomplish everything at once it’s likely you’ll end up being unimpressive in all categories.
Granted you can absolutely train for multiple athletic or physical characteristics at once (since in many instances there is some overlap). But you still need to develop a hierarchy. If you want to squat 500Lb and have a six pack those are not oppositional goals. However, it will mean that one must take a back seat to the other. In the event you want to drop 20Lb to get abs you’ll need to be in a caloric deficit.
A deficit is not ideal when strength training. So in order to minimize negative effects you’ll need to be super diligent with your diet and be patient with the slower rate of weight loss. Ultimately if you lack clarity and discipline, you’ll flip back and forth between competing interests and see lackluster progress. So clarify your goals, and understand that you will have to prioritize some over others.
2. Keep Things Simple:
Clients often come to me asking about BFR, supplements, calorie cycling, etc. And in almost every case they aren’t even remotely in the position to be thinking about these things yet. Most people look for complexity because it’s engaging, or it seems advanced. But the reality is the basics will produce 95% of all the results you see.
One case in particular I had a client ask me about an alternate day fasting approach because it supposedly had all these great benefits (no it absolutely does not, cough cough). But I listened and asked some follow up questions to understand why they were interested in this approach in the first place.
Turns out they struggle with snacking at night. So to counteract this problem they decided to not eat the next day. This is very common. Instead of going for the low hanging fruit people often gravitate toward complex solutions for simple problems. I suggested that instead of fasting they eat as much as they like in fruit and vegetables and reduce the amount of highly processed snack food in their house.
Unsurprisingly this worked extraordinary well. Late night snacking was no longer an issue because the total caloric load was so low and as an added bonus they now had a nutrient dense diet. The lesson here is to identify the obstacles and go for the simple solutions and avoid complexity.
3. Address The underlying Obstacles:
Generally when I’m speaking with a new client they already have a pretty good understanding of the obstacles they’re facing. Some of the more common issues are lack of sleep, stress or boredom eating, dehydration, weekend binging, unfocused during training, etc. But although people generally know what’s holding them back, they often don’t take the time to address the issues.
Sometimes it’s complacency, other times they downplay the significance of their behaviour. But other times their behaviour might serve a functional purpose either now or previously. So if an individual is sleep deprived getting them to add another 30 minutes of sleep might be enough to create some real momentum. But first you have to address why they aren’t sleeping in the first place.
Maybe staying up late is the only time they get to spend with their significant other. In the example above, simply telling them to go to bed earlier likely won’t work because they’ll have to sacrifice time with their partner. This is why understanding the motivation that drives a particular behaviour or habit can be helpful. In this case, you might need to plan an actual date night, or something along those lines to prioritize your sleep without sacrificing time with your partner. Changing behaviour requires you to understand the individual.
4. Create A Daily Action List
Plans without actions are useless. So once you actually establish a plan, break it down into simple actions. The operative word here is SIMPLE. Keep in mind the more difficult it is to carry out the plan the less likely you are to adhere to it. So removing points of friction can go a long way in helping you stay consistent.
In the event you want to make it to the gym more often you can look for existing points of friction and come up with a specific action plan. For instance, I had a client who would come home from work and hang out on the couch for 15 minutes before going to the gym. Unfortunately once he sat down to relax he didn’t feel like going back out.
So we came up with a simple plan. He would bring his gym back to work with him and go straight to training from work. We removed two points of friction for him. The first was having to go home to get his gym bag, the second was relaxing for a bit prior to heading out.
This alone increased his training adherence from 40% to +95%. It’s important to understand this specific intervention is just an example, but applying the concept of removing points of friction and identifying simple/specific actions can have a meaningful impact.
5. Execute And Evaluate
The first iteration of a plan is seldom the last. Things evolve, some plans work, others don’t and that’s life. Implementing a plan is only effective if it actually works. So you need to find a way to monitor the effectiveness of the intervention. For instance if you want to bench press 315Lb you may plan to get +8 hours of sleep daily, train 4x per week, and eat X calories and Y macros.
But what if your calories are too low and you start losing a bunch of weight? You need to be able to identify that. What if you decide to bench press 4x per week and your shoulders get banged up. You need to be able to identify that. So with every plan, there needs to be a monitoring system to determine its effectiveness.
And once you observe your progress you need to be ready to pivot or in some cases abandon parts of the plan entirely. Training is an organic process and it’s lead by the athletes’ response. So if you’re not getting the response you want, evaluate and adjust your plan accordingly.