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When it comes to exercise, being successful is going to involve NOT basing your training on how you feel, rather basing it on the plan that is guiding you towards your goal.

In todays training show I’d like to build Your Ideal Training Plan. By IDEAL I don’t mean perfect I mean; 

It’s

Done

Even 

After a

Long day / Late Night / Lack of Sleep / Little sick or a Laziness attack.

That’s what ideal stands for in my world. So, you’re going to need a much bigger excuse than any of those to escape your ideal training plan.

That’s not because I’m expecting you to be a machine that powers on regardless, it’s more because as I discussed in show #004, consistency is key. The ideal training plan is just another tool to make exercise easier on YOU.

So, let’s build this baby from the ground up.

Step #1: Start with your WHAT and your WHY. This is your goal and why you want to achieve it… the experiences you and those you love will get to enjoy once you achieve that goal.

Step #2: How many HOURS a week is achieving this goal worth to you?

Great. And now just to make sure you and I are on the same page, on that NON-super-smooth-saliing-best-case-scenario-week (!) on that week, again how many hours in total do you have to commit to achieving your goal?

If you’ve answered any less than 3 HOURS in total a week – committed to achieving your health goal – then my most genuine advice is to actually question just how important your what and your why are to you? 

I’m serious. 3 hours is in one regard a decent chunk of time, however it also is a very doable amount of time for many of us to carve off non-essential activities at least for a period of a couple of months to see if the results are worth it.

For something life changing I’ll trial 6.5-7 hours of sleep a night instead of my current 7-7.5.

Or I’d catch up with friends for an hour instead of 4.

Or I’d read for 5 minutes a night instead of 30.

It’s a matter of priorities NOT time.

Step #3: At this point I hope you’re on board with me and committed to a minimum of 3 HOURS in total a week committed to achieving your health goal.

Because this is where we halve that 3 hours so far as what is committed to exercise.

If I only had 3 hours in a week to achieve any body composition goal, I’d take 90 minutes of that and devote it to meal planning and preparation. Food really is that important. 5 meals or snacks a day 7 days a week means 35 TIMES A WEEK what you eat is deciding how your body looks, feels and performs.

Food Is It.

I’d now like you to take the other 90 minutes and split it into ‘2’ 45 minute weights sessions.  Ideally lifting heavy weights in a circuit of compound exercises with minimal recover time – as covered in show #009.

If you have any left over hours to play with – awesome – let’s add ‘2’ 15 minute high intensity interval training sessions to the mix. In this plan we’re still looking at only 3.5 hours total.

Let’s say you’ve committed more than that – super awesome – I’m going to guess for you and say you’ve got another 90 minutes to play with… taking us to a total of 5 hours a week. In the 5 hour a week plan let’s add ‘2’ 45 minute walks or ‘3’ 30 minute walks.

If you still have hours left to play with – I LOVE it – from here add another 45 minute weights sessions and after that another 45 minute of walk.

And repeat until you’ve used all your hours to play with.

Step #4: Let’s lock these activities into a plan – by order of priority.  

=> Weights and meal planning/preparation will come first. Lock them in with at least day between weights sessions – for recovery – or even better 2.

=> Interval training will come next. It can be on the day you train weights if that’s most feasible for you, though it will feel a little tougher.

=> Your walks are next and again they can be on days that you’re doing something else if that’s what your schedule dictates although better case scenario you work towards some form of movement as many days a week as you can… so if possible, spread them out.

=> Finally schedule in a rest day – it’s probably already sitting there self scheduled. Check that’s a day that would make a good rest day for you, mine is Sunday. I like that as it’s also the day I don’t work and the day I eat my cheat meals so lazy-sleep-in-Sunday just feels right.

Step #5: Three tactics to make your plan stick.

1. Schedule your exercise sessions at your personal high discipline times and times that are less likely to be hi-jacked by unforeseen interruptions. For most people this is first thing in the morning. Yes, it may be hard to get out of bed first thing initially – before it becomes a habit – however it’s also the time when you have a full daily discipline quota. You haven’t been constantly testing your discipline and eating up your quota all day which is one of the factors that makes sticking to exercise after work extra tough.

2. Make sure your exercise is not dependant on another person or on fine weather.

If it is, have a back up plan for either scenario – before you need it.

=> So the work-out you do at the gym without your trainer.

=> Or at home if your partner has to get to work early leaving you with the kids and you can’t get to the gym.

=> Or the jacket, umbrella AND attitude that that is enough coverage to get yourself out into the rain for your scheduled walk!

3. Accountability and support.

How much easier is it to skip that planned exercise session when you’re the only one that knows?

Sharing your goal, your WHY and your training plan to achieve it with the people closest to you is the best way to both enlist their support and get them on your accountability team.

Ok, let’s make this actionable. 

If you’re yet to find a weekly routine that sticks then please take the time to work through these 5 steps to create your ideal training plan.

If you’re currently rocking a plan you stick to at least 90% of the time then I’d love to hear your success tactics. Yes, it’ll help out anyone else who still might be struggling however I’ve also noticed that when I share what works for me I’m so much more likely to continue doing just that. Otherwise I’d feel like a fraud… so sharing what you’re rocking is very much a win:win.

That’s it for today – tomorrow I’ll be back to expand on another of my most popular blog posts. Tomorrows FAQ is: How Do I Reignite My Ideal Fat Burning Day.

If you liked this you’ll also like: Fat Loss Discipline: Your most important training session this week.

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.