You’re juggling a variety of demands, obligations, expectations, requirements, tasks, roles, and responsibilities. You have a lot of important things on your plate, which makes it all too easy for your health and fitness to take a backseat. And, if you’re a knowledge worker with a sedentary job, ignoring your health can zap your energy, negatively affect your productivity, and lead to short- and long-term health issues.
To enjoy a long life, prioritizing health and physical fitness isn’t optional. It’s not just about looking good; it’s about feeling good, building a foundation for long-term wellness, and…
- Increasing your energy and brain power.
- Feeling strong and rested.
- Improving your mobility and mood.
- Enhancing your nutrition.
- Building a foundation for long-term wellness.
As a parent and someone who loves hiking and eating well, I value health, nutrition, and fitness and know the positive impact it can have on my quality of life. I know I am at my best when I am healthy, strong, energized, and flexible, and enjoy the way I feel when I exercise regularly.
But throughout my entire adult life, I’ve struggled to maintain consistency with my nutrition and fitness. Frankly, I’ve started and stopped a nutrition or workout routine more times than I can count on my two hands. Maybe you can relate?
The thing is, my struggle to stick with exercising or eating right isn’t a byproduct of not wanting to work out or not being willing to follow a structured plan. I love that stuff. Every time, I go all-in, start strong, and crush it. I tell myself this time will be the time I stick with it for the long haul. Then, I slowly fall off the wagon and back into my old habits.
Until now.
This year, I once again recommitted to a regular exercise routine, and several months later I’m still going strong, staying consistent, and loving every minute. You might be wondering, “What’s the difference? Why now, when every other time I’ve failed, is working out actually working out?”
The answer: This is the first time I aligned my goals, nutrition plan, and fitness plan with my existing routine, work schedule, and strongest MCode Motivational Dimensions: Achiever, Orchestrator, and Driver. That last one is my secret sauce and it can be yours too!
When you factor your MCode into your exercise or nutrition plan, you create an approach that keeps you interested, engaged, and winning, and when you do that, it’s far easier to stick with no matter how busy your life gets.
8 Core factors that affect fitness success
Achieving lasting fitness results requires more than just hitting the gym or following a diet. You need a plan that fits your lifestyle, aligns with how you’re motivated, gets you excited, and keeps you engaged.
Whether you’re new to fitness or looking to take your progress to the next level, understanding and focusing on eight core factors — goal setting, workout design, nutrition guidance, progress tracking, motivation techniques, recovery strategies, fitness technology, and long-term adherence — can help you establish a routine you can sustain and see the results you crave.
Let’s look closer at each of the eight factors that drive health and fitness success, and see how your MCode can help you stay on track.
1. Goal Setting
Without a goal, it’s easy to lose focus and fall off track. With a goal, you are focused on a clear destination. Whether you want to lose weight, build muscle, get toned, improve endurance, gain energy, or simply feel healthier, you need a specific, realistic, and measurable goal to work toward. Measuring your progress as you work toward a specific goal helps build momentum.
You also need a goal that will motivate you to commit, be accountable, and stick with it.
Your strongest Motivations impact how you think about and approach fitness goal setting. For some, achieving the goal itself provides clarity and focus. For others, how the goal fits into a larger vision or community might be the secret to success. Recognizing what motivates you and aligning your goals with what gets you engaged and excited ensures your goals aren’t just arbitrary but meaningful.
For example:
- Achievers are driven by success and measurable results. Setting clear, quantifiable goals like “add 20 pounds to my deadlift in 6 weeks” or “lose 5 pounds in 30 days” will give them the sense of accomplishment they seek.
- Drivers are motivated by challenge and pushing their limits fuels their competitive spirit. Their fitness goals — like training for a triathlon or mastering a new skill — should stretch them and have them stepping out of their comfort zone.
- Influencers thrive on impact and recognition. Because their progress is often tied to how they inspire and affect others, they thrive when chasing goals with a community or leadership angle, like “lead a fitness class” or “become a fitness coach.”
2. Workout Design
Designing workouts means structuring exercise sessions to align with your fitness goals and preferences. A well-rounded routine typically includes cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and flexibility or mobility work.
A well-designed workout plan ensures you’re not wasting time on ineffective exercises and helps prevent injury. Choosing the right exercise program, signing up for the right fitness class, or customizing your workouts can make them more enjoyable and increase your chances of sticking with them.
