Question: How do I stick to a workout schedule? Every time I start a new exercise routine, I do it for a few weeks, but then give up. For some reason, as much as I want to get in better shape, I can never commit to a workout plan in the long run.
Answer: This is a question I get asked all the time. At first glance, it seems like the solution is to find the willpower, drive, and motivation to force yourself to stick to your workouts. But the truth is, it’s more about how you design your schedule in the first place, to set yourself up for success.
Get ready, because I’m going to help you figure out how to stick with your workout schedule long enough to get the results you are looking for.
Section 1: Why it is Hard to Stick to a Workout Schedule
The reason it is so hard to consistently follow a workout routine is almost never due to a lack of willpower.
Rather, it’s because you designed a workout that sounds good in theory, as opposed to something that will work for you in practice.
In order for a workout to be something you can keep up with, it has to be a good fit for your goals, preferences, experience level, and lifestyle.
If your workout isn’t designed with those things in mind, it’s not going to be something you can stick with.
Additionally, it has to be something you can keep up with day in and day out, whether you are motivated or not.
Our Initial Motivation Misleads Us
What often happens, is you start a new workout routine during a motivated period.
And your motivated self can usually survive those first few workouts despite them not being a good fit for you.
But then, once that initial motivation fades away, your future, unmotivated self takes over.
And your unmotivated self hates the workout routine you designed. Because it doesn’t fit in with your lifestyle, preferences, and experience level.
Once you realize how unsustainable your workout schedule is, you stop following it.
Section 2: How to Stick to a Workout Schedule
The real question is: How do you design a workout routine that is reasonable for you to follow through with?
Even on the days you are feeling tired, have low energy, or are unmotivated?
Step 1: Choose a Schedule Which Fits With Your Lifestyle
A lot of the time, you choose a workout and then try to alter your life to make it work.
For example, if a routine calls for working out five days a week, you rearrange a bunch of other stuff on your calendar to fit in all five workouts.
But what if instead of changing your life to fit your workouts, you change your workouts to fit your life?
Perhaps, you choose a workout routine which just calls for three workouts a week instead of five.
Don’t get me wrong, you may have to make a few tweaks to your lifestyle to fit your workouts in.
But the key is to make working out as convenient as you can for yourself.
The more easily your workouts fit within your lifestyle, the greater the chance you can make working out into a permanent habit.
Step 2: Make Your Workout Routine Fun
Have you ever tried to “tough out” an extremely painful routine because you thought it would get you results? Only to find yourself quitting after a few days of hell?
As much as you hear phrases like “no pain no gain,” the key to sticking with your workout schedule is to make it as PAINLESS and FUN as possible.
Sure, there are going to be challenging moments. I’m not saying it will be as easy as holding a 5-pound dumbbell while eating a slice of cake.
But the more fun you can make your workouts, the more likely you are going to stick with them.
Here are a few ways to make your workouts more enjoyable:
- Choose exercises you like (not ones you hate).
- Take breaks when your body needs them. Don’t grind it out until you get an injury.
- Celebrate the small victories. For example, don’t wait to reward yourself until you gain 20 pounds of muscle. Instead, feel good for any progress you make.
- And finally, focus on the process, not just the outcome. (Side note – much more here on how to focus on the process).
If you do these things, you might even find yourself LOOKING FORWARD to working out.
And it’s going to be a lot easier to stick to your workout schedule when you are looking forward to it (instead of dreading it).
Step 3: Start Small
Often, when you start a new workout routine, you are EXTREMELY motivated.
And when you are extremely motivated, you tend to go ALL OUT.
The problem is, you aren’t always going to be motivated.
So what happens is, as soon as your motivation fades, you’re “all out” workout no longer seems as doable.
But what if instead of starting out extreme, you started small?
For example:
- Rather than trying to do 50 pushups a day, perhaps you just start with 5?
- Maybe instead of doing a three-hour workout, you do a 30-minute one?
If you start small, you can begin to make working out into a habit.
And once a habit is formed, you will be able to work out consistently, even on days you are NOT motivated.
And that consistency will result in much greater progress over the long run.
Recommended Article: How to Learn to be Consistent: A Wise Way to Live
Step 4: Make Sure the Workouts Match Your Experience Level
Along the same lines as starting small, make sure to select a routine which makes sense given your experience level.
