This article is something that I found very relevant to my own health and fitness goals in recent years. I have suffered numerous setbacks and injuries that have completely derailed my plans but instead of throwing in the towel and giving up I had to adjust my training and also my nutrition to meet my body's needs. We must accept that things are never perfect, there is always going to be something that may come up in our life that could sabotage our best efforts and intentions to be the best we can. I also share with you some great info-graphics from the guys at Precision Nutrition that I find really helpful when things are tough.

When things go wrong people tend to do one of two things.

1. Keep pushing through until something breaks
2. Stop their health and fitness plan completely until things settle down

Sometimes we cannot control things that happen in life and we have to make adjustments to our routine and schedule and find a way to stay on track.

The past few weeks I have met several people who chose option number one and kept pushing through. In this case they ended up with a debilitating injury that completely derailed their exercise regime. In EVERY ONE of these cases the person was abusing exercise and seriously OVER-TRAINING (eg 5-6 days of training in a week) and when this happens injury or illness is a certainty. Some people were doing this for fear of putting weight back on, while others were using as a way of coping with mental issues.

In both cases they were not respecting exercise and failed to appreciate how effective nutrition and management of lifestyle habits can be with achieving their desired goals. They were trying to exercise their way out of trouble which may work for a little while but it is never a good long term strategy. (see article Why You Cannot Out Exercise A Bad Diet)

What we all need to do when life gets in the way or something unexpected knocks us off our plan is to adopt some simple strategies to minimize the damage and allow us to quickly get back on track when things settle. In order to be effective you will need strategies for the 3 big areas of health which are - exercise, nutrition and the mental side of health.

One thing I am asked regularly is, "why do you never have weight loss challenges like other gyms like a 12 week or 90 day challenge?" We see these all the time throughout the fitness industry and even the TV show The Biggest Loser was set up this way. I have many close friends who do this and the past we have provided a few of these challenges.

But we no longer provide these and it is for a simple reason. Long term they rarely work and if anything create more problems. I would rather someone took 12 months to achieve their goal than 12 weeks for when they have taken that long to get there they fully appreciate how to stay there forever.

I love this quote for summing this up.

"It is one thing to know how to become healthy, but it is another thing completely to know how to stay there"

How many people do you know who have lost weight only to put it back on again and repeat the process many times? These people will tell you, "I know how to get in shape" but the problem is they do not know how to remain in shape. Eventually their methods will cease working as they completely ruin their metabolic function from their yo-yo dieting.

This is also true for many people who accumulate injuries or constantly re-injure a particular area of their body such as the lower back. The treatment they use when things go wrong is to simply remove the pain, as opposed to correcting the cause of the pain. They have no strategy or method for preventing it and all it takes is for them to go back to what they were doing to hurt themselves again. And just like the weight loss problem it becomes a bigger problem each time this happens and eventually their strategy no longer works.

When I first meet with a client and they ask me, "how long will it take to achieve my goals or get rid of my pain?" I ask them, "how long is a piece of string?" There is no way I can possibly know this for certain for there is so many variables to consider. The biggest variable is the longer they have been out of shape or in pain the longer it will take to restore to good health.

I try to make it perfectly clear to them that there is no "quick fix" and that even when they feel they have "made it" and reached their goal they are essentially only half-way. For now they now need to know how to stay at the top and be disciplined and consistent enough to maintain what they gained and never go backwards to where they began. This is where the real learning begins.

It Is Not About Willpower It Is About Skills

I recently read a great article from Precision Nutrition that was talking about this exact problem and how the most common question he is asked is – “how can you pause your eating program?"

Here is extract of this article that jumped out at me and relates to conversations I regularly have with clients each day.

"In most fitness scenarios, you learn how to get fit under weird, tightly-controlled, white-knuckle life situations. You build that one, solitary, non-transferrable skill — to slam the gas pedal down, drive the needle into the red, and squeal down the road for a little while, burning the rubber off your tires until you (quickly) run out of gas and crash.

What you don’t build is the ability to get fit under real-life conditions.

That’s why it doesn’t stick. Not because you suck. But because the natural and predictable consequence of having a limited skill set is short-term progress followed immediately by long-term frustration.

What will be different next time?

I remember having lunch with a colleague who swore up and down that his low-carb diet plus daily running was the secret to staying in shape.

I had to follow up with a painful question: “Well, why aren’t you actually in shape?”

After a long pause: “Uhh, I’ve had a hard time sticking with it. We just had our second child. The holidays just ended. I just switched jobs.” He trailed off…

“But, once everything settles down, I’ll get with the program and get in shape again! I guess I’m just on a little break.”

This story illustrates the point perfectly.

Here’s someone who’s built his fitness on a house of cards. He knows only one thing: How to get in shape by following a very challenging program when the conditions are perfect.

And whenever life isn’t perfect, which is most of the time, he hits the pause button. He waits for a better time. (All the while losing the health and fitness he previously worked so hard for.)

