Many people begin their fitness journey with a specific event in mind—whether it’s a holiday, a wedding, or simply the desire to look and feel better for the summer. These types of short-term goals can be incredibly useful: they provide clear motivation, a deadline, and a sense of purpose.
But even better they can be a strong and positive launch pad for establishing long term healthy habits.
If you are chasing a short term motivation but want to build ever onwards from those initial achievements – here are our tips :
1: Gear your initial approach correctly.
Are you a beginner or an already fit and strong exerciser who just needs to double down on the food and workout discipline
If you’re already fit and just need a more disciplined few weeks just dialing it in is easier but if your new to exercise or restarting – you will need to pick the right gear carefully.
You are looking for results to deadline but fast and unrealistic approaches often fail and injury is the enemy of progress.
First Steps : Initial Near Term Event Stage
Pick the positive amount of commitment and build a positive relationship with fitness from there . Do you start in third gear and go up from there or do you start in 4th/5th gear ?
FREQUENCY AND CONSISTENCY IS YOUR PRIMARY DECISION POINT – YOUR INTENSITY AND ACTIVITIES IS THE NEXT QUESTION – NOT ALL WORKOUTS NEED TO BE HIGH INTENSITY – USE A COMBINATION OF MODERATE AND HIGHER EFFORT WORKOUT EVENTS. AFTER THAT IT’S YOUR FOOD DECISION ABOUT HOW DISCIPLINED YOU WANT TO BE
3 Workouts a week and good food will progress you in 2nd to 3rd gear speed – the bigger a difference to what you have been doing before making this change the faster the new results will be seen and felt. This is sometimes the right place to start and then gear up to a 4th workout event or even better food discipline – for others they are better starting off in that higher gear and using the reward of the outcomes – but then you must be careful not to burn yourself out. If your short term event is in 4 weeks that’s one thing but if its in 3 months then that is another . This is all case by case and we would be happy to discuss your own goals, condition and personal dynamics to help advise you if you get in touch
3 Workouts a week and excellent food is even better – that’s closer to third gear and things will happen quicker.
4 Workouts a week – will speed that up – not all of these have to be intense and not all have to take a an hour. A good 4 event week could be 2 quite intense for you and 2 moderate. 2 could be an hour in Gym or PT, 1 Run ( or run building if not yet a runner) and 1 pilates / yoga.
CONTINGENCY NOTE : Remember to plan for the fact that not all weeks will go perfectly and if you plan 3 workouts – nnot all weeks will always have 3 workouts – for example if you’re unwell you might miss a couple of workouts, if your food or exercise discipline slips due to big events such 40th birthday, kids on school holidays, away on holidays, v busy work period etc. KEY FACT FOR PLANNING : if you want to average 3 workouts a week you will want some weeks with 4! you can either hard plan for 4 events where you know what day and time all of those events are (Ie Mon PT , Tues Run, Thurs Gym , Saturday Run 2 or gym if poor weather ) – or you can hard plan for 3 and know that you want to add +1 opportunistically to account for the weeks where you just cant’ make 3 happen but still want your 10 week average to be 3 workouts a week. Make a plan that excites you not a plan that intimidates or demotivates you – you can always go up once your more habituated to the exercise routine.
Since you have a near term and highly motivational event – you can be very ambitious now – but don’t injure yourself or demotivate yourself with anything unrealistically impractical. Do be ambitious.
INITIAL 4 WEEKS: There is a balance here where you must not go so hard that you just injure or burn yourself out but do be ambitious for initial reward.
MEASURE :
- HABITS : What you do Workouts each week and how you eat/drink : – Whatever physical changes you see or feel – these achievements are very real and important to motivate yourself with. Recommend reading or viewing our posts ‘low burden highly effective methods for tracking for your habits. Or get in touch and we can chat through this.
- Outcomes: Clothing Fit , body fat scales ( weight is a poor measure alone), performance and improving condition. Mood, energy, appetite and food/drink coping.
WEEKS 5-12: Select at this point whether it’s time to level up , or maintain
APPROACH TO ACTUAL EVENT: Always be positive – if you’ve succeeded now, before your event actually happens, is the time to start WRITING OUT your plan for after and what you want to transition to. You can assess how your week plan for the workout week will thrive in the stage after , and if it needs any changes , perhaps it can stay the same but if it was always a bit too much for the long term you just need to alter the days and activities. You can keep the frequency and discipline the same but change the plan or you can reduce/increase. Use your assessment of the sustainability.
NEVER …..EVER……GIVE UP 🙂 slower results are good results later – stopping is losing what you’ve worked for
WHERE PEOPLE GO WRONG: People go wrong by not being the ‘decision maker’ they stop after the event. So the bets thing is a few weeks before the event – assess and make your decisions about how you will convert to your long term planning. A person who has been going really hard ion the discipline and needs a break would be better to ‘DECIDE’ on what the sustainable version is and when they will re-asses and maybe go back up a gear for a few weeks.
As long as you never give your decision making away and always value and sustain your plan to travel to=wards your long term goal – then something else that happens is that just like a muscle getting stronger , your tolerance and comfort with a more committed active lifestyle and good food/drink habits gets better and better too. But always be the decision maker – and pick a time 2-3 weeks before the end of the current phase to DECIDE on the next.
That balance between how hard to go for a fast outcome that inspires the next phase vs when to be in a more sustainable mode and what that is for you – is unique to everyone. Don’t be suckered into always thinking the most intense thing that is going to be dropped or given up completely afterwards is the best approach. DECIDE for yourself. 2-3 weeks ahead of phase change , re-assess pick your gear and intensity of commitment. Don’t be bounced out of fitness habits – you decide.
ALL LONG TERM GOALS ARE LONG TERM ! obvious isn’t. But what it means is getting from one place to another at 30MPH or 70MPH will only make a little difference in the grand scheme.
Use the short term events as tools to motivate boosted stages – and stay on your long term goal. Never stop. Plan changes 2-3 weeks in advance (perhaps when you see big life events coming) It wont matter whether it took you 1 year or 3 years to achieve the ‘long term’ goal – it was never a quick thing to start with. The quick things are the stepping stones in between . The big thing is the big picture.
The above really means :
BE THE DECISION MAKER – about changes
PLAN THE SHORT TERM – as though it is just a tool for the long term .
PLAN THE LONGTERM – enjoy the long term journey 🙂 it’s the best way to make sure you get there
For individual advice just call or use the contact form or email us
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