Chris Adams Personal Training
  • Home
  • Articles
    • Exercise Guide
      • Lower Body Exercises 1
        • Stiff Legged Deadlift
        • Hip Thrust
        • Back Squat
        • Glute Ham Raise
        • Trap Bar Deadlift
        • Deadlift
        • Leg Press
        • Romanian Deadlift
        • Safety Bar Squats
        • Bulgarian Split Squat
        • Good Morning
        • Front Squat
        • Paused Squats
        • Calf Raises
      • Upper Body Push Exercises
        • Bench Press
        • Overhead Press
        • Incline Bench Press
        • Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
        • Close Grip Bench Press
        • Dumbbell Bench Press
        • Low to High Cable Crossover
        • Standing Cable Fly
        • Dips
        • Pin Overhead Press
        • Floor Press
        • Lateral Raise
        • Arnold Press
      • Upper Body Pull
        • Pull ups and chin ups
        • Shrug
        • Seal Rows
          • Face Pulls
        • Band Pull Apart
        • Dumbbell Row
        • Rear Delt Rows
        • Prone rows
        • T-Bar Machine Row
      • Arm Exercises
        • Dumbbell Curls
        • Hammer Curls
        • Cross Body Hammer Curls
        • Tricep Push Down
        • Barbell Curl
      • Farmers Walk
      • Core Exercises
        • Grip Exercises
        • Reverse Hyper
        • Cable Side Bends
        • Wheel Roll Outs
    • Strength and Gaining Muscle
      • 330 Method
      • Dead Stop vs Touch and Go Deadlifts
      • Macro loading-Dan John-Big Plates
      • Linear, Wave and Step Loading
      • 6 Mistakes When Trying to Gain Muscle
      • Push-Pull-Legs Training Split
      • Record Your Lifts to Improve Your Form
      • Rest-Pause Sets
      • Not Everyone Can Deadlift
      • Breaking Through Plateaus
      • Myo-Reps Sets
      • Drop Set
      • Strength Training for Old Age
      • Cluster Sets
      • Five Ways to Progress Without Increasing the Weight
      • 50% Sets
      • 350 Method
      • Super Sets
      • Gallon of Milk a Day (GOMAD)
      • Two Days a Week Strength Training Program
      • Density Training for Strength
      • Double Progression
      • How to do Warm Up Sets (Ramping Up)
    • General Training and Health
      • General Training 1
        • The Importance of Consistency
        • Starting Personal Training When You're Older
        • The Importance of Mobility Work
        • Can You Target Certain Areas of the body to Reduce Fat From?
        • Women and Strength Training
        • MyFitnessPal
        • Training in Your Late Thirties
        • How to Survive the Weekend Without Ruining Your Diet
        • Common Questions From Clients
        • Do You Need to Push Yourself to The Limit?
        • Dangers Of Health Risks Associated with Obesity
        • Rehab After Injury (Tearing Rotator Cuff)
        • Six Pack Abs
        • Training with Lupus
        • Boxing Pad Work
        • Hill Sprints
      • General Training 2
        • Mainstream Media on Nutrition
        • Sleep
        • Cardio and Conditioning Exercises
        • Healthy Shoulders (Face Pulls and Band Pull Aparts)
        • SETTING GOALS - S.M.A.R.T
        • Body Transformation
        • Tips on Losing Weight
        • How to Deal With Bad Workouts
        • Focus on What You Can Do
        • Keys to Success : Intensity, Consistency and Time
        • Walking
      • General Training 3
        • My Gym is Too Busy
        • The biggest mistake beginners make is listening to other beginners
        • When it comes to weight loss, your nutritional habits have a much bigger impact than your training.
        • Strength Training and Osteoporosis
        • The Scales Don't Always Tell The Truth
        • More Exercise is Not Always Better
        • How to Make Cardio Less Boring
        • The Problem with Before and After Pictures
        • Returning to Training After a Break
        • Blood Pressure
        • How to Survive the Weekend Without Ruining your diet
    • Nutrition
      • Multivitamins
      • Fish Oil (Omega 3)
      • Vitamin D
      • Tracking What You Eat (MyFitnessPal)
      • Caffeine
      • Magnesium
      • Gift Vouchers
      • Are Your Friends and Family Sabotaging Your Diet?
      • Healthy Eating on a Budget
      • Supplements
      • Alcohol and Training
      • Creatine
      • 10 Foods That Are Great For Bulking
    • Real World Fitness
      • 8 Reasons You Should Look For a New Personal Trainer
      • Why Choose Real World Fitness?
      • Client Results: Only Training Two Days a Week
      • Personal Trainer in Nottingham
      • Gym in Nottingham
      • Outdoor Group Fitness Training in Nottingham
      • Most Personal Trainers Are Useless.
      • PAR-Q
    • Equipment and Books
      • Weightlifting Belt
  • Prices
  • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Booking
