Why Consistency Beats Intensity (Especially for High Performers)

Big goals tend to attract big plans — aggressive workouts, strict nutrition, packed schedules.

And for a few weeks, they work.

Until they don’t.

I tend to encounter this challenge more at the start of a clients' journey, but we can all fall into the trap of chasing intensity at any point of our fitness lives. It is a natural choice to make, and for many there's logic there to "make up for lost time" or "strike while the iron is hot" to take advantage of the early motivation curve. There's also the mental aspect that hard workouts feel good and there's a great sense of accomplishment from completely them, not to mention it definitely feeds into the "go hard or go home" mentality. However, the biggest challenge with this approach is that while yes it can create quick short term changes those are just an illusion of progress.  In reality, chasing intensity primarily will lead to an increased injury risk and an increase in required recovery time between workouts which will negatively impact any sort of adherence to a program. The last issue I want to mention is that this approach will collapse under any sort of increase in life stress or when schedules get busy.

The alternative to chasing intensity is to chase consistency, start small and build the consistency first then slowly increase from there. I know sometimes it is hard to think this way, but health isn't a short term goal - starting with the thought process of "what changes can I make now that I could realistically consistently do for the rest of my life" is the best approach. These small consistent changes with build results, and those results will start to compound as you continue. Another huge advantage of this approach is that it is more adaptable to life changes as you can shift your workouts more easily as a 10 minute mobility session might be the perfect workout after a tough day. This adaptability also applies to overall recovery and stress management as the consistency allows your body to more adequately recover from each workout and absorb the training load from the next workout, further increasing your overall progress.

I've mentioned that this "intensity" trap usually happens when starting off, but there are also ways this mentality can creep in even after working out for a period of time. There are a few ways this can happen:

• An "all or nothing" approach to a workouts - if I can't get the exact workout in, don't ever try

• Always striving for the perfect nutrition each day - this is impossible to maintain and leads to binges

• Allowing your recovery to become optional - recovery doesn't need to happen every day, but it should be a consistent part of your training, no matter your goals.

• Make up sessions - attempting the hero weekend, where you fit in all the sessions you missed during the week.

All of these have some logic that sounds good, but consistently falling into any of the above traps will derail your progress at best, and at worst lead to burnout or injury.

For optimal results, especially if you're chasing performance, the best approach is going to be a careful mixture of both consistency AND intensity. However, the intensity is going to be sporadic and targeted to match your goals. For example, in the endurance sports world, there's a common training approach that's an 80/20 model meaning that 80% of training is done at low intensities and 20% is done at higher levels. That same kind of idea can be applied anywhere, and of course the appropriate numbers may vary, but the idea of the majority of your work being focused on consistency as the main course with intensity being the spices added to the meal. Then when you start to vary the training loads, you'll also want to make sure you're matching that appropriately with your nutrition, sleep, and recovery such that you can maximize your progress and efficiency.

Intensity gets attention. Consistency builds outcomes.

If your plan only works when life is calm, it isn’t a good plan.

Sustainable progress comes from doing what you can — repeatedly.

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