That’s why, when our clients ask to press pause, we usually ask them:

“What will be different when you come back?”

Nine times out of 10, the honest answer is nothing. Nothing will be different.

Life is just… happening. And it’ll happen again in January, or after the baby is born, or after Mom gets better, or at any other arbitrary point you pick. And what will you do then?"

The key lesson here is that, like it or not, the game of life always changes and it always keeps going. There is no timeout and things never stay easy for long.

You can’t escape work, personal, and family demands.

Generally, when it comes to life, we know we’re not always going to be at our absolute best. For a while everything is running fine but most of the time we have to constantly adapt to the things that come up in life. If we know that change is inevitable in every part of our life why do we expect this to be any different with health and fitness?

I remember back in 2016-2017 I suffered a couple of horrible injuries that prevented me from doing many of the things I had done all my life. Firstly I suffered an ACL tear to my right knee and then about 3 months later that derailed all my running, cycling, playing basketball and all the fun stuff in the gym.

Then I suffered from a shoulder impingement to my right shoulder which was a secondary problem I had for some time just prior to the knee injury.

There was no way I was able to exercise in the way I had for the past 30 years. I had to make some big adjustments, not just physically but also mentally with how I approached exercise and my health. If I chose to ignore this and push through I would end up a much worse place. One of these adjustments was to my nutrition in particular portions and frequency of eating as I was no longer as active as I had always been. Things I got away with before were now starting to become a problem.

Were the workouts and programs I did for about 12 months following the initial injury as fun or challenging as I wanted it to be? No, not at all. But were they exactly what I needed? Absolutely! I did not throw the towel in and give up for I knew I needed to exercise, I just needed to be on a much different plan than before. I needed a corrective health plan, not a fitness plan.

When I say it is not willpower that gets you through it is skills, this is so true.

How To Make The Right Adjustments

When I was out of action for some time I really spent a lot of time reading and researching and one the things that really stuck with me at the time was something from the Precision Nutrition team. As it was something that really hit home with me I thought it would be great to share with you.

Instead of pressing pause, they like to tell their clients to "adjust the dial".

Since 2016 I have had more good days than bad days but even still I have had a few issues with my hips the past 6-12 months. There are times when I feel great and am able to really dial my efforts up, and times when my body is not feeling good and I need to dial my training volume and intensity down. But I never want to turn the dial off completely.

Below is part 1 of the infographic from Precision Nutrition that explains how the dial works for the exercise dial.

How To Use The Exercise Dial

To explain this better here’s how this has worked for me in the past 12 months.

From September to February I train intensely for a huge bike race in late January (Alpine Classic) that demands serious fitness, endurance, and leg strength. I know I have to be very consistent with my training and eating or I will not make it to the finish. In this case my fitness dial might be tuned to 9 or 10 out of 10.

Channel 10 means I work out almost every day. Every meal is planned and carefully considered. I think a lot about fitness. And not much about anything else. Work, family, hobbies.... are all in maintenance mode to some extent while I try to focus my efforts on this huge goal.

However, during this time, things were not perfect and my life involved the following:

• Resolving a huge plumbing problem at home that cost me over $8k and took 4 weeks to fix. This was very stressful organizing tradesman every day for 4 weeks and not even having water for a few days at home.
• I had a right hip problem that needed my attention before it got worse
• Completing various home renovations at my own house and also my parents
• Filling in for staff while they were away on holidays while still trying to complete my own job
• Resolving time consuming and urgent website and administration problems

On these days, the dial rarely goes past 3 or 4. I work out, maybe, three days a week. And most of my meals were great but not perfect.

Some people might be shocked that I didn't work-out as much or perhaps eat as perfectly as I should. There is no guilt about having my dial set a little lower. What’s most important is that the dial is still set to “on”. When things settle I get back to where I want and it easier to do so for I never stopped.

The important lesson: There’s a big difference between tuning your dial to 3, 2, or even a 1, and turning the whole thing off.

No matter how stressful things get I never turn the switch off.

I highly suggest grabbing a copy of our FREE Report below about how to implement Functional Training into your training. 

How To Use The Nutrition Dial

Nutrition is a massive stumbling block for most people and with the gym junkie it is the first thing to be thrown out when things are not good. We tend to sacrifice our health for convenience when it comes to food. But again instead of stopping cold turkey try to reset your dial back to where things are manageable and then look at trying to increase your focus again when things settle.

I very rarely am at 9 or 10 on the nutrition dial but I would most of the time be at a 7 or 8. Remember you never have to be perfect with your nutrition just good for 80% of the time and if you have a night out and eat some terrible food that is fine, get back on track again the next day. One of the best things you can do when things go wrong is spend time preparing your week in advance.