  • Home
  • Articles
    • Exercise Guide
      • Lower Body Exercises 1
        • Stiff Legged Deadlift
        • Hip Thrust
        • Back Squat
        • Glute Ham Raise
        • Trap Bar Deadlift
        • Deadlift
        • Leg Press
        • Romanian Deadlift
        • Safety Bar Squats
        • Bulgarian Split Squat
        • Good Morning
        • Front Squat
        • Paused Squats
        • Calf Raises
      • Upper Body Push Exercises
        • Bench Press
        • Overhead Press
        • Incline Bench Press
        • Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
        • Close Grip Bench Press
        • Dumbbell Bench Press
        • Low to High Cable Crossover
        • Standing Cable Fly
        • Dips
        • Pin Overhead Press
        • Floor Press
        • Lateral Raise
        • Arnold Press
      • Upper Body Pull
        • Pull ups and chin ups
        • Shrug
        • Seal Rows
          • Face Pulls
        • Band Pull Apart
        • Dumbbell Row
        • Rear Delt Rows
        • Prone rows
        • T-Bar Machine Row
      • Arm Exercises
        • Dumbbell Curls
        • Hammer Curls
        • Cross Body Hammer Curls
        • Tricep Push Down
        • Barbell Curl
      • Farmers Walk
      • Core Exercises
        • Grip Exercises
        • Reverse Hyper
        • Cable Side Bends
        • Wheel Roll Outs
    • Strength and Gaining Muscle
      • 330 Method
      • Dead Stop vs Touch and Go Deadlifts
      • Macro loading-Dan John-Big Plates
      • Linear, Wave and Step Loading
      • 6 Mistakes When Trying to Gain Muscle
      • Push-Pull-Legs Training Split
      • Record Your Lifts to Improve Your Form
      • Rest-Pause Sets
      • Not Everyone Can Deadlift
      • Breaking Through Plateaus
      • Myo-Reps Sets
      • Drop Set
      • Strength Training for Old Age
      • Cluster Sets
      • Five Ways to Progress Without Increasing the Weight
      • 50% Sets
      • 350 Method
      • Super Sets
      • Gallon of Milk a Day (GOMAD)
      • Two Days a Week Strength Training Program
      • Density Training for Strength
      • Double Progression
      • How to do Warm Up Sets (Ramping Up)
    • General Training and Health
      • General Training 1
        • The Importance of Consistency
        • Starting Personal Training When You're Older
        • The Importance of Mobility Work
        • Can You Target Certain Areas of the body to Reduce Fat From?
        • Women and Strength Training
        • MyFitnessPal
        • Training in Your Late Thirties
        • How to Survive the Weekend Without Ruining Your Diet
        • Common Questions From Clients
        • Do You Need to Push Yourself to The Limit?
        • Dangers Of Health Risks Associated with Obesity
        • Rehab After Injury (Tearing Rotator Cuff)
        • Six Pack Abs
        • Training with Lupus
        • Boxing Pad Work
        • Hill Sprints
      • General Training 2
        • Mainstream Media on Nutrition
        • Sleep
        • Cardio and Conditioning Exercises
        • Healthy Shoulders (Face Pulls and Band Pull Aparts)
        • SETTING GOALS - S.M.A.R.T
        • Body Transformation
        • Tips on Losing Weight
        • How to Deal With Bad Workouts
        • Focus on What You Can Do
        • Keys to Success : Intensity, Consistency and Time
        • Walking
      • General Training 3
        • My Gym is Too Busy
        • The biggest mistake beginners make is listening to other beginners
        • When it comes to weight loss, your nutritional habits have a much bigger impact than your training.
        • Strength Training and Osteoporosis
        • The Scales Don't Always Tell The Truth
        • More Exercise is Not Always Better
        • How to Make Cardio Less Boring
        • The Problem with Before and After Pictures
        • Returning to Training After a Break
        • Blood Pressure
        • How to Survive the Weekend Without Ruining your diet
    • Nutrition
      • Multivitamins
      • Fish Oil (Omega 3)
      • Vitamin D
      • Tracking What You Eat (MyFitnessPal)
      • Caffeine
      • Magnesium
      • Gift Vouchers
      • Are Your Friends and Family Sabotaging Your Diet?
      • Healthy Eating on a Budget
      • Supplements
      • Alcohol and Training
      • Creatine
      • 10 Foods That Are Great For Bulking
    • Real World Fitness
      • 8 Reasons You Should Look For a New Personal Trainer
      • Why Choose Real World Fitness?
      • Client Results: Only Training Two Days a Week
      • Personal Trainer in Nottingham
      • Gym in Nottingham
      • Outdoor Group Fitness Training in Nottingham
      • Most Personal Trainers Are Useless.
      • PAR-Q
    • Equipment and Books
      • Weightlifting Belt
  • Prices
  • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Booking
Search

