I was reading an article talking about the idea behind “creativity” within a workout program. There were mixed reviews on how creative things “should” be but no mention about the relationship between creativity and effectiveness.
This got me thinking…
Is it worth being ultra creative with your workout programs if they are less effective?
The other thing It got me thinking about…
The list of people we’ve seen get great results.
What have they done?
What are they doing now?
What were the biggest things that helped them get there?
There’s a whole list of boring things these people have done to get the results they’ve wanted for so long. I hate to say they are boring, but they are. They’re not “new” or “flashy”, or “exciting”. But they work time and time again.
I think of It as a “checklist”. When items on the checklist are added to our routines and made into habits, positive things have happened.
I want to go through the things that I believe have had the biggest impact in helping people toward their goals.
Checklist:
- Quality Sleep (6-9 hours/night)
- 0.5-1 oz of water per pound of bodyweight each day
- 0.7-1 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight each day
- 7,500+ steps per day
- 1-2 servings of fruit every day
- 1-2 servings of veggies every day
- Resistance training 2-4 times per week
- Focusing on improving strength week over week
- 30-60 minutes of steady state movement 2-3 times per week (walk, hike, biking, kayaking)
- Most of daily food being made of quality WHOLE foods
- Mobility work done on a weekly basis
- Getting the heart rate up past zone 2 at least 1x per week
- Being consistent with all of this 80+ percent of the time
Now this is a list of things that I have seen people slowly fulfill over months and years of doing the right things and seeing great progress along the way. It is never one single thing that causes change or results that we want.
Also, on top of these physical and nutritional markers people tend to make bigger strides on things outside of the gym that have a HUGE impact on their success.
- Improving relationships
- Handling stress
- Decreasing the impact of others opinions
- Improving confidence
- Believing in themselves
- Increasing positive mindsets
It is the multiplication of many different things compiled together. It’s not JUST the food you eat or JUST the sleep you improved. Things will add onto one another and snowball into more and more improvements.
Now when we look at a list like this, It can be daunting and overwhelming. There’s so much that can be done, so many things we can do, but what is most important?
The most important thing is to break things down into attainable tasks.
START SLOW!!
Start with something you may already be working towards. Make a small, achievable, timely goal and hit It out of the park.
If you are already beginning to work on your sleep, what is something else you can do to make It even better? Maybe we can ditch the phone or TV right before bed? Dim the lights in the house? Start our nightly routine 30 minutes earlier?
Whatever the case may be, make an improvement and build off of It.
Create confidence around positives. If we try to tackle every single thing at once It will be overwhelming and drown our confidence to make true change.
These lists and tasks aren’t the end all be all. Any change can positively impact your results, but these are the things that I have seen work for people. These checklists put things into perspective on the impact they have already created and the things they can continue to improve on as time goes on.
In good health,
Jeff
P.S.
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