Building a solid routine is one of the least glamorous, but most effective, ways to make progress towards your fitness, health and performance goals. And while most of us don't need to live with Navy SEAL-level discipline, former SEAL DJ Shipley's approach to consistency offers a few useful lessons – no lieutenant barking orders required.
As Shipley explains, in high-pressure environments such as special operations or elite sport, repetition builds confidence. When interviewed on the Modern Wisdom podcast with Chris Williamson, he shared: 'If you live the routine, if you look at every rep they've ever burnt throughout their entire life and you just replace with a different medium, that is the recipe for success.'
Speaking previously to Men's Health, Shipley explained that consistency has been the foundation of his own training for more than two decades.
'I have never come off it. I have woken up and done fitness Monday through Friday, unbroken for 22-plus years,' he said. 'It doesn't have to be, you know, four hours a day. It can be simple, repeatable movements [that] make you better for longer.'
He says building a routine relies on getting training done first thing in the morning.
'Everybody shows up and everybody does a lift. Everybody. I don't care if you're a marathon runner, whatever. They all do fitness first thing in the morning and then we focus on hard skills the rest of the day.'
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Shipley says this has remained true even when his schedule has been far from conventional.
'As soon as I wake up, I lift. So even if I'm on a vampire-hours schedule overseas and we're really waking up at 8pm, I wake up at 5pm, I lift. I do my walks, I do my protein shake, and then that's my morning routine.'
That doesn't mean every day needs to look like a military training camp. In fact, Shipley also points to the risk of pushing too hard.
'You come back home and it's like, I can't maintain this. I'm not sleeping. I'm not eating right,' he says. 'All the stuff starts to happen to you. You start to erode a little bit of yourself.'
Recovery, he says, doesn't always need to be complicated either.
'A lot of the ones that people overlook are the easiest ones to get – just sleep. Just gotta sleep and stay hydrated, keep the body moving.'
The Takeaway
Build a routine that makes the important things easier, not one that becomes another stick to beat yourself with. Set out your kit the night before, plan your first meal, know when you're training and protect your sleep like it's part of the programme.
Because the best routine isn't the most extreme one. It's the one you can stick to.
If there’s one thing Kori Sampson knows, it’s how to optimise your body composition for performance. To tap into his knowledge as an elite athlete and coach, we asked him to create a 4-week plan to help you move faster, recover quicker and keep pushing when the fatigue sets in – all while improving your muscle-to-fat ratio.
Ready to build muscle, burn fat and come out the other side looking, feeling and performing better? Click here to get 14 days of free access to the plan via the Men’s Health app.
Kate is a fitness writer for Men’s Health UK where she contributes regular workouts, training tips and nutrition guides. She has a post graduate diploma in Sports Performance Nutrition and before joining Men’s Health she was a nutritionist, fitness writer and personal trainer with over 5k hours coaching on the gym floor. Kate has a keen interest in volunteering for animal shelters and when she isn’t lifting weights in her garden, she can be found walking her rescue dog.
