Consistency is key to many facets of health

The quotation would never make a top-100 list. It's neither particularly profound nor does it incorporate clever word play. I imagine I like it because it reveals far more about life than the speaker even considered as well as a little bit about me.

The quotation does not come from one of the great minds of our time, but rather an actress who was on "Night Court," a television comedy show in the 1980s that I didn't find especially funny.

In a long ago interview for TV Guide, Markie Post said, "There's a contentment you find in a routine. Consistency isn't boring. It's the way I like to live."

When I first read it, I thought Post's quote explained why I preferred a patterned life to a random one, why I always ate the same things for a weekend breakfast or a weekday lunch, why I like knowing that if it's a school day Tuesday, I'm lifting weights before I teach and riding the bike for at least two hours afterwards.

Back then, I thought the main reason routine is so pleasing to me is that it, as Post says, produces peace of mind. But I've come to realize that routine creates something equally as important to optimal living: productivity.

It does so because consistency leads to efficiency, and efficiency aids you in any endeavor you choose to do, especially in ones that pertain to your health.

Recently, I met two very different guys who have the same goal: they'd like to become competitive in triathlons even though their former form of exercise was far different. Both were high school football players.

The older one does physical work in a factory, has four children, and he often works overtime. The younger is a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company, has a baby on the way, and needs to travel extensively as part of his job.

Guess which one has developed into the better triathlete so far?

The older guy, and the comparison isn't even close.

And while it's quite possible that the older guy possesses more natural talent, neither believes that's the case. What the older guy tells the younger guy is that his big advantage is his schedule.

Even though the older guy often works overtime, he gets to decide when he works extra. And because his regular work hours remain the same, he can schedule with certainty not only his workouts, but also his recovery meals and his rest.

The younger guy who's on the road all the time often doesn't know his schedule from week to week or sometimes until he arrives at his travel destination. Furthermore, when he flies to conferences, he's at the beck and call of the airlines.

He needs to use whatever equipment the motel maintains for many of his workouts, and he's often not able to pick the foods he uses to fuel and recover from his workouts because he's either eating corporate-sponsored buffets or fancy restaurant food.

I share the story of the two triathletes not to depress those who travel as part of their jobs, but to make this point: consistency is a crucial element to health that can be added to even the most chaotic of situations.

Too many people allow situations to take control of them rather than taking control of situations.

For example, the pharmaceutical rep could pack more than underwear and dress shirts in his suitcase. He could travel with the sports bars or the powders that he feels do the best job of fueling his body and helping it recover. While he still has to attend business dinners at restaurants, he can scarf down a bar or two beforehand and eat lightly there.

And when business meetings occur at businesses or conference centers, they usually don't begin before 9 a.m., which leaves a block of early-morning training time that the young guy doesn't presently use because he's not "a morning person."

For those of you whose lives more closely resemble the older guy's, I can't stress enough how much being consistent helps in an already stable situation.

A couple years ago, I had to shorten a number of those Tuesday after-school rides I previously referred to because of flat bicycle tires. Sometimes the flat would occur during the ride, but just as often the ride would start late because I would enter the garage to find one of the tires had a slow leak from the ride before.

That's why every Sunday afternoon I now take a few minutes to check my tires for cuts and to pump them up. When this is done two days ahead of the ride, I can then use Monday afternoon to double check the tires for a slow leak as well as take my time and not lose riding time the next day if I do need to replace a tube.

While this is only a single example, I believe you can see how designating certain days for always doing the certain things whether they be workout preparation, food preparation, weekly chores, or whatever ultimately saves time. Now it's your job to develop a consistent schedule and stick to it.

My guess is that it'll add to your contentment, but what it will definitely do is make you more efficient and healthier as a result.