When you know your MCode and what gives you energy and drives you to go all in, you can use that knowledge to guide your choice of exercise type, workout program, fitness class, or personal trainer. And, if you work with a personal trainer or fitness coach, they can use your MCode to craft personalized workouts you’ll look forward to!
For example:
- Learners find joy in varied workouts that teach them something new. Functional training, yoga, or martial arts may appeal to them, as these workouts challenge the body and mind.
- Optimizers want efficient, goal-oriented workouts that minimize waste and maximize gains. They might focus on compound movements that deliver the best bang for their buck.
- Orchestrators love structured, well-planned workout routines to follow. A program that provides a clear roadmap for three weeks or three months of progression gives them the structure they crave.
3. Nutrition Guidance
When speaking about the important role nutrition plays in any health, wellness, and fitness plan, I’ve heard numerous trainers say things like, “Abs are made in the kitchen,” or, “Abs are made in the gym and revealed in the kitchen.” Either way, the message is clear: good nutrition supports healthy goals and you can’t out-exercise a poor diet.
Proper nutrition boosts energy, fuels your workouts, aids recovery, and supports your overall health. A well-balanced diet makes all the difference in how quickly and effectively you reach your fitness goals. Nutrition can also be one of the most challenging aspects of fitness. Some people thrive on structure, planning, and meal prepping, while others need flexibility and variety to stay motivated.
For example:
- Drivers enjoy experimenting with performance-based nutrition, such as carb-loading before big workouts or trying intermittent fasting to push their limits. Challenges around eating habits will keep them motivated.
- Relators will thrive with communal or family-based nutrition plans. They might enjoy cooking healthy meals with loved ones or joining a nutrition challenge with friends.
- Visionaries connect their eating habits to their larger life goals, such as adopting a plant-based diet to support a vision of sustainability or eating for longevity.
4. Progress Tracking
As you work toward your goal, complete your workouts, and follow your nutrition plan, you also must track your progress and measure improvements. Tracking weight changes, body measurements, strength gains, flexibility, or even how your clothes fit keeps you motivated by showing tangible results.
Seeing improvement, even in small increments, reminds you that your hard work is paying off.
Depending on how you’re motivated, the way you track progress will vary. Some people love detailed data, while others prefer to focus on how they feel or how their performance changes over time. The key is to track what is most interesting to you.
For example:
- Achievers enjoy tracking every detail, from weight to performance metrics. Progress is their fuel and seeing their numbers improve motivates them to keep chasing their goal.
- Learners track progress through skill acquisition. They may not be as concerned with traditional metrics like weight loss but will focus on mastering new movements, learning techniques, and gaining knowledge.
- Orchestrators create or use highly organized systems like a fitness journal, exercise charts, or an app to log every workout and meal to track progress. The structure of consistent tracking is motivating.
5. Motivation Techniques
Motivation is how you stay on track with your fitness plan, even when it feels hard, you don’t want to exercise, or results aren’t immediately visible. Adding motivation techniques to your routine that align with your core motivations can make it easier for you to keep showing up, keep making progress, and achieve your goals.
Everyone is motivated differently so what works for someone else may not work for you.
From setting small, achievable milestones you can celebrate along the way, to using a reward system, finding a workout buddy, or changing up your routine to avoid boredom, understanding what drives you is essential to ensuring your plan for staying healthy is doable, enjoyable, and sustainable.
For example:
- Influencers are motivated by recognition and impact. They’ll stay engaged if they feel they’re inspiring or helping others. Sharing their journey on social media or leading a fitness group might fuel their motivation.
- Optimizers are motivated by efficiency and results, so they’ll thrive with data-driven progress. They might track performance metrics or experiment with new methods to optimize their routine.
- Relators are motivated by relationships and support, so working out with a friend or joining a fitness community will keep them engaged. They draw energy from shared experiences and mutual accountability.
6. Recovery Strategies
Rest is just as important as exercise and recovery is about allowing your body to repair itself between workouts. Without proper rest and recovery, you’re more likely to experience injury or fatigue. Adding active recovery to your fitness routine helps you stay consistent and avoid setbacks as you work toward your fitness goals.
Recovery includes activities like stretching, foam rolling, getting adequate sleep, eating well, and paying attention to hydration. Some people are motivated by optimizing every aspect of their performance and see recovery as a vital part of their commitment to being healthy. Others who are motivated differently may be tempted to skip recovery and might need to make it social or tie it into a larger goal.
