Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Importance of Scheduling Your Workouts

I would not describe myself as an exercise fanatic, but I will say that my exercise regimen is something of great importance in my life. A typical week consists of about 300 minutes worth of scheduled physical activity (60 minutes of strength training, 120 minutes of yoga, 120 minutes of aerobics/cardio).
I make time each day for these things because I know that they are of great value to me—physically and mentally.  So, the message I wish to convey here is a simple one: schedule your workouts.

So much of our days are filled with family, professional, and social commitments, that we often aren't able to find the time to exercise. Of course, if you've read enough of these posts, you already know how I feel about making excuses. Even so, I recognize that it's tough for most of us to keep the momentum going once the thrill of seeing results has passed us by.

However, never forget that complacency is the mother of failure where attaining your fitness goals are concerned, so it's of the utmost importance that you evaluate each day and try to find time to where fit in a workout—even it's only a 15 or 30 minute one.

A solution that has worked well for me has been to either offer myself a make-up day or the option of  adding in a second workout on an otherwise uneventful day.

For example, if I find that I will not meet my 60-minute goal on Monday, I resolve to move that session to another day during the week. That might mean taking an early morning bike ride on what might have otherwise been my off-day or opting to participate in a late evening yoga session on a day I normally would only do cardio.

These are adjustments I am willing to make in order to keep my fitness goals on track.

That doesn't mean that I haven't encountered a week or two, here and there, where I miss multiple days or completely flake out on a workout session—I have my days of complacency too—but the point is to not allow one missed day to become a habit for the next string of days, weeks, or months.

Schedule time for meeting your fitness goals and make them a part of your day-to-day life.


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