When you get stuck eating junk food or over eat when you get home from work it is not because you want to do it but because of poor planning that led to you now being forced to find food quick. Modern living with all of the technology to make things easier has in many ways made us very time poor as we struggle to fit in many things in one day. In most cases what we sacrifice to get more things done is our health and more specifically our nutrition. Many times I have given a client a great food plan to follow only for them to never do it due to what they claim is impossible as they have no time.

Here is some simple tips you can use to help you with your nutrition preparation.

Step One: Create a Master List of Meals

This is simply a list of all the meals that you currently make. Taking time to really think-through this first step will save you a ton of time in the long run no more racking your brain to try to
think of what meals you should make for the week ahead (and schedule on your meal plan). Instead, simply look at your Master List of Meals each time you make your weekly meal plan. Talk about less stress and saving time!

Step Two: Check Your Calendar!

Before you start selecting meals for the week ahead, first take a look at what is happening each day and plan your meals accordingly. This is such an important step, because knowing how much time you have available helps you to decide on the best meal to make in that time-frame.

Tips for successful scheduling:

• On busy days, opt for quick and easy-to-prepare meals, such as crockpot dishes, one-pot meals or grilled/roasted meats with a side of steamed vegetables or simple salad.
• For extra-busy days, plan for a leftovers night, where you can simply warm-up a meal from a previous evening.

Step Three

Create your food plan and shopping list based on what your plan is for the week. I like to do this on a Sunday and go to my favourite butchers and supermarket to organize a few meals in advance.

Cook Once, Eat Twice or More!

This is a basic meal planning principle that really helps you to save time and work more efficiently in the kitchen, which is why I always incorporate it into each of my weekly meal plans. Basically, you cook (or simply prepare) a double portion of something and save half for a future meal. How does this save time? Well, think of all the work that needs to happen to get a healthy meal on the table, there is the preparation time, cooking time, and of course, everyone’s favourite clean-up time. If you make double of something during one cooking session, you’re being more efficient because you don’t have to repeat those same exact steps twice.

Leftovers for tomorrows breakfast, lunch, or dinner are perfect examples. Frozen meals to be used in a week or even longer time are another. If you can start to use these tips it will make it so much easier to stick to your suggested nutrition essentials.

How To Use The Lifestyle Dial

You may have your exercise down perfect and your food is great too but you cannot ignore rest, recovery and the impact of STRESS.

The interesting thing about this dial for me is it tends to work in the opposite direction. I feel this needs to be dialed up when things go bad instead of being dialled down! When in stress I feel the need to do more things higher on the dial here as essential in helping me to deal with the pressures that are taking a toll on my health.

Stress is without doubt the biggest saboteur of any health plan so having strategies to manage with this is critical.

Why Do People Eat More Or Less When Stressed?

The state of being anxious means essentially that the whole mind and body are wound up. When your cells are anxious, it causes increased energy consumption and typically that leads people to blood sugar fluctuations, which encourages you to look for quick energy like coffee, sugar, junk food to quickly restore the blood sugar crash. Other people will lose all of their appetite in preparation to fight or flight. Our digestive system gets shut down when stressed making it hard to break down food correctly to absorb the necessary nutrients and vitamins from our food.

Working out too hard when stressed will only serve to create more trouble. We have to be more kind to our bodies in this time and use many of the strategies featured in this dial to help us get through this tough stage.

For several other ideas for this read the articles

• 16 Ways To Improve Your Health
• How To Overcome Stress & Improve Your Health

Do You Need More Help?

I know I have only scratched the surface as far as nutrition and lifestyle changes you may need to make. To help you out we put together a detailed report that covers ALL of the essential things you need to do for improving the overall health of your body. Grab a copy of the report below that will provide with detailed programs to help guide you on your journey.

Summary

Achieving health and especially fitness in the context of reality is never perfect. We’re all just doing the best we can in challenging, complicated circumstances. We are all living messy, imperfect lives. We are all human. If we can just keep moving forward, no matter what happens, no pause buttons, no do-overs, we will achieve great results. It is no surprise to see that is the common attribute to all of our client of the month winners of the past 14 years.

A quick recap on how to use the dial method.

Try to use the dial method to adjust things to where you are at right now.

If you were to dial it up to “10”…

• What would your workouts look like?
• What would your nutrition look like?
• What other actions/habits would you practice in that scenario?

If you were to dial it down to “1”…

• What would your workouts look like?
• What would your nutrition look like?
• What other actions/habits would you practice in that scenario?

As I said earlier this made a big difference to me when things were tough and helped me stay on track and also get back to a high level quickly when things went back to normal. I hope it has given you some great insight and ideas for things you could use to help when times get tough.

For more ideas and information on specific topics I may not have covered in detail be sure to check out our INDEX PAGE on the website that has over 300 of our best articles. These are all sorted into categories for quick reference so you can find what you are after more easily.

If you do need specific help with your exercise program please feel free to reach out to me for help and we can organise a consultation by clicking the banner below.