Check out this post where John shares motivation and goal setting tips for discipline in your fitness routine. These steps can also be applied to any area of life.  

Last week, I wrote about how fear, power, freedom and love are the primary motivators that keep me committed to a successful workout routine.

However, while the right motivations are necessary to begin and sustain any long-term health commitment, they are not sufficient. Along with the right motivations, structured discipline is another necessary part of a successful fitness routine.

In this post, I’m going to share with you 5 steps that have helped me become more disciplined in my fitness  routine.

Those Days When You Really Don’t Feel Like Working Out

A few weeks back, I suffered a disastrous day at work. It was one of those days that forces you to rethink your career goals. I was so upset that I was beginning to feel like I should just skip my workout that day.

Also, I had to pick Barbara up from the airport, but her flight was delayed 3 hours to 5:00. This meant that I’d probably get caught in NYC rush hour traffic. If you know about NYC traffic, that’s something to be avoided at all costs. It would mean working out later and not eating dinner until at least 9:00.

Before I left for the airport, I decided to skip my workout.

However, as I drove home from the airport, I began to debate whether I should work out or not. I knew the workout would be good for me and be another step toward my ultimate goal of better fitness. But at the same time, I was really miserable and was getting tired from the ride. I really wanted to just relax and de-stress.

This was the question I faced: could I make myself do something I didn’t want to do in order to get a result I really wanted?

As I pulled into the driveway, I reversed my earlier decision. I would work out. As it turned out, I crushed it on the bench and felt physically and mentally fantastic afterward.

How do we stay on course toward our goal when a lesser, immediate desire tries to tempt us away from it?

The answer is easy: discipline.

Here are the 5 steps I’ve used to become more disciplined in my workout routine. These steps can also be applied to any area of life.

Step 1: Make Sure Your Motivations Are Right

Last week, I looked at how the right motivations are important for adopting and sustaining a workout routine. I showed how internal motivations are much more powerful than external motivations because internal motivations are rooted in our ultimate values.

Motivations like fear, power, freedom and love are much likely to keep you on a consistent path to good health than the desire to just have a better body type or to lose excess weight. Of course, wanting to have a better body type or losing excess weight are excellent goals. However, there is still the ultimate question: for what purpose?

For example:

• I want to achieve a better body type because it’ll mean I’m a healthier person.
• I want to get fit because I’ll have freedom of movement when I am older.
• I want to get stronger so I’ll have the strength to pick up my grandchildren.
• I want to get fit so I can reduce my chance of heart disease so my wife and I can enjoy life into our golden years.
• I want to get fit so I have better cognition which will help me serve the community better.

Extrinsic motivations are important. However, finding and understanding the right motivation behind the goal is much more important. Don’t forget to ask: why is this goal important? That’s where the real motivation lies.

Step 2: Consider Obstacles

Disciplining yourself for a task becomes a lot easier when you first identify possible obstacles to that task and figure out solutions beforehand.

I had two obstacles I had to overcome before I started working out. First, I had some significant health issues I had to deal with. I had to solve those issues first. If you have health issues, get your doctor’s permission before you work out.

Some untrained people think that because they’ve been out of shape for so long, they will never be able to work out. Unless you have a debilitating illness, however, this is usually not true.

At 58 years old, I was untrained for 30 years. I started working out slowly a year and a half ago and gradually progressed. See my current results below. We should never despise the day of small beginnings.

Secondly, I didn’t have the time to go to a gym. To solve the problem I created a weight room in my basement. It isn’t perfect. But it works and that’s what’s important. I get to save a lot of time by not driving to the gym.

Time seems to be the biggest obstacle for people. Find a gym close to where you live or work or build one in your house.

You may be embarrassed to go to a gym because you’re weak or because of what you look like. Believe me, few people make fun of a person who is working hard to get fit. If they do, then they have the bigger problem.

Before you start working out, consider the obstacles you will encounter. Solve them first.

Step 3: Adopt A Smart Disciplined Routine

If your goal is to exercise more, the odds are you probably won’t. Exercising has no definable goal. Let me explain.

Ok, you joined a gym. Great! What machines are you going to use? How will you measure your progress? Will it be by pounds lost, calories burned, or inches gained on your biceps? When will you work out? How many days or months will it take to achieve the results you want?

If you can’t answer these questions, your attempt to work out will fail. What you need is a smart routine. A smart routine is a disciplined routine that creates discipline in you.

I slightly modified Jim Rohn’s goal-setting acronym S.M.A.R.T. to highlight some of the important aspects of a good workout routine. I added on the last S to make it S.M.A.R.T.S.

