Building a Fitness Routine Around Work and Family

Legacy's website puts it simply: between work, kids and activities, it's easy to put yourself on the back burner. Anyone who's lived through a school year knows what that means. The practice schedule, the late meeting, the dinner that has to happen at some point. Exercise ends up at the bottom of the list, and the list never gets any shorter.

The fix usually isn't more willpower. It's a routine that's built for the life you have, not the one you wish you had. Here's how to put one together.

Start with the calendar, not the workout

Look at your real week first. Write down when you're at work, when the kids need to be somewhere, and when the evening falls apart. Then find two or three windows that are already fairly stable. Those are your training times. Which exercises you do matters much less than whether you reliably show up.

For a lot of people, the stable windows are very early or right after work. That's why Legacy's gym hours are split. On Monday through Thursday, it's open 5:00 to 10:00 a.m. and again from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Friday is mornings, 5:00 to 10:00 a.m., and Saturday runs from 7:00 to 9:30 a.m. The gym is closed on Sunday.

Pick a time you can repeat

The best time to train is the one you can keep doing in February, when it's dark and cold and the car is covered in snow. A few things to ask yourself:

• Do I have more energy and fewer interruptions in the morning, or after work?
• Which time can I protect from meetings, carpools and schedule changes?
• Who else needs to be on board, and what would make it easy for them?
• What's my backup time if my first choice falls through?

Small group classes at Legacy run six times a day Monday through Thursday (5:00, 6:00, 7:30 and 9:00 a.m., then 4:30 and 5:30 p.m.), four times on Friday morning, and twice on Saturday at 7:00 and 8:30 a.m. That many choices means a missed class doesn't have to mean a missed week.

Make the minimum version small

Here's something that keeps people going. Decide ahead of time what your bare-minimum week looks like. Maybe it's two sessions of 45 minutes. Maybe on a rough week, it's one class and two walks. When life explodes, you do the minimum and call it a win, instead of skipping everything because the plan is ruined.

Consistency really is the whole thing here. Three modest weeks beat one heroic week followed by two weeks of nothing. Your body responds to the pattern more than to any single workout.

When you can't get to the gym

Travel, sick kids and weather happen. Legacy offers online personal coaching for those moments and for people who live further away. It includes a custom fitness and nutrition program with weekly accountability and progress check-ins with an assigned coach. Nutrition coaching and online coaching are scheduled directly with the coach to fit your day, so you aren't tied to the class timetable.

Even without a program, a 20-minute session at home with a few basic movements, such as squats, pushes, rows and a walk, keeps the habit alive. Keeping a thread going is more valuable than any single workout.

Don't forget the food side

A busy household makes eating well hard too. The same thinking applies: make the default easy. A few repeatable meals, a protein you like and some prep on the weekend can make weeknights less of a scramble. Legacy's coaches say at least 80% of results come from nutrition, which is a good reason to spend a little planning time there. If you have health concerns, ask your doctor what's right for you.

Let someone else notice when you're gone

A big reason routines fall apart is that nobody notices. Nobody asks where you were on Tuesday. In a small class of about 15 people with a coach who knows you, someone does notice, and they're glad when you come back. Rachel H., one of the members who shared a testimonial on Legacy's site, said that Griffin is “one of a kind and you will not find someone more passionate about changing people's lives.” That sort of encouragement helps on the days when you'd rather skip.

If you want help fitting training into your actual week, start with a free 15-minute coaching call at (763) 998-1003. The coach will ask about your schedule, your goals and what's gotten in the way before. From there you can try Legacy's free 1-week trial and see whether the times and the people fit.