Hello Warriors! I know some of you may have missed or skipped my previous post, so I just want to shout out that new posts will still happen Tuesdays but on an every other week basis for the remainder of 2024. This week’s post sort of dovetails with the themes of overwhelm and time pressure from last week. I want to talk about how to program your own workouts when you feel like you don’t have enough time.

Enough. That’s a funny word, and you know me, so dictionary definition incoming… “to a degree or quantity that satisfies or that is sufficient or necessary for satisfaction.” Enough is a concept that is unique to each of us individually. It is also a concept that changes and needs adjusting on a regular basis.

Before my son came along, a workout I deemed as “enough” was usually 45 minutes to an hour long. Done whenever I felt like it during the day. And relatively easy to recover from as I was largely only responsible to myself and I was sleeping well. Since my son, what an “enough” workout is has changed with every season, has encompassed all sorts of time ranges, completed when I can manage, and much harder to recover from.

Fitness Culture is really good at making us feel as though what we are doing is not enough. We should be doing cardiovascular training most days of the week. But should that involve HIIT or mostly Zone 2 work? We should be strength training regularly. But the variables involved and the learning curve associated with this create their own unique barriers to entry. Stretching, mobility, plyometrics, warm ups, and cool downs. It makes the head spin.

What we are missing is the practical. Defined as, “concerned with the actual doing or use of something rather than with theory and ideas.” Just as with enough, this is unique to each of us and our own individual circumstances. And while each workout program should reflect these inherent differences, there are some guiding principles we can use so to create a practical program to follow.

First, and I’ve said this before, you have to be honest with the amount of time you have to work with. An hour at least five days per week is what Fitness Culture says is “enough,” but this ain’t my first rodeo. Be truthful about what you have to give on different days. Maybe you can do daily, but you’ve got 20-30 minutes. That’s amazing. Maybe daily isn’t possible, but you can do 45 minutes twice during the week and on both weekend days. Also amazing. Whatever you’ve got, block out the time for it.

Second, what space is available to you? Again, Fitness Culture will have you thinking that if you aren’t in a gym setting of some kind, it’s not “enough.” Bull corn. You can get a great workout at home. In fact, if you are under time pressure, driving to a different location and getting set up and then reversing all that just puts more pressure on you. Get you some resistance bands or a few at home pieces if the budget allows and go to town.

Third, think long term. Fitness Culture really can be a bully. A short term goal is a great thing to have, but an even better thing is a long term focus. Even when I don’t have a short term goal because life is just too busy, I always remind myself that I am exercising to be able to get off the toilet by myself when I am 75. That’s not sexy, but independence in your older years will never be something you regret.

Thinking long term will also reduce some of the noise out there. We’ve all gone down the Google rabbit hole when researching the newest insert goal of choice recommendations. Guess what? Unlike everything else, the recommendations on preventative physical activity haven’t changed much in the last 20 years. Cardiovascular exercise (activity that raises your heart rate) most days of the week, strength training all the major muscle groups twice per week, and mobility and stretching as part of warm up and cool down respectively. That is so much more manageable. And if you have a short term goal, these will still be part of that and the base you can build off of.

Now you just need to put the pieces together. And with this basic framework, the only thing to remember is that you need at least 48 hours rest between strength work on the same muscle group. If you still need help, here are three sample programs I have used pretty successfully in the past. And stay tuned for my next post where I dive into some simple mobility exercises for warm ups.

Program 1: Five days per week, 30 minute sessions. Day 1 is lower body strength. Day 2 is upper body strength. Days 3 and 4 are cardio focused. Day 5 is a full body strength circuit. Three days each of strength and cardio (day 5 counts as both). If you have a bit of extra time, you can add cardio to days 1 and/or 2.

Program 2: Four days per week, 45 minute sessions. Each day includes half the body of strength work (upper/lower split that’s repeated) and 20 minutes of cardio. If you have, or can obtain, a jump rope or agility ladder for cardio, this one is super easy to do via at home workouts.

Program 3: Five days per week, 20 minute sessions. Same split as Program 1, but instead of straight sets, strength days are set up as circuits or Tabata intervals to minimize in workout rest time. This can also be mixed and matched with Program 1 if you have different time constraints on different days. Resistance bands make this one easy for travel or at home workouts, too.

Obviously, your mileage may vary, but hopefully I’ve given you some ideas on how to put things together. Just remember that consistency is where it is at. Trainers would rather see a B effort every week for months that to see an A+ effort for 3 weeks and the rest as Ds and Fs.

Until next time, be well friends!