Back to School, Back to Routine: How to Restart Your Fitness Routine

Backpacks are packed.

Wake-up times are changing. Bedtime routines are being reinstated.

School, work, practices, homework, and everything else are beginning to find their places on the calendar again.

Summer has its own rhythm. Back-to-school season brings a new one.

And while we're rearranging the kids' routines, this might be a pretty good time to look at our own.

Back-to-school season gives us something useful: A natural opportunity to start or restart a routine.

Use the Fresh Start

We tend to think of January 1 as the time to start something new.

New year. New goals. New habits.

But it isn't the only starting line we're given.

Researchers have found that certain moments on the calendar can act as what they call temporal landmarks. A new week, new month, birthday, new year, or beginning of a semester can create a psychological dividing line between what came before and what comes next.

This has been called the fresh start effect.

Author Daniel Pink has also written about the usefulness of these natural starting points.

I think back-to-school season is a great example. Schedules are changing anyway. Maybe instead of fighting all of that change, we can use a little of it.

Ask yourself: “Is there one small thing I'd like to make part of my new routine?”

Don't Start With the “Best” Workout

I've worked with people on their fitness for many years, and once someone decides they're ready to make a change, the beginning can actually be pretty exciting.

• This time we're going to exercise five days a week.

• We're going to walk every day.

• Drink more water.

• Eat better.

• Stretch.

• Get eight hours of sleep.

• Maybe we'll finally use that piece of exercise equipment we bought three years ago.

Monday morning, here we come!

The harder part is building something that can survive Tuesday. And Wednesday. And the week when work gets crazy. And the evening when somebody has soccer practice. And the morning after you didn't sleep well.

That's where I think we sometimes ask the wrong question.

We start with: “What's the best workout?”

Maybe a better place to begin is: “What's something simple I could actually repeat?”

That's a very different question.

Start Smaller Than You Think

• Maybe it's a 10-minute walk after lunch.

  • If you're in Texas in August, perhaps that's a 10-minute walk inside after lunch.

• Maybe it's five minutes of movement in the morning.

• Maybe it's a couple of strength exercises when you get home from work.

• Maybe it's two short workouts each week that you actually put on the calendar.

None of those sound particularly impressive. That's okay.

You don't get bonus points because your new routine is difficult. And you don't have to finish every workout exhausted and sore for it to count.

The long-term goal may be to exercise more than five or ten minutes. Current physical activity guidelines recommend that adults work toward at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week, along with muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days.

But you don't have to go from zero to all of that tomorrow.

If you're currently doing very little, something is a legitimate place to start.

Establish the behavior.

Then build.

Give Your Fitness Routine a Home

This may be my favorite part.

Don't just say: “I'm going to exercise more.”

Where does it live?

Maybe:

• After I pour my morning coffee...

• After I drop the kids off...

• After lunch...

• Before I shower...

• When I get home from work...

• Saturday morning before everyone gets moving...

You're taking a vague intention and attaching it to something that already happens.

There's good behavioral science behind this idea. Habits develop through repetition, particularly when we repeat a behavior in a consistent context.

But you don't need to know the research terminology to use it.

You just need to answer: “When am I going to do this?”

And then... Do it again. And again. Consistently.

Consistency Before Complexity

This is one of the ideas behind the name Simplify Fitness. Fitness can become complicated very quickly.

There are endless exercises, programs, apps, gadgets, supplements, challenges, and opinions about the “best” way to train.

Some of that information is useful. But a fantastic program you don't follow isn't particularly useful to you.

I'd rather see someone establish a reasonable practice they can repeat and then gradually build from there.

Once you're consistently walking for 10 minutes, maybe you walk longer. Once you're consistently practicing two strength exercises, maybe you add another.

Once those two short workouts have a home in your week, perhaps one becomes a little longer.

Consistency gives you something to build on.

Your Back-to-Routine Experiment

Try this for the next week.

1. Choose one small action.

Pick something that moves you in the direction you want to go.

• Walk.

• Practice a couple of strength exercises.

• Spend five minutes moving in the morning.

• It doesn't need to solve every fitness problem you have.

2. Give it a time and a place.

• When will you do it?

• Where will you do it?

• Even better, can you connect it to something that already happens regularly?

3. Repeat it.

Resist the temptation to immediately make it bigger. Practice showing up first.

4. Pay attention.

• Did it fit?

• Did you actually do it?

• How did you feel afterward?

• Would you do it again?

5. Adjust.

• Maybe five minutes becomes ten.

• Maybe one exercise becomes two.

• Maybe two days become three.

• Or maybe you discover that 6:00 a.m. was a terrible idea and you're much more likely to move after lunch.

That's useful information, too. Change the experiment. Then try again.

What If Your Plan Doesn't Work?

This part is important. You didn't fail the experiment. The experiment gave you information.

Maybe the workout was too long. Maybe you picked the wrong time. Maybe you don't actually enjoy the activity you chose. Maybe your mornings are far less predictable than you thought. Okay.

What can you change?

One of the principles I've come to appreciate in fitness is that the first plan doesn't have to be the final plan.

Try something. Observe what happens. Adjust.

That's a lot more useful than repeatedly creating the “perfect” fitness plan, missing it for a week, and deciding you'll start again next Monday.

Their Routine Is Changing. What Will You Add to Yours?

That's the question I'd encourage you to think about this back-to-school season.

Not: “How can I completely transform myself?”

Just: “What's one small thing worth adding to my routine?”

Maybe you already know. If you don't, experiment.

Start small. Give it a home. Repeat it. And when you're ready, build from there.

Need a Little Help Getting Started?

If you're looking for some ideas, I've created several Simplify Fitness resources built around this same philosophy.

My Pressing RESET booklets introduce simple developmental movements that you can practice at home, at work, or almost anywhere. I put together two versions, specifically one for grandparents and one for remote/office workers.

If walking sounds like your place to start, The Simple Power of Walking Journal gives you something to follow while encouraging you to experiment, pay attention, and learn a little along the way.

And if you'd rather have a fitness plan designed specifically around you, I also offer online personal training. We can build something around your goals, schedule, experience, available equipment, and starting point.

You don't need to do everything.

Pick the kind of help that fits where you are right now.

Keep it simple.

— Rob

Simplify Fitness
Simple steps. Lasting change.
www.simplify.fitness

Sources & Further Reading

Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., & Riis, J. “The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior.” Management Science, 2014.

Lally, P., & Gardner, B. “Promoting Habit Formation.” Health Psychology Review, 2013.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Physical Activity Guidelines for Adults.”