How To Stick To Your Workouts Using The REF Method
For now. forget about the type of workout you should be doing. It's something we'll address later. There’s something way more important to your success. So let's start at the beginning.
To keep results long-term you need to be able to exercise consistently. And there are 3 things you need to get right.
To explain what these 3 parts are, let's look at one of our clients….
Meet Mark. He's 45 years old. Married to Linda and has two kids - a 7-year-old (Sam) and a 5-year-old (Max). Mark worked with us and managed to go from 104kg - 84kg. We'll show you his transformation later. But it wasn't always like this. Hell no.
He works in sales, needs to hit targets and has his manager breathing down his neck all the time. Safe to say he wasn't enjoying his job and it bought a lot of stress back home. But it did do one thing, it made sure he could provide for his family.
He spent all of his free time with the kids and stopped looking after himself. Being sat down all day and grabbing food when he could, the inevitable happened, Mark started putting on weight. The clothes were getting tighter and he didn't like what he saw in the mirror. He wasn't the confident man he used to be. But right now he didn't have time to worry about losing weight.
Mark picked his kids up from school and would stand outside waiting with the other dads. Always had a laugh. Until one of the dads piped up about how good these new workouts were. Then he turned to Mark and said -
You should give them a go Mark
Silence. No one said anything. It was really awkward. Mark thought -
"Was the guy being a d**k on purpose...”
He smiled and broke the silence by cracking a joke, which broke out into laughter from the other blokes. Mark joined in, but that comment stuck with him.
Fortunately, the bell rang - School had finished. As always Sam and Max threw their arms around Mark. And so did the other kids with their dads. But Mark felt more self-conscious than ever.
He looked around the playground, seeing the other dads with their kids, and realised Sam and Max were the only two that couldn't get their arms around their dad. Mark went home opened up his laptop, went straight to men’s health, found some workouts, ordered some dumbbells, and started working out.
2 weeks went by, Mark was feeling better now he was starting to train regularly. After a couple of weeks, he'd dropped a few pounds. And he made sure the other dads knew about it.
So Mark decided to up the ante...
2 workouts had become 4. And boy did he feel the effects of it. For days, he could barely walk. Then he'd miss a few workouts and it'd become hard to get back on track. What Mark didn't realise at this point, this WASN'T realistic.
Let's picture two scenarios…
Scenario 1
4 workouts a week is exactly what you need to get the best results possible. But you're a dad working 50 hours a week with family commitments. This training schedule isn't going to be realistic and it'll be hard to stick at.
Scenario 2
3 workouts a week will still give you great results. But you're no longer burning the candle at both ends, you're training schedule isn't as hard to stick to, you're able to be more consistent, AND you end up getting better results. Consistency over perfection every single time.
This is why your training must be realistic.
This is the first part of something we like to call "The REF METHOD". Not to be confused with the sort we 'sometimes' scream at on the pitch. Every single one of our workouts are built using The REF Method. If you'd make your life easier right now, we can do it for you right here.
Back to the story…
"I'm sick of this"
Mark said to himself. He persisted with the workouts for a while but eventually, 4 workouts became 3… 3 became 2... 2 became 1... and eventually, he was doing none.
Mark was annoyed he couldn't keep it up. And he'd try picking it back up but the same kept happening. Stepping on the scales the weight he'd lost had crept back on too. He didn't want to tell the other dads he'd stopped training either. Not after bragging about his success so far. The next day at school Mark waited at the gates. Sam and Max came running up and said -
"Dad, why are you standing at the gate?”
The truth was, he didn't want to face the other blokes, especially because he'd fallen off the wagon. Mark snapped -
"Get in the car"
The trip home was very quiet. But it gave Mark time to think. He knew it wasn't their fault. He was angry at himself and he'd taken it out on the kids. Getting home the kids were really quiet. Linda knew something was up. She asked Mark, he shrugged his shoulders. She asked again and got to the bottom of it -
"This is obviously a problem you need to fix
You need to find a different way to fix it...
And shouting at the kids is not the answer"
Never get between a mother and her kids. She will take you down.
This story highlights why workouts must be enjoyable…
If you don't enjoy what you're doing, it's only going to be a matter of time before you stop. This is why Mark kept skipping workouts and struggled to see the results he wanted. This is the second part of The REF Method - making your workouts enjoyable. We cover The REF Method in more detail as part of L6-30X.
After getting an ear full from Linda, Mark was in the dog house, he knew he needed to make changes. Which is when Mark stumbled across us online.
He reached out and told us what happened. He explained he was struggling to stick to his workouts. And we knew we could help, so we started working with him.
We built his workouts using The "REF" Method. Mark worked with us for 6 months. We set the goal of losing 12kg that he'd tried to achieve himself. But you already know he achieved this.
Now it wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination - the journey never is. But every hurdle he came up against, we helped him get over. Look what Mark achieved:
Sure he managed to lose 12kg/45lbs but the REAL benefit has been liking what he see's in the mirror, the dad’s asking him what workouts he's doing, and Sam and Max being able to get their arms around him.
For Mark, working 50 hours a week, having family commitments on the weekend and trying to workout 4 times a week wasn't realistic. Mark wasn't enjoying the workouts either. They weren't designed for him and it was too much too quick. Which meant his training wasn’t flexible.
Flexibility is the final part of The REF Method…
It's the result of workouts being realistic and enjoyable. There's going to be times when life throws you a curveball and you struggle to train, family commitments will take priority, work will get in the way or you won't feel like it. Your training needs to be flexible enough for times when life gets in the way. L6-30 workouts are built using The REF Method.
Realistic
Enjoyable
Flexible
Have a think about what The REF Method means for you and your training. See you on the other side,
oh and by the way…
Dwayne Rock Johnson said it best -
"Success isn't always about greatness, it's about consistency.
Consistent hard work = success. Greatness will come."
Think about that for a second.