Keys to Success - Intensity, Consistency and Time


When I started training, I spent hours reading trying to find the optimal way to train and the perfect diet. I thought everything had to be perfect in order for me to get bigger and stronger. I wanted to do the perfect amount of volume, optimal amount of frequency of exercises, form had to be ‘internet forum’ perfect and I needed to consume the correct ratio of carbs, fat and protein. I kept changing programs as I was always looking for the perfect program and the missing link. The program hopping was stopping me from progressing.


As I progressed I realised that none of this stuff really mattered. The three things that were always there when I made progress were
  • Intensity
  • Consistency
  • Time.
"Training is 85-90% effort and consistency and 10-15% programming/knowledge."
Jim Wendler

Effort

When I talk about effort, I'm talking about the intensity of effort you put into your workout. This is something missing from most people's workouts. 

How often do you see people spend their time in the gtm talking instead of training? 

Or playing on their phone resulting in taking longer rest between sets?

Are you 100% focused when doing a set?

I see very few people training with any intensity and actually putting some effort in.


A lot of people haven’t ever exerted themselves physically in their life. As a result, once they start a training program they only know how to exert themselves to a level that won’t produce results. Often they will believe they are exerting themselves, but they have much more in them. 
​

Leg training is where you see it most. Leg training is hard and uncomfortable. It’s not unusual to see someone stop a set believing they could only do one or two reps when in reality they had five+ reps left in the tank. They give up at the first sign of discomfort. 
This doesn’t mean you should push your sets  to failure, but it does mean you need to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
​

Consistency

I’m talking about the consistently training with the intensity I mentioned above.
Lots of people train hard for a short period, but then they stop training. They’ll train hard for weeks and then stop training for months. They come back back to the gym insisting they’ll stick to it and again last a short time. The  stop-start cycle continues and they never make any progress.  Training hard is important, but problems arise when people allow the intensity to interfere with consistency. No single workout, no matter how good it was, matter that much.

Instead, what matters is putting in consistent work and making improvements over a long period of time. 
Training is a marathon, not a sprint.

Time

It takes time to build strength, gain muscle, get fitter and lose fat (though losing fat can be done fairly quickly). While you will get quicker results when you first start training, to achieve anything that’s impressive will take time and consistency. 
​
If you’re 30 years old and out of shape it’s unrealistic to expect that you’ll undo it in a couple of months. It takes time to build muscle. If you’re underweight and want to gain muscle it will takes a long time of consistent effort. There aren’t any short cuts. Don't train for 3 months and then be shocked you don't look like someone who has trained for years.
​

If you train with intensity, consistency for a long time, you'll suceed no matter what else you do.

​If fail to do one of these you will fail no matter what you do.
​These are the three things that are needed. Even now, if I’m not making progress and look at these three things and I’ll always find I’m slacking on one of them. The program I’m following doesn’t matter that much if these three things aren’t there.

I’ve made great progress following the most basic training program ever. I remember squatting 140kg x 7. Over three months the only weight I used was 140kg and built it upo to 14 reps. I then did the same for 160kg, 180kg and got up to 200kg x 7 reps. If I had posted this plan on an internet forum I would have been laughed at and told it was stupid. However I trained extremely hard, was consistent and was patient enough to see the results. 

