5 Habits to Take into 2026 to Support your Training and Performance

Are you training hard but not seeing the results you expect from your training? You’re not alone. While structured sessions and consistency are essential, progress isn’t driven by training alone. Nutrition and everyday lifestyle habits play a huge role in how well your body adapts, recovers, and performs.

Underfueling is surprisingly common among athletes and active individuals of all levels—from recreational trainers to competitive performers—and it’s often a major reason progress stalls. When your body isn’t adequately supported with enough energy, it struggles to recover, build strength, and improve performance, no matter how hard you train.

As we head into 2026, it’s the perfect time to shift focus from simply “doing more” to supporting your training smarter. Here are five key habits to take into the new year that will help you fuel better, recover stronger, and finally see the results you’ve been working so hard for.

Before diving into specific training strategies or supplements, it’s important to get the basics right. One of the most overlooked yet powerful habits for supporting performance is simply eating regularly. Skipping meals, leaving long gaps between eating, or relying on convenience snacks can quietly undermine your training by limiting energy availability and slowing recovery.

With that in mind, the first habit to take into 2026 is a foundational one—one that supports every session, every recovery day, and every long-term goal.

Eating regular meals is one of the most effective ways to support your training, yet it’s often the habit athletes struggle with the most. Busy schedules, early training sessions, long workdays, and a focus on “eating clean” can all lead to skipped meals or long gaps between eating—sometimes without even realising it.

When you don’t eat consistently, your body spends large portions of the day in a low-energy state. Over time, this can impact training quality, recovery, mood, and even injury risk. You may notice fatigue creeping into sessions, slower progress in strength or endurance, or increased cravings later in the day. Regular meals help prevent this by keeping energy availability steady and giving your body the fuel it needs to adapt to training.

For most athletes, aiming for three main meals per day with 2-3 snacks a day is a strong starting point. Each meal should ideally include a balance of carbohydrates for energy, protein for muscle repair and adaptation, and fats for overall health and satiety. Fibre is also needed daily to support gut health and longevity but this should be avoided pre-training to prevent gastrointestinal side effects...

Regular meals also support recovery beyond the gym or training field. Eating soon after training helps replenish glycogen stores, kick-start muscle repair, and prepare your body for the next session. On rest days, maintaining regular meals is just as important; recovery doesn’t stop just because training does and it's important you sustain a sufficient energy intake to support your ongoing recovery.

If you're struggling to get regular meals around a busy lifestyle and training schedule at the moment things such as setting reminders, planning simple go-to meals, or preparing food ahead of busy days can help. Don't be afraid to rely on some pre-prepared foods to support your energy intake. Think of meals as a non-negotiable part of your training schedule—just like your workouts themselves.

By prioritising regular meals in 2026, you’ll create a solid foundation for better energy, stronger recovery, and more consistent performance, allowing your hard work in training to finally pay off.

Once regular meals are in place, the next step is being more intentional with how and when you fuel around training. Even a well-balanced diet can fall short if your body isn’t supported before and after training sessions.

Carbohydrates play a crucial role in performance, particularly before training. Going into sessions underfueled can lead to early fatigue, reduced intensity, and poorer quality workouts. Including a source of carbohydrates before training helps top up energy stores, supports focus, and allows you to get the most out of each session—whether it’s strength, endurance, or high-intensity work.

Post-training fueling is just as important. Consuming carbohydrates alongside protein after training helps replenish glycogen stores and supports muscle repair and adaptation. This combination sets your body up to recover more effectively and prepares you for your next session, rather than carrying fatigue forward.

Fueling isn’t one-size-fits-all, which is why practicing your fueling strategy is key. Different foods, timing, and quantities will work better for different people and different types of training. Giving your body time to adapt—rather than changing strategies every session—allows you to identify what truly supports your performance and digestion. If you need help with this, book a consultation with me here.

By prioritising pre- and post-training fueling and consistently practicing your approach, you’ll build confidence in your nutrition, reduce the risk of underfueling, and support stronger, more sustainable progress in your training throughout 2026.

Sleep is one of the most powerful recovery tools available to athletes, yet it’s often the first thing sacrificed when life gets busy. No amount of perfect training or nutrition can fully compensate for consistently poor or inadequate sleep.

During sleep, your body carries out essential recovery processes—repairing muscle tissue, restoring energy stores, regulating hormones, and supporting immune function. When sleep is limited, these processes are disrupted, which can lead to reduced performance, slower recovery, increased injury risk, and difficulty building strength or endurance over time.

For most active individuals, aiming for 7–9 hours of sleep per night is a strong target, though individual needs may vary depending on training load and lifestyle demands. Quality matters as much as quantity; consistent sleep and wake times, a calming pre-bed routine, and a sleep-friendly environment can all make a meaningful difference.

Getting enough sleep also supports fueling habits. Poor sleep can affect appetite regulation and decision-making around food, increasing the likelihood of missed meals, inadequate fueling, and poor nutrition choices. Prioritising rest helps reinforce the nutrition habits that support your training.

As you move into 2026, viewing sleep as a non-negotiable part of your training plan—not an optional extra—can be a game-changer for performance, recovery, and long-term progress.

Progress in training isn’t about doing everything at once—it’s about applying the right amount of stress at the right time. Increasing training too quickly, whether it’s volume, intensity, or frequency, can overwhelm your body’s ability to recover and adapt, often leading to plateaus, burnout, or injury.

Gradual progression allows your body to respond positively to training by building strength, endurance, and resilience over time. When increases are too large or too frequent, recovery demands rise sharply, and even well-fueled and well-rested athletes can struggle to keep up, often resulting in injury meaning training comes to a halt.

A sustainable approach to training progression involves making small, planned adjustments and allowing enough time for adaptation. This might look like slowly increasing weekly mileage, adding load to lifts in a structured way, or introducing higher-intensity sessions with adequate recovery built in. Just as importantly, periods of consolidation or reduced load are essential to support long-term progress.

Nutrition and sleep play a key role here. Gradually increasing training while maintaining adequate fueling and rest helps your body adapt rather than simply cope. If training load rises without sufficient nutrition, progress is far less likely to stick.

Taking a patient, progressive approach into 2026 will help you train consistently, reduce injury risk, and build lasting improvements—allowing your hard work to accumulate rather than set you back.

Vitamins and minerals may not get the same attention as macronutrients, but they play a vital role in supporting training, recovery, and overall health. Micronutrients are involved in energy production, muscle function, bone health, immune support, and oxygen transport—making them essential for athletes at every level. They're the tiny cogs that keep the bigger cogs turning.

When intake is inadequate, performance can suffer. Low energy levels, frequent illness, poor recovery, and increased injury risk can all be linked to insufficient micronutrient intake. Athletes with high training loads, restricted diets, or inconsistent eating patterns may be particularly at risk.

The foundation of good micronutrient intake is a varied, balanced diet. Regular meals that include a range of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats help ensure your body receives the vitamins and minerals it needs to function optimally. Iron, calcium, vitamin D, and B vitamins are just a few nutrients commonly important for training performance and recovery.

While supplements can be helpful in certain situations, they shouldn’t replace a nutrient-rich diet. Identifying gaps through blood work or professional guidance can help ensure supplementation is appropriate and effective, rather than unnecessary.

By prioritising micronutrients alongside fueling, sleep, and smart training progression, you’ll support not just performance in 2026, but your long-term health and ability to train consistently for years to come.