It’s been a crazy few weeks, family stuff and finally getting hit by Covid have left my training schedule torn up and tossed in the bin.

Taking some time away makes me realize how much I miss training. Not in some obsessed “My muscles are going to shrink, and my life will be worthless if I don’t” way. I miss it because I enjoy doing it.

Enjoyment is an often-forgotten ingredient of a training plan. Overload, the right exercise selection, and some hard stuff are all important for progress, but if you don’t enjoy it the process it will fail.

My tip to for training consistency is to finish training session with an exercise you enjoy. I don’t care if it completely off plan. We always tend to remember the last thing we do the most, you want the last action to be a good one.

Results happen by showing up to train day in day out the more you enjoy training the more that happens.

Need help planning your training after coming back from a break? Are you concerned you will push too hard too soon or slip back into bad habits? I offer personalized 1:1 online coaching, let me do the thinking to allow you more time to train. Apply here http://www.laurawoodley.com/apply-.html

I am a creature of habit, I like routine and dislike disruption, but sometimes life just gets in the way and the regular routine goes out the window.

I have learnt in the past that when life and training stress are both high, my ability to maintain good technique goes down. I train tired and lose the ability to listen to my body telling me its had enough. This ultimately leads to getting injured or ill.

Stress is the disruptor of progress, it messes up sleep, hormones and eating habits which in turn stop you from hitting your goals in the gym. Identifying the cause of the stress and managing that first makes improving everything else clearer.

When I feel overwhelmed, I have to force myself to stop and ask myself, what’s the one task causing me the most stress, anxiety and general headache. Whatever it is that’s the priority for the day, even if it is something shitty! I know that until I get that do I won’t be in the right state to give my full attention to any other task.

Here is a tip.

Before you go to bed a night write 3 things down you want to do tomorrow. Select those tasks that when done will feel like you have lifted a weight off your shoulders, giving you more energy to lift some weight!

The biggest improvements in health long term don’t happen in the gym, they come about by the choices we make out of it. Finding ways to reduce stress is a big part of that. If your training isn’t progressing rather than pushing harder take a step back and look at what else is going on in your life.

Are you juggling to achieve your fitness goals due to a busy life and feel you lack direction? My 1:1 online coaching works with your commitments whilst helping you achieve your goals. Apply here http://www.laurawoodley.com/apply-.html

Do you need to feel sore afterwards to feel you have had a good training session?

Perhaps you feel that being able to walk up and down the stairs without a grimace after leg day is a sign you didn’t work hard enough?

Soreness can be a result of a hard session or it can be a result of doing something new in training, but it isn’t a necessary to achieve results.(1)

Exercising when sore may not make the micro muscle damage that’s causing it; worse, but it could actually decrease your ability to perform your training effectively. Muscle activation, range of movement and the ability to produce force can all be impaired if you have not recovered from your last session.

Still worried that a lack of soreness means a lack of progress.

Studies have found (2) no increase in muscle size in correlation to increase muscle soreness. Distance runners can experience a large amount of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) but don’t see a large amount of muscle growth off the back of it.

As well as the physiological aspects of muscle soreness that can slow your progress there is a psychological factor also. It’s no fun training when your muscles feel like they are going to snap, therefore your motivation to train goes down leading to a lack of consistency.

How do you boost your consistency by decreasing the prospect of muscle soreness?

The best way is to not go eyeballs out when you start a new training program, be comfortable with slow progression, it will serve you better in the long term. If you are moving into a more advanced program, reduced the volume for a couple of weeks. This allows you to get used to and adapt to new movements.

Other things that help are-

Good hydration

Adequate nutrition in particular protein.

Quality sleep.

A good program pays as much attention to recovery as it does training. You don’t need pain to get gains.

If you struggle with consistency in your training, sign up for a 1:1 online coaching slot with me. Together we can build a program that you want to get out of bed to do. Go to http://www.laurawoodley.com/apply-.html  to apply

1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30537791/

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21270317/