For example, if you are just getting into weightlifting, go with a beginner routine. (Side note – here is the beginner routine I used when I first started.)
If you want to become a theoretical physicist, you don’t just jump right into writing your dissertation for your PhD.
But for some reason, when it comes to working out, so many people try to go right to the most HARDCORE workout there is.
Step 5: Have a Specific Plan for When to Work Out
Another thing that will really help you stick to your workout regimen, is to write down a specific plan for WHEN you are going to work out.
It doesn’t matter whether it is the morning, afternoon, or evening. The key is just to have a plan in place.
And be as specific as possible with your plan! You could include an exact time, OR you can have a specific “prompt” that signals you to workout.
The prompt could be:
- An event: For example, “I’m going to start my workout right after my kids’ bus arrives.”
- A change of location: For instance, “As soon as I arrive home after work, I will put on my exercise clothes and start working out.”
- Or a habit: Like, “After breakfast, I will start my workout.”
The key is to choose an existing behavior you already do regularly, or a situation or event that you can count on always happening.
If you can pair working out with something that is already a consistent part of your life, then working out is more likely to become a regular part of your life as well.
Step 6: Don’t Constantly Tweak Your Routine
I used to be constantly looking for the “perfect routine.” And what that meant in practice, was FAR from perfect.
In my search for perfection, I would only give each routine a short period of time before moving on to another one that seemed even greater.
After many years of this pattern, I finally realized what was happening.
I wasn’t committing to any of the routines long enough to see REAL results.
No matter how perfect a routine was, it wasn’t going to work unless I gave it TIME.
Once I had this revelation, I finally started sticking with my routines (even if my perfectionist instincts told me otherwise).
Of course, periodically it’s okay to make adjustments. Like if an injury comes up, or if you’ve been doing it for months and progress has slowed down.
But CONSTANT tweaking is a recipe for disaster – Believe me!
Step 7: Make Sure Your Diet Supports Your Workout Goals
The previous steps will be useless if your diet is completely off base.
For example, if you want to build muscle but aren’t eating enough protein, you aren’t going to make much progress.
EVEN if you are working out really hard.
And when you don’t see results because of your diet, you know what happens? You decide to give up.
Step 8: Create a Log to Keep Track of Your Progress
When you first dive into a new workout regimen, you often have unrealistic expectations for how fast you can reach your goals.
That is due to two factors:
- Not Starting Small: You often try to push yourself harder than you are capable of handling. Because you try to go too hardcore as discussed earlier.
- Misinformation: There is a good amount of misinformation in the fitness industry about how fast you can achieve results. Lots of fake before and after videos. People on steroids claiming they are not. And photoshopped images of people who appear to be in better shape than they really are.
These unrealistic expectations you place on yourself often demoralize you when you can’t meet them.
So, how do you feel better about the slower, but still very real progress you are making?
One way to feel better about your progress, which has really helped me, is to create an exercise log.
In your log, keep track of your accomplishments. Things like:
- How many minutes you have run.
- How much you can lift in different exercises.
- Or how much weight you have lost.
It doesn’t matter what the format is. Excel, a note-taking app, or even old school pen and paper.
Writing down your progress will make it easier for you to see that you are on the right track. Even if your ultimate goal takes longer than initially anticipated.
And when you are more aware of the progress you are making, you will feel better about things.
Which will make it easier for you to stick to your workouts.
Step 9: Have a Backup Plan
Often, when someone has trouble sticking to a workout schedule, they feel like a failure.
And then they completely give up working out. Sometimes for weeks or even months.
Trust me, I’ve been there!
But what if you didn’t give up completely when things went off course? What if instead, you had a backup plan?
For example, let’s say you miss a workout. Your backup plan could be to:
- Make it up on a different day.
- Do an easier alternate workout.
- Or simply to move on and tell yourself “it’s okay.” And try to get back on track next workout.
Remember, everyone has off days where they don’t stick to their plans.
Especially when it comes to exercising.
If something comes up that makes it harder to stick to your workout routine, don’t be too hard on yourself.
Just go to your backup plan.
Conclusion
Don’t feel bad if you’ve had trouble sticking to a workout schedule.
It’s not anything to do with you not having enough motivation. Or you not being tough enough.
Instead, it’s a matter of designing a routine which is a good fit for YOU.
If you create a workout schedule with that in mind, you might be surprised just how much easier it is to stick to it.
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