How to Find Your Perfect Workout Routine (and then stick to it)
How to Find Your Perfect Workout Routine (and then stick to it)
If you’ve been following my blogs for a while, you may have realised that the title is usually designed to grab people’s attention, and the content rarely provides the response that you might expect. In nearly all cases the answer is ‘it depends’, which may not be so sexy or compelling as you might hope, but is generally more realistic and ultimately helpful.
In this instance, the short answer would be ‘There’s no such thing as perfect, and also life happens which means no routine is going to serve you well 100% of the time’.
For the longer response I’ll be delving deeper and looking into different variables such as:
Balancing the benefit of having a routine with any feelings of guilt or failure when your workout doesn’t happen.
Staying true to your original objective - is your regime actually serving you and bringing you closer to your goals?
The arts of intuitive exercise and gentle nutrition - listening to your body and giving it what it needs rather than what your rigid training programme dictates.
The importance of having a framework from which to make the above decisions.
Something is nearly always better than nothing. Yet regimes often foster an ‘all or nothing’ mindset that can set us up for feelings of failure or having us go full throttle at unsustainable workout programs or diets.
So, going in with points 1 and 2 as there’s some crossover that makes them pretty easy to merge.
Routines have a lot going for them. They give us a sense of consistency and knowing where we’re at. They help us get stuff done. For those of us with busy lifestyles or maybe young children, they can bring sanity to what could otherwise descend into chaos. But when our routines become too rigid, particularly when it comes to exercise, they can add to our stress rather than relieving it. If you feel guilt over straying from your routine and not completing the workout you had planned then this can be pretty detrimental to your mental health (rather ironic, given that exercise is so often linked to health benefits).
This point links quite well into my recent experience of starting my blog. I initially set out to write something every Monday. I got it in the diary and was looking forward to settling into a routine. I got off to a flying start but guess what? Life got in the way and I had to start deciding between the benefit of sticking to my plan versus the power of being adaptable in order to get other things done. I’m self employed, I work full time, and I’m mum to a 2 year old who is only in nursery three days a week. So my time is pretty stretched and I often have to prioritise my tasks in order of importance over pleasure. I could have doggedly stuck to my plan, but at the expense of completing invoices or client programs, or sacrificing valuable time with my son. I could have sacrificed sleep by working into the night but sleep is too important to me to consider doing that. In fact, the more I learn about the importance of sleep for our mental and physical health, the more I prioritise it over anything else.
And so, there have been a few weeks without a blog.
Initially I felt guilt. I felt like I was repeating old patterns (getting excited and throwing myself into something only to fade away halfway through). But I could also see that I was still working hard and getting stuff done - I was just having to prioritise. I could also see that feeling guilty did not serve me in any way. So I had a bit of a reframe and started to feel better.
Which leads me into point 2 - if the idea behind your regime is to improve your health and wellbeing, it’s worth checking in to make sure it is still serving you. This is a point that keeps coming back to me and something that my mentor Raphan Kebe regularly returns to during our Space & Flow yoga teacher training. Is your practice serving you? Is your program serving you? If not, then what’s the point? What if, when we show up to train or practice yoga, we approach it with a view to making it as beneficial and relevant as possible? I’m not saying we should avoid things that challenge us or take us out of our comfort zone - not at all. But if we’re going to go there, then surely it makes sense to pick movements that will ultimately benefit us? For example - I know I can make a client hot, tired and sweaty by giving them a disgusting burpee challenge. But if their goal is to improve their mobility or work on their pull up strength, are the glory points for effort really worth it? If a client is feeling under the weather or has low energy due to where they’re at in their hormonal cycle, will it benefit them to stick to my original plan rather than adapt? While there are benefits to pushing through discomfort and building the mental resilience to conquer fatigue, I would say that overall we benefit far more from adapting and meeting our body where we are at.
Which all leads me rather nicely into points 3 and 4. The arts of intuitive exercise and gentle nutrition versus the importance of having a framework to work from. This is where it is really important to either get to know your body really well, or to find a coach that can work alongside you and help you find the best approach for you.
Yet again we are looking at the statements ‘it depends’ and ‘it’s all about balance!’. While it’s important to listen to your body and take into account all the factors that affect your wellbeing (such as your hydration levels, your nutrition that week, your sleep quality and stress levels), going in blind and randomly moving through a workout that ‘feels good’ probably isn’t going to serve you. We still need a plan. We still need to apply the principle of progressive overload. We just need to make sure we’re working at the right level for where we’re at on any given day.
Likewise with nutrition. You may already know that I am NOT a fan of diets! But if we have nutrition or body composition goals then again, just eating whatever ‘feels right’ is probably not going to get us very far. We need to know roughly what our energy intake and expenditure is, whether we’re getting in enough protein, complex carbs and essential fats etc. We also need to know how our body responds to different foods. Some of us are more sensitive to sugar than others. Some of us respond badly to processed carbs or shop bought bread. For women with a cycle, our energy requirements vary throughout the month and it’s really important to take this into consideration rather than putting up with feeling tired and hungry even though my fitness pal says we’ve eaten ‘enough’ (not a fan of my fitness pal either btw :-D).
We are not machines. Our energy levels fluctuate on a daily basis. There’s a lot to be said for discipline and ‘getting it done’ regardless, but usually it will serve us better to respond accordingly with our movement and nutrition. Remember - our behaviours need to serve us and not the other way round!
And finally - the all or nothing mindset that so often comes with regimes and programs. How many times have you sacked the day off because you didn’t get your workout in? How many times did you eat the whole bar of chocolate in a throw of defiance or ‘oh f*** it, I’ve ballsed it all up anyway!’? It’s so easy to fall into the trap and yet really, it’s not the end of the world if you don’t get your workout in. The day isn’t ruined or a write off. We can still find ways to move, or we can enjoy the rest day instead. As I’ve discovered with my blog - something is better than nothing. I might not get them out every Monday but I can still get them out pretty regularly. They might not be as polished or as organised as I might like. But I’m certainly getting more done than if I’d never tried or given up.
As a rule of thumb, it’s the small, sustainable changes that make the difference. Even the most frenetic of sweat inducing workouts cannot offset a sedentary lifestyle if the rest of the day is spent sitting at a desk and barely moving. I say that with full understanding of the challenges we are all facing during lockdown. But unfortunately the truth of the matter is that even if you were to do an hour of Hiit a day (do not recommend!), if you’re not getting in your daily step requirements or moving throughout the day then overall you would still be classed as sedentary. Daily movements and activities is where it’s at. It doesn’t need to be sexy or mind blowing, it just needs to be consistent.
In a world where that glorifies suffering, losing weight fast and quick results… when the message of ‘no pain, no gain’ is still so prevalent within the fitness industry (I can still remember a leading gym’s marketing campaign - ‘Punish Yourself Buff’), remember that something is nearly always better than nothing. And doing something in small but regular doses is far more effective than sporadic bursts of everything followed by long periods of nothing.
Hard work is great. Sacrifice is admirable and sometimes necessary. But often all that’s needed are enjoyable, sustainable lifestyle changes to effectively improve your health, quality of life and body composition if that’s your jam.
And please, don’t attach your worth to your performance or your appearance. But that’s another blog ;-)
Give me a shout in the comments section if this raised any questions for you or if you have any thoughts on the above. Your passionate personal trainers in Walthamstow would love to hear from you :-)
