Eleven ways to make it stick

1 January 2025
Adarsh Gopal

Things that will improve the odds of sticking to training, nutrition and lifestyle goals:

Keep the workouts short and frequent if you are starting out. You are more likely to stick with 20 mins a day 5 days a week than an hour thrice a week. And you can scale that 20 gently.
Spend 80 percent of your time on push, pulls, carries, squats and single leg squats. Variety and excessive soreness is your enemy. Technical excellence and building comfort are your friends.
Aim to include foods. Don’t have elaborate eating plans. Include 2-3 ingredients that you currently don’t and make it a habit to consume those ingredients.
Use measuring cups and spoons to serve yourself. This will give you perspective on portion sizes.
Dose low intensity activity in 5 minute bursts through the day. It can even be chunked with phone calls etc.
Explore all the coaching formats out there: remote and live. Online and in person.
Avoid drama, dramatic exclusion and making large time commitments to elaborate training plans, meal plans or sleep habits.
Avoid exotic ingredients or anything you can’t find consistently in your city or online.
Avoid travelling more than 5-10 minutes to get to your training space.
Give habits a chance to stick. Helps if they are easy to execute.
Don’t talk about goals, training to every person you meet. Action speaks louder than words. But words often come at cost of action.