What I Learned from a Year of Never Missing a Workout.
^^ Listen to a recording of the article below.
^^ Listen to a recording of our discussion about “You Need to do You Need to do to Succeed.”
What I Learned from a Year of Never Missing a Workout.
…and how it was way less hardcore than you probably think. 🙂
1) Here’s a dirty secret.
In the beginning, you’ll get LESS done.
I know, all the gurus say that working out will increase your productivity, right?
Not so at first. In the beginning, your routines won’t be formed so you’ll be slower at everything, and your body will probably want more sleep. Growing muscles = sleepy time. The benefits kick in a few months in so don’t get discouraged, and prepare for this awkward “getting to know you period.” If you expect it, you can schedule accordingly. Now that’s out of the way lets…
2) Define what your win is
My win was the following:
• I warm up and cool down
• I lift or do bodyweight strength training for at least 15 mins
That’s it. Seriously.
Why?
I’ve struggled with perfectionism, overworking and tendonitis/RSI/nerve damage in the past. This is a dangerous combo for exercise. I knew that I tend to work myself into injury and ignore pain. This is why my bar for a win is “so low”. For example, if my arms were in pain, no biggie, I’ll do abs or squats for 15 mins, log my win, and enjoy my day. Sometimes, I literally only had 15 mins free in a day, but I could still log a workout. Lastly, some days you only have 15 mins of spoons left, and that’s okay.
That being said, my average workout was 10 min warmup, 45 working, 15 min cooldown, but I didn’t hesitate to adjust if I was feeling extra great or extra bad.
“I’m an artist who regularly works out to benefit my mental health so I can make more art.”
See there. I’m not a model, or a bodybuilder, or a fitness professional.
I’m an artist. Lifting is 2nd.
This was a very important step for me. I needed to walk away from many sets, especially in the beginning. There’s always that nagging voice saying, “hey, your elbow only feels a little bit on fire, do another set.” Then I’d return to my definition of myself, skip the set, modify, or lower the weight, and still feel good about myself.
4) Pick your days, not the time.
I worked out Sun, Tues, and Thurs, and I would recommend this to anyone who isn’t a social butterfly. Most people workout M, W, F. I was allowed to workout at ANY point during these days.
Here’s the problem with specific times – life ALWAYS happens. If your morning was a dumpster fire and you HAVE to workout in the early AM, do you skip that day? Lots of people do. I prefer the “just get it done today approach”
If you have a flexible schedule, you can do “strategic workouts!” I started scheduling my workout right after something I knew would spike my anxiety. So I’d do the scary thing, and *boom* get my gym medicine right after, and get right back to work without the dip in productivity due to anxiety spiraling.
5) Then stick to that for 3 months.
I know “it takes 30 days to make a habit is all over the internet” but that’s never worked for me. After 30 days, I’d revert right back. Then I heard that some people think you need three months. I tried it and think three months is more accurate. In those first 3 months, do whatever you have to stick to your schedule. You’ll need to be a bit tenacious about it. This is probably the only hard step on this list. During these months, it’s super weird. It’s like the most important yet least important thing I do. Working out simply isn’t as important as, well, anything. Your family, life, and career are more important. But, and here’s why it mattered to me, I can serve them all better, if I’ve worked out. If I work out, I’m calmer, kinder, smarter, and less reactive. So for me, I really wanted to put that habit into place.
6) Use apps.
I don’t have time to plan or track things. Plus I hate it and I won’t do it.
I used Fitbod mostly – it’s $5 monthly and does all the planning and math for me. I love this app.
The Nike Training Club app is free, also good, and more bodyweight exercises - less weight lifting. No tracking though.
7) Let it become your mini vacation.
The world is fast and loud. The gym doesn’t have to be (esp. if you go at odd times or are at home).
Don’t check social media. Listen to your music. Don’t be there for anyone else. Be there for you. Make you feel good. Actually feel what you’re doing. It’s a great mental break. I really can’t state just how important this has been for me.
8 ) You’re the boss though.
Sometimes the app said I was going to do something I was so insanely bored of that I wanted to puke – so I changed it. I mixed in different exercises that hit the same muscles, or deleted a set, or altered the weight. Always remember, it’s your workout and since the definition of a win is “show up and lift” you can edit anything after that either for physical or mental health.
9) What about bodyweight?
In the beginning, I didn’t care about how much I weighed or even what I ate. I started in Oct and lifted through the holidays. There were a few days in the between times of Christmas and New Years, that I ate only cookies and nuts. I am not exaggerating. Only cookies and nuts. Around this time though, maybe my liver was mad at me, that I thought, “it might be cool to actually be able to SEE all the work I’m doing.” So I started to lose weight and watch what I ate. It was more of a 2nd thought though. Exercise for mental health alone was and has been great for me.
10) What now? (2021)
Having done this for a full year. I’ll admit, I wouldn’t do it again. Crazy right? Some weeks, I was really dragging and just needed a rest. I thought that I was resting enough, but I wasn’t.
Here is what I’m going to do instead. 2-3 months on with one recovery week off in between my lifting months. I’m hoping to log more high-quality workouts during my working months.
10) What now? (2022)
I purposely waited to post this article, because I wanted to test my 2021 schedule. I’ve been studying about quality rest a lot and there will be many more articles about rest and recovery coming. What I learned in 2021 is that is beneficial to rest even more than I was. True, my workouts have gotten more intense. Nowadays, I lift 4x a week for about 90 mins each session. However, I take a rest week every 4-6 weeks. I’ve noticed that the rest week is very important for hypertrophy and resisting burnout.
Here’s the important part, the rest week is an “active rest week”. Active rest is doing less intense exercises to aid in recovery. These could be stretching, walking, swimming, tai chi, yoga, qi gong, hiking, etc. Doing your rest week like this will aid in point 5 above - so you’ll still be recovering, and you’ll still be forming the habit of working out. Win, win!
Hope that helps and feel free to ask questions.
Happy exercising.
Sarah and Sarah
❤
Written by Sarah Dahlinger
Discussed by Sarah Dahlinger and Sarah Forde