A system I created for not skipping workouts

I am going on 3 years of successfully exercising 3 times a week without skipping. How did I do it? What’s my system? Here it is:

First, decide how many workouts per week you’d like to do. Choose something realistic. I chose 3 times per week. Then take a monthly calendar and choose 3 actual days per week. For this example, let’s chose Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays. Mark those days on the monthly calendar as the days you intend on working out.

The next step is to count up the total number of Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays in the month. For most months the total number will be 13.

Now here is the important part. We all have weeks that might be harder for us to stay on track. Therefore, the actual goal here isn’t to work out 3 days per week for every actual week. The goal is to complete 13 workouts by the last day of the month. This allows you the flexibility of skipping a workout as needed, but then having enough time to make it up and stay on track.

I came up with this system in May of 2016, and in total, I have completed every month successfully.

Here are a few more notes that are important when using this method:

• Define what a normal workout should be. I aim for walking or running 2.5 miles, or working out with weights for about 50 minutes.
• Define what the absolute minimum workout is, in terms of qualifying for you to count it as a workout. For walking or running, I count it if I go for at least 1 mile. For weights, I consider it a workout if I do at minimum, 4 sets with at least 3 reps each.
• It helps to join a gym with classes or get a personal trainer where your workouts are scheduled. This forces you to go on certain days at certain times.
• If you know you have a busy week coming up, try to workout an extra day ahead of time. I think a lot about how I am going to get to the final number by the end of the month, and it helps to proactively plan.

Good luck!

February 22, 2019