Let’s start with a bit of a harsh truth: getting in shape isn’t that complicated.
We all know it deep down that the steps to looking and feeling great are actually pretty obvious:
- Train hard.
- Eat well.
- Make good lifestyle choices.
So why do some people get into the best shape of their lives — while others stay stuck, spinning their wheels for years?
The answer is consistency. You have to train hard, eat well, and make good lifestyle choices consistently. If you can do that, it’s almost impossible not to get results.
So, perhaps the real question is: why do some people manage to stay consistent — while others keep falling off?
Here’s a secret: It’s not willpower. It’s not motivation. And it’s definitely not some clever workout or diet plan.
The truth is: these people have built themselves into the kind of person who is able to show up — no matter how they feel. They have a foundation of discipline and capability. And that changes everything.
I had to learn this the hard way. For years, I was all over the place. I would start strong, only to fizzle out after a week — sometimes even just a few days. I couldn’t stick to my diet. I was inconsistent with training. I struggled to make good lifestyle choices. No surprise, my results were just as messy.
It wasn’t because I didn’t want it. I really wanted it. I just wasn’t capable of doing what it took — consistently.
Today, I’m a different person.
I train hard. I eat well (ish — but, that’s for another post!). I make good choices even when I don’t feel like it.
I’m not perfect. Not at all. I mess up from time to time. But here’s another secret — you don’t have to be perfect. Importantly, I’m consistent enough to get great results, and because of that I look and feel the best I ever have in my life.
So, let’s dig into this. Here are three examples of how this kind of capability plays out in real life — and how you can start building it for yourself.
Example 1: My Training + Eating Last Week
Here’s a snapshot of my training and eating from the last couple of weeks.
I still get a bit blown away when I look at what I get done in a typical week now.
The crazy thing is — this kind of week is normal for me now. Now, I’m not saying it’s “easy”… but it’s also genuinely not hard for me to sustain.
That wasn’t the case a few years ago. Back then, I’d have been lucky to hit even half of that. And, only if everything lined up perfectly.
So, what changed?
No surprise: I built seven foundational health habits into my life. Those habits make this level of consistency feel automatic.
Like I said — it’s not about willpower or being fired up. It’s capability and discipline — built slowly and deliberately over time.
Example 2: The Marathon Runner
You’ve probably seen this before — maybe you’ve even lived it yourself?
Someone signs up for a marathon. Suddenly, they’re training like never before. Sometimes they go from completely sedentary, to running most days.
They totally pull it off. They finish the marathon. Which, by the way, is an epic achievement!
But what happens next?
They stop. Training falls off a cliff. The motivation disappears.
Why? If they were able to train so consistently before the marathon, why don’t they keep going afterward?
Here’s my theory. They were being pulled forward by external accountability — the fear of failing publicly, the fixed deadline, the pressure, maybe even the charity donations.
But underneath all that? They didn’t build the internal capability to train consistently without those crutches. As soon as the external accountability disappeared, so did the ability to put in the kind of training weeks they had previously been doing.
It’s easy to find short-term hacks, or even in the case of a marathon, a huge dose of external accountability. It might work for a while — but it doesn’t last.
Example 3: A Day Last Week
Last week, I had one of those days — low energy, tired, just not feeling it. I felt pretty crappy.
It was tempting to shrug off what I had to do and laze about feeling sorry for myself. A few years ago, I would’ve done exactly that. It would’ve turned into a second bad day, then a third, and inevitably into a much longer bad streak.
But on that crappy day last week, I still trained, ate well, hit my steps, and stuck to most of my habits.
A few years ago, that kind of day would’ve been hard to hit even when I was feeling at my best. Now? I can do it when I’m feeling close to my worst. Days like that have become my baseline.
That’s what changes when you build a foundation of discipline and capability.
You get the important stuff done, regardless of how you feel.
That type of consistency is the difference between getting the results you want — or mostly none at all.
Final Thoughts
I hope those examples helped drive home how critical it is to build foundational health habits into your life.
Most people aren’t getting the results they want because they’re shying away from building capability — or often they’re not even sure that’s what’s actually missing. They’re chasing tactics or the next quick fix, instead of working on becoming someone who can actually do the work.
Here’s the harsh reality: if you haven’t built yourself into someone who can do the basics consistently — no hack, no program, and no diet will work. You won’t follow through long enough to see results.
Instead, go back to the basics. Build your base. Rebuild yourself from the ground up — into a different human being.
Do that by building the seven powerful foundational health habits into your life.
When you do, you’ll finally break the cycle and get into the best shape of your life. You’ll feel capable and you’ll be in control. And you might just surprise yourself with how consistent you’ll be able to be.
Ultimately, you’ll realise you’ve been playing on difficult mode this whole time.
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