Congratulations! You’ve made it to the ‘action’ phase and kick-started your fitness regime. But how many times have you started out with the best intentions, only to find yourself back in the ‘couch potato’ lifestyle a few weeks or maybe a few months later? Use these six steps to help you achieve exercise adherence and get the results you really want.
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Before we get started, are you ready to follow through on your goals? Achieving your goals is only 20% setting them, but 80% slaying. Here’s your FREE Printable 10-Step Guide to Slaying Your Goals
If you don’t have time to read the full post right now, here’s a summary of the 6 steps you can take to achieve exercise adherence with your physical activity regime. Or continue reading below for the full details on each.
How to achieve exercise adherence and stick to your fitness plan
- Plan
Decide what you will do and when you will do it. Address your barriers to success and develop an intervention plan for when things go wrong.
- Prepare
Get organized with everything you will need to carry out your fitness regime. This could include organizing a babysitter or making sure you have appropriate workout clothing.
- Get support
Enlist the help of a support team to help you achieve success. This could be a qualified trainer, an exercise buddy, or simply making sure your partner is on board to support you as needed.
- Set rewards
Set appropriate rewards for reaching targets and bigger milestones.
- Goal writing and reflection
Writing your goals down regularly can help keep them at the top of your mind. Reflect on each day or week and determine what went well, what didn’t, and what you’ll do differently going forward.
- Effort
Achieving your health and fitness goals requires perseverance and ongoing effort. Consistent actions over time will keep you moving forward to achieve your fitness goals.
Planning to stick to your exercise program so you can achieve exercise adherence
This is one of the biggest exercise adherence factors and is especially important in the first month of your fitness regime. It’s a crucial time for developing habits and creating behavior change. This is the step you carry out after you’ve decided on your goals. Write out a plan for your first four weeks and post it on your fridge or somewhere else you can easily see it. Include what exercise you will do on each day, what time you will do it, and when you will have rest days.
A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.
Look at your exercise plan and determine everything that could possibly go wrong with it. What are the likely barriers to success that will come up for you? Once you have identified the most likely barriers for you, you’ll need to make sure you have an intervention strategy (plan B) in place.
Common barriers that may come up and require an alternative plan:
- The weather: Will you still run if it’s raining?
- Time and other commitments: What happens if you have to work late and miss the class or sport activity you wanted to do?
- Exercise psychology and motivation: What if you don’t feel like working out?
Barriers will always come up. Life happens. When you’ve properly gone through the planning phase, however, you’ll be able to get back on track with your programs more easily when slip-ups do occur.
The video below is of a full-length seminar I held on how to stick to your fitness plan and what to do about slip-ups. It’s a full hour, so bookmark it and watch it when you have time!
[Subscribe to my channel while you’re there, and click on the bell button to get notified when I post new health and fitness videos].
Resources to help you with the planning phase so that you can stick to your fitness program
Not sure about your health and fitness goals yet, or need a little help working them out? Check out my review of this amazing goal planner to get you headed in the right direction. It’s not only for your health and fitness goals – it covers your whole life’s vision.
As part of your initial four-week plan, it’s a good idea to book a few sessions with a health and fitness coach for some ‘kick-start’ motivation. It’s also important to check you’ve got the right mix of variables in your program. These include frequency, intensity, type of exercise, rest, etc. Additionally, you’ll need initial support during this period. A good personal trainer or online fitness coach will make your workouts fun as well as effective.
Maybe your alternative plan is to do a home workout program or put on an exercise DVD when it’s raining. Or if you miss that class after work, you’ll know you’ll be setting your alarm early the next morning! [Grab my free bodyweight exercise pdf below so that you have an alternative “anywhere exercise” plan. There are seven exercises and three progression levels for each exercise, so you can choose the one that’s right for you].
You might have heard the saying, “Fail to plan, plan to fail.” So get that plan in place (in writing!), and you’ll minimize the likelihood of getting off track.
Preparation as your next step towards exercise adherence
Preparation involves thinking of everything you will need to have or do in order to execute your plan.
Being lucky is when being prepared pays off.
Following on from this, preparation involves taking action!
