The Stages of Change Model (Transtheoretical model of change)

Those of us who train all year round will fully appreciate this blog, but it’s actually not aimed at you. This blog is aimed at those people who want change, but for some reason can’t ever quite make it happen. Now we have all been there, you go to the gym at the same time, on the same day to do your workout. It may be chest day, or legs day, or it may be a HIIT session or even a class, whatever your goals and your training, this time is yours and it’s precious. Christmas has been and gone, and a new year begins. You walk into the gym, but something is different. Something is wrong and it only ever happens for a short time each year and to every regular gym goer it is the thing of nightmares.

The gym is FULL of New Years resolutioners. This phenomenon only occurs for about 3-4 weeks once a year, then normal service is resumed. But in that time, all the equipment is being used, the classes are rammed, there are no parking spaces in the car park, no dumbbells are replaced correctly, and not a free treadmill in sight! It isn’t just the gym goers that feel it. The pavements and parks are full of runners, and “diets” are started by millions of people with all the right intentions, but usually by the second week of February on average a whopping 80% of them have given up.

Dear reader I ask you this. Have you ever started something and not been able to follow through? Or been in the swing of a fitness regime and had a knock back and never quite managed to get “back on the horse”? I think most people have experienced this and understanding the “WHY” in this situation will give you more chance of success, and that “why” is all down to where you are on the “Stages of Change Model”.

Developed by Prochaska and DiClemente in 1983, this model basically categorises the stages of intentional behavioural change that an individual goes through. These stages are:

1.      Precontemplation

2.      Contemplation

3.      Preparation

4.      Action

5.      Maintenance

6.      Relapse

For successful behavioural change, an individual must go through the stages in order from 1-5 and stay in stage 5 for as long as possible. There is a 6^th stage as you can see, this stage, the relapse stage however, can occur after any of the previous stages. I have been in this stage with regards to exercise on more than one occasion, my leg break put me out of training for a year, my ruptured disk for a similar amount in time, and the pandemic are three main reasons for myself falling into relapse when it comes to exercise, so let me explain the stages in a bit more detail.

1. Precontemplation – Simply put, if you are in this stage, you are not even thinking about making a change, this is where everyone is at first. You are certainly not ready and don’t intend on making a change soon (usually measured at around 6 months). Something needs to change so you can move to stage 2, this may be advice from someone that will benefit you or even seeing someone else achieve something like losing weight and inspiring you to want to do the same.

2. Contemplation – After precontemplation comes the contemplation stage, it is quite self-explanatory. You are now contemplating making change within the next 6 months. You are much more aware of the pros to making a change, but you are also weighing up the cons as well. Depending on these factors and the individual circumstances and personalities, people can stay in this stage for very long periods of time.

3. Preparation – Once in this stage you are officially ready to make a change. The pros have outweighed the cons, and you are now planning how you can achieve this change you want. What is it you need to do to make this goal happen? Who do you need to hire or ask for help? Do you need to join a gym or what space/equipment do you need? Once you have worked these out you then go and put them all in place, you are ready.

4. Action – Everything is in place now and you start. It still feels like effort, you must make yourself get up and go, but you are in the right mindset to make it happen and do it. You still have those days where you don’t feel like doing it or think to yourself “maybe I’ll just leave it to tomorrow” but you don’t listen to that voice, you slightly reluctantly get it done and at the end of it you are so glad you did. As the weeks go on you are finding things less like a chore, you are noticing changes both physically and mentally and before you know it you are in the next stage . . . .

5. Maintenance – You are in the maintenance stage. The thought of missing a session doesn’t even cross your mind, in fact, you move things around in your busy lifestyle to make sure it happens. This is where you want to be, and this is the stage where you can achieve your goals. As you can see it takes time to get here and you must go through the stages of change in the correct order and for the right amount of time too, but if you do then the world is your oyster, and you can achieve that change.

6. Relapse – Unfortunately it isn’t that simple. The reason you need to have completed each stage correctly and in order to be successful is because at ANY stage of this process you can relapse, and depending on the severity of the relapse you may even go all the way back to stage 1. Relapse can happen for many different reasons, but the most common are skipping a stage or two or not completing a stage correctly.

Having read this blog, it might now make sense as to why 80% of new year’s resolutions fail. People have Christmas, and then a couple of days before New Years they set out their resolutions which commonly consist of exercise and diet changes to “lose weight” or “get healthier”. The next day they join a gym and over the next few weeks start training. They are not sure what they are doing or how hard to push, too self-conscious to ask for help and unfortunately, they don’t get any results. Then comes the excuses “it’s too hard”, “it’s too much effort”, “there is no support”, “I don’t have time”. Motivation drops and their old habits start to creep back in and everyone around them who is achieving is either lucky, obsessive or they have good genes.

In the above example they have gone from precontemplation to contemplation to action, skipping preparation and they have done this in the space of about 7 days. I do hope this has made sense and that the next time you want to make a change, you apply this model and increase your chances of success. The other point that really doesn’t make any sense to me is why people wait until January to make a change. Start the process now if you are ready and it is something you want to do! Good luck everyone and I thank you for reading.