• Start With a Specific System – For long-term success, it’s important to choose a routine that has a specific method for getting you where you want to go. Choose one that has a proven track record of success.

• Measurable Gains – Every successful fitness routine must produce quantifiable results in order to indicate progress. Without quantifiable results, there is no goal to achieve. Without a goal, there is no way to define success.

• Attainable Results In Progressive Steps – Even though the goal you want is not immediately achievable, your routine should allow you to achieve it in attainable progressive steps. It doesn’t even matter if those steps are small. Small steps are small wins that add up to bigger wins.

• Realistic Gains – A good workout routine should allow you to achieve realistic results that you want. A routine that promises you will lose 50 pounds in 6 weeks or will make you look like Arnold simply by pulling rubber bands is a motivation and discipline destroyer.

• Time Frame – In order for your fitness routine to be a success, it must allow for a time. Okay, great, you want to lose 50 pounds. Then find a plan that promises that in a specific amount of time and see if you can commit to the amount of work required.

• Schedule – Okay, I added the last S to make SMARTS. It works. Adopt a routine that adheres to a specific schedule. Having a schedule to adhere to is essential to developing structured discipline.

 Step 4: Accountability Partners

Having someone to hold you accountable is fundamental to creating discipline.

A workout partner is someone who will assist you along your journey. They will keep you responsible and committed. They will also encourage you to be the best you can be. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

If I had skipped my workout on that busy day I wrote about earlier, I would’ve let down my two workout partners. They are two of my sons. I didn’t want to do that.

Step 5: Keep A Work Out Journal

I keep a record of every workout session I complete. It also includes what cardio training I did, what I ate for the day, and how I feel throughout the day and after each workout exercise.

This allows me to track my progress and gauge how I’m doing. It’s a story of a part of my life journey. I want that story to continue so I add to my journal.

That journal also holds me accountable. Seeing empty pages in that journal would be like seeing part of my life as empty.

These are the steps I have used to create structured discipline in my approach to working out. Does discipline occur overnight? For some yes, for most no.

Creating A Habit

Here’s something you may find interesting. Everybody develops habits. Psychologists tell us that for most people if an activity is repeated for an average of 66 days, it will become a habit.  That means it takes about two months for something to become automatic.

If you use the above steps, I believe your workout will become automatic. It will become part of your life, something you must do because it has become part of you.

Weekly Workouts

John’s Workout

Height: 5’11”
Weight: 180.0#

Sunday
Cardio: 30 min. walk outdoors

Monday
Barbell Bench Press      Dumbell Rows
45.0# 1 x 5 (warm up)      20.0# 1 x 8
65.0# 1 x 5 (warm up)      30.0# 1 x 15 x 3
85.0# 1 x 5 (warm up)
100.0# 1 x 3 (warm up)
117.5# 1 x 3
135.0# 1 x 3
152.5# 1 x 7

Cardio: 26 min. treadmill 3.5 mph

Tuesday
Barbell Back Squats
45.0# 1 x 5 (warm up)
75.0# 1 x 5 (warm up)
95.0# 1 x 3 (warm up)
125.0# 1 x 5 x 3

Wednesday
Over Head Dumbbell Press      Narrow Grip Bench Press
20.0# 1 x 8 (warm up)                   45.0# 1 x 8 (warm up)
30.0# 1 x 12 x 3                                90.0# 1 x 8 x 3

Cardio: 25 min. treadmill 3.5 mph

Thursday – Rest day

Friday 
Deadlift
100.0# 1 x 5
145.0# 1 x 5
195.0# 1 x 2
245.0# 1 x 5

Cardio: 30 min. treadmill 3.5 mph

Saturday 
Cardio: 25 min. treadmill 3.5 mph

Barbara’s Workout

Sunday – Cardio: 30 min. walk outdoors                                                                       

Monday
Barbell Bench Press           Dumbbell Rows
45.0# 1 x 5 (warm up)        20.0# 1 x 8 x 3
62.5# 1 x 3 x 3

Tuesday
Barbell Back Squats
45.0# 1 x 5 (warm up)
57.5# 1 x 5 x 3

Cardio: 20 min. treadmill 3.0 mph

Wednesday
Over Head Dumbbell Press
10.0# 1 x 8 (warm up)
15.0# 1 x 8 x 3

Thursday – Rest day

Friday 
Deadlift
65.0# 1 x 5
75.0# 1 x 2
105.0# 1 x 5

Cardio: 20 min. treadmill 3.o mph

Saturday

Cardio: 20 min. treadmill 3.0 mph

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