Consistency Trumps Perfection
Tags :Consistency, Training Habits, Discipline, Strength Training, Bench Press, Accountability, Habit Building, Fitness Coaching, Men Over 40, Sustainable Fitness, How to Stay Consistent
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Recently, I was writing a program for an old client of mine.
It’s been a solid number of years since I trained him, but the old details popped up in our refresh call - bad shoulders, some knee pain, lower back issues from way back when - the normal wear and tear of a meathead in his late 40s / early 50s.
He’s a good guy, but always a little finicky when it comes to price.
A part of sales is simply understanding the “client types” of each person and why they act the way they do.
This guy is very much a competitive / methodical buyer.
He’s looking for the best ROI on his purchase and wants to ask a ton of questions to make sure he’s getting exactly what he wants.
His goal is to add about 30 lbs to his bench press.
It’s a bigger goal - not impossible - but we’re fighting an uphill battle. He asked the odds and ends around how I would write the programming (frequency of the big lift, pain points, percentage progression, etc) and I answered everything I could.
I also was transparent on two things with him:
Nothing is guaranteed. At his age, that’s a solid jump in his bench. We can shoot for it, but it may not come in his time frame (2 months).
If he doesn’t show up and do the work, it’s all pointless.
My client acknowledged I was 100% right and he needed to commit. The message of needing to show up everyday landed.
You see, I remember one time, I had two different clients. (This way maybe 2 to 3 years ago.)
One was very Powerlifting specific and wanted to hit some pretty tight number goals.
The other was just a “Gen-pop” client looking to get stronger and really find his groove, no real specific goal, just a “lose fat, gain muscle” situation.
For my PL guy, I wrote a tight 4x a week, 18 week program. All the works.
For my Gen-Pop guy, he got a solid 3x a week program that rotated every 6 weeks (I don’t even think he touched a barbell for the first 6 weeks of it).
My PL guy - he missed at least once a week and half assed the other days I wasn’t around.
To top it all off, the week we were supposed to peak and max - he went on a spontaneous vacation. Said he and his wife needed to get out of town for a bit and relax.
My Gen-Pop guy? Consistently hit his workouts like clockwork.
Guess who made more progress?
Showing up will ALWAYS trump the perfect program.
