When it comes to training, we often get in our own way. “I don’t have an hour to go to the gym today, I guess it’s a rest day.” Ever say that or something similar? In an ideal world, we would have all the time we need to train. But life isn’t ideal. Instead, focus on movement daily. Do SOMETHING. To truly live our healthiest lives, we need to MOVE every day. There should not be any true rest days.
Winston Churchill once said, “perfection is the enemy of progress.” When it comes to exercise, it’s absolutely true. I see it frequently – people who want to get started with an exercise program but decide that it’s not the right time. They have too much else going on in their lives – work, children, whatever. The problem with this mindset is that it implies that there needs to be perfect conditions to exercise. Let’s say this person eventually does start a training program when life settles down. What happens when things get busy again? They’re likely to quit.
Conditions are never going to be perfect. Do SOMETHING. Go for a walk. Crank out a set of push-ups. ANY movement is better than nothing. In fact, you can maintain a fair amount of your fitness if you’ve built it, with minimal work. Several well-known fitness gurus have demonstrated this. Dr. Bret Contreras, aka “the glute guy,” is the fitness coach who invented the hip thrust and popularized direct glute training. In fact, he wrote his dissertation on the subject. While writing his dissertation, he also wanted to determine the MINIMAL amount of training he could do to maintain his strength. Life was hectic, so he didn’t have time to build. To maintain, he found that a single strength training session per week, in which he trained the big, compound lifts (squat, press, deadlift), allowed him to preserve his strength.
Dr. Kelly Starrett, the mobility guru, and his wife Juliett launched 2 businesses while raising 2 kids. They set aside 10 minutes per day at 10pm to exercise. Their protocol? An AMRAP of 10 squats, 10 push-ups, and 10 pull-ups. In 10 minutes per day, following this protocol, they maintained their fitness while their kids grew to an age requiring less direct supervision, as did their businesses. That’s 70 minutes per week. Bret’s training was around 60 minutes per week. The moral of the story? Do SOMETHING.
Seriously, anything is better than nothing. If you’re currently doing nothing, it doesn’t take much to make progress. If life gets in the way, it doesn’t take much to preserve the progress you’ve already made. Do SOMETHING. See you in the gym (hopefully). If not, don’t hesitate to reach out – we have literally 100 no to minimal equipment workouts you can do at home.