Behaviour & Consistency

Why a simple plan beats an optimal one

For most people over 50 the constraint is implementation, not knowledge. Cutting the number of decisions usually does more for results than adding more detail.

5 min read

The people who train with me in Reigate rarely lack information about health. They read, they listen, they broadly know what to do. The gap sits between knowing and doing, and extra detail tends to widen it rather than close it.

Every additional variable in a plan is another decision, and decisions are the expensive part of a full week. A plan with four moving parts gets done. One with fourteen gets argued over every morning until, without any announcement, it stops happening.

What a simple plan looks like

  • Two strength sessions on fixed days and at fixed times — mine are booked like any other appointment.
  • A default meal pattern for ordinary days rather than a new menu every week.
  • One rule about rest you will not bend, which for most people is going to bed at the same time.
  • A reduced version to fall back on in your hardest weeks.

A plan that only works in a calm week is not finished.

Optimisation is worth having eventually. It is worth having after consistency, not instead of it. In practice that is why one-to-one coaching works: the session is in the diary, the plan is already written, and you turn up and do it.

  • Simplicity
  • Design

Related

Behaviour & Consistency

The Destination Postcard: deciding who you are becoming

Nearly everyone who walks into the Reigate studio describes tasks — train more, eat better. A clear picture of the person you intend to be at 70 makes the everyday decisions far easier.

6 min read

The Resilient Life

Prefer to listen?

Chris covers the same ground in conversation on the podcast, and every episode can be played here on the site.

Next step

Work out what to change first

A Free Discovery Session at the private personal training studio in Reigate is the simplest way to turn any of this into a plan that fits your week. Strength training after 50, honestly assessed, in person.