Schedule for Consistency
Aim for consistent, scheduled workouts.
If you’ve been reading my newsletter regularly, you know how much stock I put into planning and scheduling your workouts. I recently listened to a podcast in which a listener posed a question about how they could establish a consistent fitness routine. The fitness coach with whom the hosts were talking said that one of the first questions he asks is what time are you planning to workout. His point was if you don’t actually schedule your exercise, the chances you will actually do it decrease significantly the longer the day goes on, ‘noting that its easier for us to let ourselves down versus letting somebody else down.” He went on to say that, especially in the first month of establishing a routine, that he cares more about consistency/frequency than the length of your workouts.
“I don’t have time” is by far and away the biggest reason people cite regarding maintaining a consistent exercise routine. If your approach to exercise is all or nothing, this very well may be the case. I was there. If I didn’t have time to run for 30 or 45 minutes, I was more likely to ditch exercise all together for the day. It took a bit of a mindset change to understand that it was more important to use whatever time was available to me on a given day to get in some form of exercise, versus doing nothing at all.
Let’s get this out of the way. I know everyone has different circumstances, work schedules, family obligations, travel, commutes and anything else you can think of. There is absolutely no one size fits all when it comes to establishing a consistent exercise regimen. The key is finding what works for you.
As I’ve stated many times before, I’m not here to be prescriptive. My suggestions center around figuring out how much time you have and how you can approach working out to give you the best possible chance for success.
Look at your schedule every morning and figure out what time, if any, you have to exercise. It doesn’t matter if it’s 5 minutes or 60 minutes. If you have a window(s) of time, slot in exercise where practical.
Prioritize and break up workouts. I want to spend a little bit of time here, because establishing consistency requires getting some wins under your belt. I have an established weekly workout routine, which consists of 4 days of strength and cardio combined, two days of straight cardio and one day of rest. When I build my schedule each morning, I already know what I want to accomplish from an exercise standpoint. If it’s a strength training day, I am prioritizing the body parts that I want to train first, then factoring in the amount of time that I have to spend exercising. From there, I will build a complete workout that consists of anywhere between 3-7 “micro” workouts in order of priority. Perhaps I want to spend a total of 25 minutes training my shoulders, arms and core and another 30 minutes focused on cardio. Rather than building a 25 minute arms and shoulders workout and then a 30 minute run, I’ll break it up in the following way:
10 minutes of arms and shoulders
5 minutes of core
10 minutes of arms and shoulders
20 minutes of running
10 minutes of running
5 minutes of stretching or other cool down exercise
By breaking up my workouts in this way, I can ensure that I will at least complete the portion of my workout that I’ve deemed most important on a given day. This past week is a good example of how this actually works in practice. My normal routine calls for workouts on Wednesdays through Mondays with Tuesday being a rest day. On Sunday, I was away, but had a 15 minute window and so completed 10 minutes of arms and shoulders and 5 minutes of core. On Monday, knowing that I had a scheduled rest/recovery day on Tuesday, I did extra cardio, but broke it up into morning and evening sessions. I traveled on Friday and yes, literally had no time to workout. Friday would have been my normal cardio day, so did extra cardio on Saturday because I had more time to exercise.
Now you may think that spending 5 or 10 minutes exercising is not beneficial, but I’ve actually found that they can be more beneficial than longer workouts. The workouts are typically more intense because there is less rest time between sets. Even if I have say 20 minutes to train a specific body part, I prefer to break them up into 10 minute sessions as I get a better overall workout in the same amount of time.
Prioritize frequency of exercise versus time spent exercising - Consistency is really about how frequent (e.g., how many days per week) you are exercising. Whether you’re starting out with three days per week or progressing to 5 or six days per week, you have to establish a consistent routine that fits your schedule. If your goal is to exercise 5 days per week, but you have a busy work or family schedule, consider spending 10 - 15 minutes during the week doing some form of exercise on those days you are able to exercise, while increasing the amount of time you exercise on the weekends. Consistency requires commitment, but it doesn’t mean spending all of your available time jamming in exercise. Work up to your goals slowly, but stick to a routine.
One last thought. I know it can be difficult for you to find the time to stay consistent with your exercise. Remembering your goals and why you’re choosing to exercise in the first place can be a significant motivating factor, but don’t sleep on the process. Spend the time each day reviewing your schedule and slot in exercise where it fits in your day. Prioritizing frequency (e.g., days) over time spent exercising will help establish a habit that will be hard to kick!