The Art of Staying Consistent When You’d Rather Be Watching Reality TV
By Tessa — Lifting heavy and lifting you up. Strength is the whole personality. ·
The 'Motivation' Myth
Let’s get one thing straight: if I waited until I felt 'motivated' to go to the gym, I’d be spending a lot more time on my couch with Barbell and a lot less time under a barbell. People look at my training logs or see me post a PR from last week and assume I wake up at 5:00 AM every day feeling like a superhero.
Spoiler alert: I don’t. Most mornings, I wake up, Barbell steps on my hair, and I spend a solid ten minutes questioning if I actually need to be strong or if being a professional nap-taker is a viable career path.
We love to romanticize the 'grind,' but consistency isn’t about being a machine. It’s about being a human who shows up even when they’re tired, cranky, or just bored. If you’re struggling to stay consistent, you aren’t broken. You’re just relying on a feeling that is, by nature, fleeting. Here is how you stop relying on motivation and start building a habit that actually sticks.
Stop Aiming for 'Perfect' and Start Aiming for 'Present'
The biggest enemy of consistency is the 'all-or-nothing' mentality. We’ve all been there: you miss a workout on Tuesday, so you decide the whole week is a wash, and you might as well wait until Monday to start again.
Let’s be real—that logic is flawed. If you drop your phone, you don’t pick it up and smash the screen on purpose, right? You just pick it up and keep using it. Treat your fitness the same way. If life gets in the way and you miss a session, don't write off the week. Just get back to it the next day.
I’ve had weeks where my training looked like absolute garbage because I was working double shifts at the gym or dealing with a sick dog. Did I hit my numbers? No. Did I stay consistent? Yes, because I showed up and did something instead of nothing. A mediocre workout is infinitely better than the 'perfect' workout that never happened.
The Power of the 'Minimum Viable Session'
When I’m feeling particularly unmotivated, I use the 'Minimum Viable Session' rule. I tell myself: 'Tessa, you don’t have to do your full hour-long heavy session. Just go in, warm up, and do three sets of squats. If you want to leave after that, you can.'
Guess what? I have never once left after three sets of squats. Once I’m in my shoes, the music is playing, and I’ve got chalk on my hands, the momentum takes over. The hardest part is almost always just walking through the gym doors. If you lower the barrier to entry, you stop needing willpower to get started.
Stop Relying on Your Brain to Make Decisions
Your brain is excellent at finding excuses. It’s a survival mechanism; it wants you to save energy. If you have to decide if you’re going to work out, when you’re going to work out, and what you’re going to do, you’ve already lost.
Consistency is a byproduct of systems, not decisions.
Lay your clothes out the night before. Put your gym bag by the front door. Have your workout program written down—on paper, not just in your head—before you walk into the gym. If you walk into the weight room with a plan, you’re an athlete executing a session. If you walk in wondering what you should do, you’re a tourist waiting to get distracted by your phone.
Find Your 'Why' (And Make Sure It’s Not Just Aesthetics)
Look, I get it. We all want to look good. But if you’re only training because you want your abs to pop, you’re going to quit the second you have a bad week or a stressful month.
My 'why' shifted after my first powerlifting meet. Sure, I love the way my body looks, but I love the way it functions way more. I love knowing I can deadlift twice my body weight. I love that I feel capable in my daily life. When you tie your consistency to how you feel and what you can do, rather than how you look in the mirror, the game changes. You stop training to punish yourself for what you ate and start training to celebrate what your body is capable of.
Be Kind to Your Future Self
There’s this weird idea in fitness that you have to be miserable to see results. I call BS. If you hate running, don't force yourself to run because you think that’s what 'fit' people do. You’ll be consistent for two weeks, burn out, and quit.
I genuinely enjoy lifting heavy. It’s my therapy. If you haven't found the movement that makes you feel like you, keep looking. Try a kettlebell class, go for a hike, find a powerlifting coach, or start a yoga flow. You are much more likely to stay consistent with something you don’t dread doing.
At the end of the day, consistency is just a long string of small, boring, unglamorous choices. It’s not about the big PRs or the dramatic transformations. It’s about showing up when you’d rather stay in bed, picking up the weight, and doing the work. You’re capable of more than you think, but you’ve got to show up to prove it to yourself.
So, what’s one small thing you’re going to do today to move the needle? Drop a comment below—I want to hear what you’re working on. Let’s keep each other accountable. And if you’re local to Denver, keep an eye out for me and Barbell on the trails—we’re usually the ones covered in dog hair and looking for a good squat rack.