A good friend of mine who will remain nameless but who owns and run the fantastic technical running shop Amphibian King (www.amphibianking.ie), told me I shouldn’t be measuring improvement by weight loss and it is too much of a variable to manage. It got me thinking then, as I begin to run and increase my health program … how should I actually measure improvement. Should it be the time it takes me to run a 5 km race or a 10 km race and try to improve on this time, should it be the way I am managing my lifestyle? Then I came to the conclusion, that there is a better, more basic but effective measure and it is Consistency! So what do I mean by this, it is the consistency to go and do what is planned and build a consistent workout program which is part of my routine and does not seem a chore.

So instead of weight loss (as mentioned in previous blogs), my new goals is consistency and under three headings:
1. Consistency in routine and workout
2. Consistency in managing my eating habits
3. Consistency in approach and how the workouts are tackle. Each workout receive the same level of attention and not out on the long finger
Without consistency it becomes very difficult to measure progress. In project management businesses, we are all talking about Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) which are really performance progress measurement that are vital to success of the organisation. So it makes sense, that we choose the correct performance indicators and use these as a standard set for the business unit in the previous month. This same logic applies to individual fitness and health and we need to choose the right performance indicators to show true worth and increased performance. It is easy to measure your performance when there is consistency with your workout routines. If any of does a different exercise every single time that you work out, then how will you measure your progress?

So right now my measure of performance is consistency:
• Measure 1: – I achieve and complete all my workouts when I say I am going to do them
• Measure 2: – I balance my workout with my diet and I am conscious of what I eat and when I eat
• Measure 3: – Each workout is not rushed and is made a priority and by does this it is not pushed aside and done when tired or fed up.
It is certainly ok, to do different types of workouts during your week so long as those workouts remain consistent with their flow of exercises

Within consistency, there is plenty of opportunity to increase the performance measurement as one progresses. As strength, balance, endurance and form improves, through the process of improvement, then I would hope that there is scope to learn new body movements and increase levels of fitness. This requires an openness to the trial and error and as the consistency marks are not made, then it is time to re-evaluate.

As I begin to practice of consistent workout routines, I certainly hope to see the gains that you will be made. Keeping it simple with consistency is powerful in terms of motivation. Consistency provides for easy progress measurement and constant progress is the best workout reinforcement there is. Let’s keep this one consistent my friends and enjoy what we do and how we do it.