When I first started going to the gym, I was about 14 years old. It was a pretty hardcore gym by most standards and it was full of “meat heads.” Some of these guys boasted HUGE muscular frames and put in some serious time in the gym! Their physiques were impressive and it got me hooked on weight training.
I was given the opportunity to work at this gym, part-time, on the reception desk. Over the course of about a year, it became obvious why some guys would keep improving month after month and some would stay relatively the same, or even regress.
The whole gym was about looks, who was the biggest and for some, who was the meanest! There were a select few who were bigger, stronger and looked more impressive than others.
I quickly got into the routine of a typical bodybuilding split, where you would train two main muscle groups per day, once per week. I had quite a few different training partners and everyone I trained with, trained hard!
Bench press was the king of exercises, we all wanted a big bench press and an even bigger chest! International chest day was on a Monday so we would train incline press, decline press, regular flat bench, flyes, cable flyes….you name it we would train it hard. I remember leaving the gym some days not being able to hold the phone to my ear.
Those were good times! I was very dedicated and would be there
These guys would be at the gym everyday, usually at the same time, with the same few people. Consistently they grew, got stronger and improved their physique over many dedicated months and even years!
CONSISTENCY IS KEY
I’m not sure I truly recognized it at the time, but looking back I could see that no matter what, consistency is key!
When I found CrossFit and decided I wanted to compete, I knew I needed to find something and follow it consistently. I had three coaches over about 4ish years, 1 was short term as it didn’t work out for me and the other two were long term and were fantastic.
With both of these coaches (especially one of them) we did the same things, over and over, and over and over again!!! Literally, the same workouts, same progressions, same intervals, week in, week out.
That was tough mentally, but I wanted to achieve my goals and I knew this was the right way. I won’t lie, I often wondered if there was something better out there. I think that’s a trap everyone falls into. What’s the BEST program, what new training regime, new diet, new HR monitor that will make me go to the gym more…
The truth is, CONSISTENCY IS KEY.
That consistent training led me to get into the top 250 in the world at the 2018 CrossFit Open. Although that didn’t get me into the Canada East Regionals that year, I did finish higher than some people who eventually made the CrossFit Games.
Figure out what your fitness goals are, find a gym or a coach who can help you get there, and be consistent. Turn up everyday, or whatever amount you decide to commit to, and put in the work. Give it time for the results to show. If you have very specific goals, then you will need to be even more consistent working on that particular aspect.
For general health and fitness, you need to be consistent with your food, with your gym attendance and with your sleep. There are others but these help the most I find.
Don’t look for the best of something if you aren’t already doing anything consistently. If you can honestly say your being consistent and not seeing results, then maybe it’s time for a change…
Thanks for reading
Darren