I'm not saying the program you do doesn't matter, but I have seen people succed following all kinds of training. 
Nail the basics and train consistently with intensity for a long time and you will succeed

Prices

Home

Reviews

Copyright © 2015
  • Home
  • Articles
    • Exercise Guide
      • Lower Body Exercises 1
        • Stiff Legged Deadlift
        • Hip Thrust
        • Back Squat
        • Glute Ham Raise
        • Trap Bar Deadlift
        • Deadlift
        • Leg Press
        • Romanian Deadlift
        • Safety Bar Squats
        • Bulgarian Split Squat
        • Good Morning
        • Front Squat
        • Paused Squats
        • Calf Raises
      • Upper Body Push Exercises
        • Bench Press
        • Overhead Press
        • Incline Bench Press
        • Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
        • Close Grip Bench Press
        • Dumbbell Bench Press
        • Low to High Cable Crossover
        • Standing Cable Fly
        • Dips
        • Pin Overhead Press
        • Floor Press
        • Lateral Raise
        • Arnold Press
      • Upper Body Pull
        • Pull ups and chin ups
        • Shrug
        • Seal Rows
          • Face Pulls
        • Band Pull Apart
        • Dumbbell Row
        • Rear Delt Rows
        • Prone rows
        • T-Bar Machine Row
      • Arm Exercises
        • Dumbbell Curls
        • Hammer Curls
        • Cross Body Hammer Curls
        • Tricep Push Down
        • Barbell Curl
      • Farmers Walk
      • Core Exercises
        • Grip Exercises
        • Reverse Hyper
        • Cable Side Bends
        • Wheel Roll Outs
    • Strength and Gaining Muscle
      • 330 Method
      • Dead Stop vs Touch and Go Deadlifts
      • Macro loading-Dan John-Big Plates
      • Linear, Wave and Step Loading
      • 6 Mistakes When Trying to Gain Muscle
      • Push-Pull-Legs Training Split
      • Record Your Lifts to Improve Your Form
      • Rest-Pause Sets
      • Not Everyone Can Deadlift
      • Breaking Through Plateaus
      • Myo-Reps Sets
      • Drop Set
      • Strength Training for Old Age
      • Cluster Sets
      • Five Ways to Progress Without Increasing the Weight
      • 50% Sets
      • 350 Method
      • Super Sets
      • Gallon of Milk a Day (GOMAD)
      • Two Days a Week Strength Training Program
      • Density Training for Strength
      • Double Progression
      • How to do Warm Up Sets (Ramping Up)
    • General Training and Health
      • General Training 1
        • The Importance of Consistency
        • Starting Personal Training When You're Older
        • The Importance of Mobility Work
        • Can You Target Certain Areas of the body to Reduce Fat From?
        • Women and Strength Training
        • MyFitnessPal
        • Training in Your Late Thirties
        • How to Survive the Weekend Without Ruining Your Diet
        • Common Questions From Clients
        • Do You Need to Push Yourself to The Limit?
        • Dangers Of Health Risks Associated with Obesity
        • Rehab After Injury (Tearing Rotator Cuff)
        • Six Pack Abs
        • Training with Lupus
        • Boxing Pad Work
        • Hill Sprints
      • General Training 2
        • Mainstream Media on Nutrition
        • Sleep
        • Cardio and Conditioning Exercises
        • Healthy Shoulders (Face Pulls and Band Pull Aparts)
        • SETTING GOALS - S.M.A.R.T
        • Body Transformation
        • Tips on Losing Weight
        • How to Deal With Bad Workouts
        • Focus on What You Can Do
        • Keys to Success : Intensity, Consistency and Time
        • Walking
      • General Training 3
        • My Gym is Too Busy
        • The biggest mistake beginners make is listening to other beginners
        • When it comes to weight loss, your nutritional habits have a much bigger impact than your training.
        • Strength Training and Osteoporosis
        • The Scales Don't Always Tell The Truth
        • More Exercise is Not Always Better
        • How to Make Cardio Less Boring
        • The Problem with Before and After Pictures
        • Returning to Training After a Break
        • Blood Pressure
        • How to Survive the Weekend Without Ruining your diet
    • Nutrition
      • Multivitamins
      • Fish Oil (Omega 3)
      • Vitamin D
      • Tracking What You Eat (MyFitnessPal)
      • Caffeine
      • Magnesium
      • Gift Vouchers
      • Are Your Friends and Family Sabotaging Your Diet?
      • Healthy Eating on a Budget
      • Supplements
      • Alcohol and Training
      • Creatine
      • 10 Foods That Are Great For Bulking
    • Real World Fitness
      • 8 Reasons You Should Look For a New Personal Trainer
      • Why Choose Real World Fitness?
      • Client Results: Only Training Two Days a Week
      • Personal Trainer in Nottingham
      • Gym in Nottingham
      • Outdoor Group Fitness Training in Nottingham
      • Most Personal Trainers Are Useless.
      • PAR-Q
    • Equipment and Books
      • Weightlifting Belt
  • Prices
  • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Booking