How to Stay Consistent with Exercise

You don’t need a $2000 piece of gym equipment or regular gym memberships to have a consistent exercise routine! Here is how to set an exercise schedule you can love.

How do you stay consistent when it comes to exercise? That is the number one question I get from clients I work with. After all, we all have times in life when we stop exercising- either due to personal circumstances such as injury, work, family commitments, or to external circumstances, such as ending a gym membership or being stuck inside for winter.

The good news is- anyone can establish a consistent exercise routine! Even if they haven’t been successful at this before, or tend to go through waves of activity followed by inactivity.

But first of all, let’s talk about motivation. Not everyone enjoys exercise. If you don’t enjoy exercise for the endorphins you release when working out, then you might seek other ways to motivate yourself to get started.

This could include budget-friendly ways to join a gym, or healthcare reimbursement plans. Most healthcare reimbursement plans will give you “points” towards working out a certain number of times a month and refund you a certain dollar amount on your coverage. So the main motivating factor is not necessarily the benefits of exercise or fitness, it’s all about the money. That’s mistake number one- looking for a financial benefit to going to the gym.

What about gyms that offer super-low ways to get started, some as low as $10 to enroll? That is great, if you already love working out in gyms, or if you are reasonably certain that a gym is the right place for you to get fit.

If both of those conditions aren’t met, then even $10 is a waste of your money (especially 6 months later when you realize you have already spent $300 on that “low-cost” membership you don’t use).

Another reason gyms are not so good for the majority of us is most women who join a gym are joining for the community or social aspect of it. Maybe there’s a group exercise class that they really enjoy, or they meet a friend there, maybe they even have a smoothie at the café there or something. The more time you indulge in community building at your gym, the less likely you are actually spending time on your fitness. So you don’t need the membership fees if your primary focus is to get fit.

(Want to know whether you benefit more from gym workouts or home workouts? Try the Workout Style quiz, and get moving the RIGHT way!)

Now that we know some of the limitations of financial incentives and gym memberships, let’s talk about how to plan your consistent exercise routine.

First of all, you need to choose an exercise that works with your limitations today. So even if you are super excited about learning a new thing, don’t choose an activity with movement you have never done or are intimidated by. If you are intrigued by Cross-fit, don’t start with the intent of entering full-on beast mode on Day 1. You probably will be disappointed during your first several sessions.

It is very tempting to jump right into a very aggressive exercise plan if it has been awhile for you. Yet, small gains in exercise are better than not exercising at all. Plus, you can avoid injury if you start with those small gains.

Here’s an example. If you found yourself couch-surfing for the last several months, and suddenly you want to “start again”. You might say “I’m going to walk every day for 45 minutes.”. Great plan!

Except you walk 45 minutes on day one and then on day two, you think “Oh, I did really good yesterday- I’ll skip today.” And on day three maybe you’ll go for half an hour, because you know time is limited and you’re very busy, those sorts of things happen. The point is NOT to fight the limited time you do have- but to make the best use of that time.

The best way to avoid this trap and to stay consistent with exercise is to commit to a minimum amount of continuous movement on specific days of the week (someday is not one of them!)

It doesn’t matter if that commitment is 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or the recommended 30 minutes a day. If you can carve 15 to 20 minutes out of your day, you’re doing awesome. And, actually write down (or put a note on your phone) which specific days of the week you will exercise (this is the only time when group fitness classes trump working out solo- there is a predetermined schedule that you HAVE to commit to). This is how to create a consistent exercise routine.

For example, when I was training for my half marathon, I knew exactly which days of each week I would be running, and the mileage or time I had for each run. More than knowing, I put it on my calendar, and received reminders of which days that was. If for some reason, family priorities reared their head on a run day, I edited my digital calendar to the next available slot when I was going to run (within the same week).

I did the same thing when I pivoted to an exclusive home training routine with the beginning of 2019. I trained for 16 days in January, which is the most amount of days I have ever committed in one month, simply because I pre-planned the days.

Keeping to small and reasonable goals is a good way to get started, as well as committing to a schedule that currently fits your lifestyle. You also need to factor in the pre-and post-workout time, especially if you have to drive to the gym, shower, or cool-down.

If you are just getting started after a long break from exercise, you might wonder how much time is minimum for your exercise session. I was helping a client establish a resistance training schedule and she wondered, “Well how often do I do this?”

You should know that I am a big proponent of resistance training for all of my clients, and have seen the most fabulous results from those who incorporate this into their current lifestyle.

Resistance training is a bit different than cardio, in that you should train to failure. That means, you cannot lift anymore because your muscles are tired out. This is when you receive the greatest benefits of resistance training. I don’t recommend that folks do cardio obsessively or until they cannot continue.

Training to failure is the way to begin the desired “afterburn effect”, which basically means your body is burning calories after you are done lifting. This is not something you can experience from cardio alone, unless you are dedicated to HIIT or Tabata.

Also known as EPOC (post-exercise oxygen consumption), the afterburn effect can be most helpful for those with metabolic syndrome or obesity. Read more about EPOC in this Greatist article.

Another component of staying consistent with exercise is recognizing your level of endurance for that exercise and being able to recognize your body’s cues. This goes against the traditional ideas of exercise where you just step on a treadmill and you put 45 minutes on there and you just let it do its thing while you’re reading or multi-tasking or doing something else.

You will not get as many benefits from exercise if your mind is far away from the activity you’re doing. When you set exercise as simply a to-do item, you are not listening to your body. This means you’re not really connecting with how it impacts you. If you are too busy multi-tasking, then why would you be interested in continuing with your exercise? You are removing the most important element from the practice- YOU!

In the past few years, I have fallen in love with outdoor fitness. In addition to the extra vitamin D from the sun, it is really hard to multi-task or be distracted when you are outside. There are no screens or people looking for your attention.

This is one technique that many people “outsource” to devices like a Garmin or Fitbit. Join me for a live workshop on “Does a Fitbit Make you Fit?” to learn why this might not be in your best interest.

Staying consistent with exercise does not have to be hard. Utilize the 3 tips of 1) finding one exercise that you can do today 2) decide how regularly you’re going to be doing that exercise and 3) incorporating some sort of resistance training.

You will notice that I haven’t said you need to be accountable to a trainer or tracking app in order to remain consistent with exercise. Everyone responds to a different level of accountability. For some, they only need to be accountable to a training plan. For others, they need to join a fitness class with a predetermined schedule. For others, they need to meet someone in person who pushes them during the actual workout.

I cannot tell you what accountability level you need until it becomes second nature to exercise consistently. What I can tell you is I offer very unique weekly accountability through my program, 30 Days. In this program, I support you with all the tools you need to not just establish your best training routine, but also check in with your progress. April is all about fitness, and I am ready to support you! You can enroll for one month or up to 3 months here.