Examples of what you might need to do to prepare for exercise:
- Having appropriate clothing and shoes to work out in
- Making sure you’ve got any extra things that are necessary for your workouts, such as a drink bottle and sweat towel
- Getting these items laid out or packed into your bag the night before so you’ll remember them
- Setting your alarm to wake up in the morning, if need be
- Packing a healthy lunch the night before, so it’s ready to go
- Writing a grocery list to prepare for healthy eating
- Making and freezing bulk meals for busy days
Write a list of the things you personally need to do to prepare properly. Then work on creating habits around these things to help increase your chances of successful exercise adherence. [Click on the image below to get your free habit tracker].
Social support to help you achieve exercise adherence
I’ve mentioned the role a personal trainer or coach can play in helping you. Consider booking in for a virtual coffee with me, Elly, your holistic health and fitness coach. I can answer any burning questions you might have about your health and fitness. My expert advice could be just what you need to take the next step into action, or to get yourself back on track.
Just as important for social support and in turn successful exercise adherence are the people in your life. These include friends, family, and work colleagues.
Identify your biggest supporters. These are the people who encourage and inspire you, push you along, or perhaps are very active themselves.
Maybe your biggest fan is a partner who will watch the kids while you do your training. Getting yourself a workout buddy can also be a great way to achieve better exercise adherence.
Make these people a part of your journey in any way you can, and show them your four week plan! You also need to identify anyone who might hold you back even though they often won’t do so purposefully.
Do your friends always push you to have another wine? Do you have a work colleague who tries to stuff cake down your throat every week? You will need to talk to these people about what you’re doing and how important it is to you. Be straight up with them or they’ll keep nudging you in the direction you’re trying to get away from.
Rewards to help you stick to your exercise plan
Set yourself a reward at the end of your first four weeks as an incentive for exercise adherence. If you can get through this period without too many hiccups, you should be on track for achieving those big goals. While you’re at it, set yourself rewards for your big goals.
A great ‘reward-related’ idea that I first saw from Catch Fitness in Christchurch is to make yourself a ‘tip jar’. It works like a piggy bank and you could put a coin in it for every workout you complete. How proud will you feel when it’s full! Or perhaps you put a coin in for any other health and fitness targets you set yourself. For example, this could be cooking a week’s worth of healthy meals. This is a great way to save for any rewards you want later!
There’s a Chinese proverb that says “The Journey is the Reward”. Therefore do make sure you’re enjoying yourself along the way too! This blog post covers more important principles to help you with successful goal achievement, such as taking inspired action, enjoying the journey, and eliminating worry and self-doubt.
Exercise adherence stategies: Ongoing goal writing and reflections
Get yourself a 1B5 exercise book to help you with exercise adherence. Write your goals in it each day and write down what you are going to do/did that day to work towards your goals. Congratulate yourself on your successes. Also write down when things don’t go to plan, including anything you could do differently to stay on track.
People often say motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.
Zig Ziglar
It also works well to have a ‘dream page’ in this book. This is a visual representation of what you’re striving for. It might include a picture of somewhere you’re going on holiday. Maybe it has a photo of yourself from when you were happy with your size. Or perhaps it has a picture of someone running, if that’s one of your goals. The key to the effectiveness of your book is consistency – use it every day!
Effort is required to achieve exercise adherence!
Know that you’ll need to put in effort to reach your goals, and probably a lot of it! Achieving exercise adherence is simple if you have a realistic plan in place, have strategies set up for any slip ups along the way, and have the knowledge, skills, desire and support needed to get you there.
But it’s not easy. There will be days when you feel too tired to get out of bed, let alone go for a run. Invitations will come along that threaten to interrupt your routine, and sometimes it will seem like progress is just going too slow! So go back to that goal book and remind yourself of what you’re going to achieve when you stick to it. Also, remember that you will always feel better after your workout!
Discipline is simply choosing between what you want now and what you want most.
If you’re really tired, under a lot of stress, or your muscles are sore from a previous workout, you might need to opt for a gentle walk or stretch routine instead of your usual plan. As long as you put in the effort to do something, you’ll thank yourself later.
The difference between try and triumph is just a little “umph”!
Are you ready to slay your fitness goals? Check out this amazing 60 page form that you can fill in from your phone or laptop, or print out if you prefer. Take a look at all areas of your life and what you want to achieve and get ready to really kick your goals!
For more online fitness advice, check out my physical fitness blog category.
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these recommended service provider links, like an insurance broker, or a travel agent, I may earn a commission – at no extra cost to you. [For my full disclosure, please see my DISCLAIMER page].
I’m inspired !!!
Glad to hear Lorna!