Tell me if this sounds familiar:
1) You're a wee stressed for some reason.
2) You're tired as hell.
3) You don't have the energy, let alone the motivation to exercise.
Very often, trying to fit in weekly exercise time seems like a cross between drinking cold instant decaf and finding out that "Kim's Convenience" ends after season five. Which is an absolute TRAVESTY btw.
Its the best show since "Ted Lasso" I've seen in a while. Although, "Letterkenny" is right up there too. How are ya now????
At any rate, if your weekly schedule insanity sneak attacks your ability to exercise, I've got you covered. I'm going to give you 10 really simple tips on how to not only manage that, but get ahead of the whole thing.
The 10 Keys To Fitting In Fitness
1) Stop Working Out
One of the best ways to get some kind of workout in during the week, is to STOP working out. Yes, stop working out. Instead, develop a consistent movement habit.
There is a lot less stress to committing to move a little more each week than there is to "GO BIG OR GO HOME!!! #BEASTMODE!!" forcing yourself to stick to a rigid workout program.
2) Go For A Walk
To quote my favorite scruffy headed nerf herder, "she may not look like much kid, but she's got it where it counts." A walk may not seem like much, but keeping in mind developing your movement habit is the goal, it takes on a lot more importance.
Will a simple walk make all of your fitness dreams come true? No. However, simply committing to walking gets you in the mindset of moving more.
Moving more means you're getting more exercise during your week. See where I'm going with this?
Hoofing it around the neighborhood just may be the gateway drug to getting you into resistance exercises of some sort as well.
3) Keep Your Equipment In The Same Place
This is probably one of the easiest things to do to get in consistent movement. Routines love predictability. Predictability and being organized go hand in hand.
The more accessible your exercise equipment is, the more apt you are to use it. Clear away as many barriers to entry as possible and developing your habit will be a lot more manageable.
4) 20 IS Plenty
You DON'T need an hour to exercise. Once again for those in the back. You DON'T need an hour to exercise. Having this expectation adds more pressure to the proceedings making it that much harder to move consistently.
If you're short on time and long on motivation, 20 (minutes) is plenty. This can be broken down into:
A single 20 minute block of moving.
Two 10 minute blocks of exercise.
Moving for 5 minutes four times over the course of your day works.
Moving for 4 minutes five times throughout the day is a solid way to go too.
You get the idea. Even small bouts of movement can bring a big sense of accomplishment!
5) Do Fewer Exercises
If you're strapped for time, the last thing you need is to tax your brain even more. Trying to plan a really detailed workout to address every sub atomic particle of PE your body needs, takes a lot of head juice. I know this firsthand because I do it for about 50 people each week.
When I'm exhausted after a long day, the last thing I want is to think about what I'm going to do. Here's the way around that.
Pick three movements, set a timer for :30 of moving, rest for :30-:45 and GO! Take about 3-5 laps of this depending on how you feel.
One of the more effective ways to do this is to use a squat, a push and a pull. Save yourself the brain agony and use the most basic variation of each movement.
Remember, you just want to move to feel better from the neck up. Keep things as simple as possible from the neck down, and your chances of feeling better will go way up.
6) Schedule Time To Move
Things that get recorded get measured. Putting things in a calendar (complete with reminders on your phone) makes this easier to do.
When you schedule something, IMHO, you've just committed to doing it to some extent. You've told your brain "on this day, at this time, we're going to do the thing." This is a great way to get into a routine. Routines build habits. Consistent habits bring results.
Get into the habit of routinely committing to developing your habit. Yes, that's redundant, but the point bares repeating: If you schedule it, you're more likely to do it.
7) Find Some Fitness Friends
Groups are an incredible accountability tool. When you commit to a group of people, you're a lot more likely to stick to something. Plus, we all need more community these days!
Even connecting with one fitness friend can keep you on track. A Zoomercise with friends session is only a screen tap away.
Here's where the whole scheduling thing comes in handy. I've got a group of "Fouth Mouth Fitness" friends that get together at the same time every week.
Many a time this scheduled appointment has gotten me off the couch and into my backyard to move. At which point, I feel a lot better and I'm glad I did it.
8) Know You're When
Knowing when the best time to move for you is a hell of a lot more important than what you do (more on that in a minute). If you hate mornings with the passion of 1,000 burning suns, guess what?
Moving earlier in your day will be akin to trying to push rain back into a cloud. That was my very poor attempt (its ok if you agree) to say if you're not a morning person, exercise later in the day. The reverse also rings true if you love morning movement sessions.
We all have our prime time player position on the clock. Find yours and the chances of developing your consistent movement habit go up a ton.
9) Know Your What
Ok, so now you're thinking about when your best when is. Well done, now figure out your what.
When people ask me "what's the best exercise to do?" I always answer "the one you will."
Pretty simple right? You'd think so.
Hate kettlebells but love bands? Then get the band together and have at it.
Much like doing what you love means never working a day in your life, the same applies to exercise.
10) You're Exhausted? GREAT!!! Then Just Do One Rep.
If you've gotten down this far, well done. It shows me you're either incredibly tolerant of my sense of humor, or this information is shaping up to help you quite a bit. Either way, much appreciated.
One of the biggest blocks to consistently moving throughout the week is not having the energy to drive your motivation to move. This is why the one rep trick works really well.
When you're cooked, the hardest rep is always the first one. It has been a rare occasion when I've gotten myself to the first rep that 20-30 minutes later, quite a few more have been done.
Weird thing about fitness. It's a compound investment. Make your first deposit, and things have a funny way of taking care of themselves from there.
Is It Really This Simple?
The long answer is yes. The short answer is the same. Simple doesn't always mean easy, stacking the deck in your favor goes a long way to help.
With home fitness right now, moving more and working out less is going to be one the most effective ways to develop a consistent movement habit.
Don't complicate things by trying to "crush your workout sesh" to tell your fitfam about on social media. Basics work best, so move accordingly!
If you need help putting together a plan to get your movement habit developed, I may just know of someone who can help with that. Click here, and we can set up a quick call and see how I can help you come up with your plan!