For example:
- Drivers may initially resist recovery because they’re focused on gains and intensity. But knowing that rest improves performance and recovery helps push their limits keeps them motivated.
- Optimizers seek out the most effective, time-efficient recovery techniques, such as active stretching or using tools like foam rollers and massage guns to maximize rest in minimal time.
- Visionaries connect recovery to their broader health and well-being. They use recovery time to reflect on their progress and how it supports their long-term goals, which keeps them motivated.
7. Fitness Technology
Technology, like fitness apps, wearable exercise trackers, smartwatches, heart rate monitors, and online fitness platforms help you stay accountable and informed. Whether you want to log your workouts, track your weight, monitor your daily steps, or track your calorie intake/burn, or get real-time feedback on things like your sleep patterns and heart rate, they offer valuable insights into your overall health.
Your use of fitness technology will likely depend on the motivations driving your commitment. Some people find data empowering, while others use technology as a way to stay connected with a community or simplify their routine.
For example:
- Achievers use technology to track progress and measure their steps, calories burned, or weights lifted, as these provide tangible evidence of their fitness accomplishments.
- Influencers use technology to share their fitness journey. Their use of social media or tracking apps that allow them to post updates and inspire others encourages them to keep showing up.
- Relators use social fitness apps to connect with friends, join group challenges, or share workouts. Technology that fosters community will keep them engaged.
8. Long-Term Adherence
Fitness is a lifelong journey, not a quick sprint. Finding an enjoyable and sustainable approach is the secret to not burning out or quitting. It’s also what leads to long-term adherence — the ability to stick with your fitness and health plan over time, even when things get hard and life gets busy.
If you seek to create a long-term lifestyle change, your plan must:
- Fit your lifestyle
- Be baked into your daily routine
- Align with what motivates you
Some people need new challenges, some need consistent structure, and some need or community engagement to keep going for the long term. To stick with your plan for the long haul, you may need to adjust your workouts as your schedule or priorities change or focus on maintaining a consistent, balanced approach rather than perfection.
For example:
- Learners stay engaged by exploring new aspects of fitness. They might change routines or programs regularly so they can dive into different aspects of their health, like mobility training or nutrition science.
- Orchestrators stick to their plan if it’s well-organized, fits their overall schedule, and gives them clear progress benchmarks. They stay motivated by the consistency and structure of their routine, adjusting when needed to maintain balance.
- Visionaries remain committed when their fitness routine aligns with their big-picture life goals. Connecting daily habits to their vision of healthy living keeps them inspired and moving forward.
Health, well-being, and motivation
Fitness and nutrition play a huge role in your overall health and well-being. Big or small, taking steps to improve your physical activity, diet, and recovery practices can have profound, long-term benefits for your physical, emotional, and mental health.
Earlier, I shared that after years of several starts and stops, I finally found a fitness and nutrition approach that works for me. The difference was discovering my MCode. Once I understood the elements I need to succeed — to engage, persist even when things get tough, and achieve my goals — I made them a part of my routine.
- As an Achiever, I need opportunities to win and receive recognition and rewards. So, I chose a fitness platform that offers many three-week and 30-day fitness programs, tracking that provides recognition for consistency, and badges for completing workouts and programs.
- As an Orchestrator, I crave clear structure and systems and prefer to have a hand in creating the plan I follow. This led me to create a documented, personalized nutrition and fitness plan that tells me exactly what to do each day.
- As a Driver, I want to improve, see gains, make progress, and leap over any hurdles in my way. By benchmarking my starting measurements and limits, and setting progressive goals that push me past what I can currently do, I see my progress and stay motivated.
While most people use the MCode assessment in the workplace, to help individuals, teams, leaders, and organizations perform at their best, its application extends to all aspects of life.
- When you understand what energizes you and prompts you to get involved, and what drains you and makes you feel apathetic, you can leverage that knowledge to ensure you show up at your best and thrive.
- When incorporated into your fitness routine, your MCode will empower you consistently to show up for yourself, get it done, stick with it, and achieve your goals.
If you’ve already completed the MCode assessment, log into your dashboard and review your personalized MCode report. Check out the strongest, most prominent motivations that will get you up and moving your body, and the weakest, least prominent motivations that will keep you sitting on the couch.
If you haven’t taken the MCode assessment yet, what are you waiting for?! The MCode Lite assessment and personalized report is just $19 — and if you’re anything like me, your results could mean the difference between another false start and finally hitting your fitness goals.
