Question From You: How Often Do I Need To Workout?
I was speaking to a potential client the other day who wanted to train a minimum of 3 days a week plus do some extra training sessions on her own. Early in my career, I would have given her exactly what she wanted without question but I’ve grown a little since then.
Here’s a little of how the convo went.
Me: “Why do you want to workout that much?”
Her: “I want to see quick results. I want to tone up and lose this weight that I can’t get rid if. I tried everything on my own, tried a fitness program that a friend sold me which worked-sorta. I need your help”
Me: “How many times a week can you realistically workout and for how long?”
Her: “ I can do maybe 3 times a week. I have 3 kids and I’m busy but I have no choice, I need to make this work. I hate my body right now”
Me: “So, if you can maybe do 3 times a week how do you plan on fitting in your other workouts in with 3 little kids and everything that comes with that?”
Her: “I don’t know. I figured if I woke up early or do it after the kids go to bed. I’ll force myself to do it, I just need you to keep me accountable.”
Me: “Let me ask you this. If you did other programs before, why weren’t you able to sustain them?”
Keep in mind, I already know the answers to these questions. I just need my prospect to answer them and process her answers for herself.
She went on to say that she couldn’t keep up with her past programs because she would get busy with life, start missing workouts then giving up on the program within 6-weeks. She would workout nearly every day maybe even twice. When she wasn’t able to keep up because of the demands of life, she felt like she had failed and see the point of continuing on.
You see, when planning a workout schedule or thinking about goals, you need to be realistic within your current life. If your schedule isn’t the same from week to week, you may need to be flexible.
Let’s face it, whether you’re a stay at home mom, working mom, or on maternity leave, you’re definitely not going to be able to follow a rigid schedule and you may not be able to fit in your workouts every single week. Life happens and our workouts may not be a priority at some point. That’s okay. This is no way means that you’ve failed.
I get it, when you’re being told that you need to be consistent every single week, eat clean every single day and workout for a minimum set of days, you may think that there is something wrong with you because you can’t make all of that work. I speak from experience when I say that it’s not the case. It’s too much to expect when you have a ton of other priorities.
Go easy on yourself. If you can only manage to squeeze in 1-2 workouts a week for 20-minutes, then start there. If you don’t have the time to get out of the house (which we all don’t at times!), opt for a workout at home. Really, if you can leave your house, a workout at home can be just as effective. I have a number of clients that work with me online and they are so much less stressed because they don’t have to struggle with packing up baby, getting to the gym before the child care closes or head to a fitness class in hopes that the little one will be in a good mood so that she doesn’t spend the majority of her workout consoling them.
Be honest with yourself. Do a program that you can do without stress. You'll have a higher chance of long term success.
Love your baby body,
Terrell
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