Episode 24: Prioritizing Your Workouts as a Busy Mom
When I first meet with a coaching client and we identify their priorities for their personal growth, a question that inevitably always pops up is: how can I be prioritizing my workouts as a busy mom? Honestly, I love that question and I am so excited to get into it with you today. So if you are a mom that always has the best of intentions but just can’t quite seem to get it done, this episode is for you – here we go!
Prioritizing Your Workouts: Step One
The first step to prioritizing your workouts is to define what a workout is to you. It sounds so basic, but two moms can have very different definitions of what counts as a workout. For me, I consider a 30-minute workout using BeachBody on Demand as my workout for the day. If it’s a rest day, I may consider 10-minute abs or walk as my workout, but for the most part, I expect myself to do a 30-minute video 5x a week.
Next, once you have defined your workout, you need to plan your workout. Where is it going to happen? Do you need to buy any equipment? I am not affiliated with BeachBody on Demand, but the reason I love this service (and my husband does too), is that it takes the planning and prep work out of workouts. I know that every 8 weeks, I can find a new program with minimal equipment where all I have to do is hit play. For me, that is what I need to get consistent and make sure that I am prioritizing my workouts.
For years, I made the mistake of inventing my own workouts. Looking back, that was dumb. I have no experience doing this and I would spend hours on Pinterest and Google, piecing something together. In the end, I still wouldn’t really know what I was doing the next day and had no confidence that I was doing anything correctly or targeting the right areas. I wish I hadn’t wasted my time and energy, when I could have subscribed to BeachBody on Demand for $100 a year!
Prioritizing Your Workouts: Step Two
Once you have decided what your workout is and how you are going to access it, it’s time to find an accountability partner. Yup, I said it! Having someone else that is on a similar journey will help to keep you honest and get you consistent way faster than you will on your own. There are a few ways to do this. First, you can see if someone that you live with wants to stay accountable with you. If there isn’t, reach out to friends to see if anyone is wanting some accountability. There are online groups you can join as well. For years, I was a part of a BeachBody group and posting my workout each day in the private group helped me stay motivated.
Prioritizing Your Workouts: Step Three
The third step to prioritizing your workouts is to make yourself a promise and commit. That sounds so basic, but I promise you, it could be exactly what you need. For example, my first BeachBody program was 21-Day Fix. I bought the program (on a DVD – remember those!?) and promised myself that I was going to do all 21 days. I had invested the money, now I was going to invest my time. My husband did it with me for accountability and for the first time ever in my life, I finished a workout program that I started.
Honestly, I think that I just needed to have one under my belt because now I am finishing programs every 6-8 weeks without even really thinking about it. You can’t be wishy-washy with yourself though. If you want to finish a program, announce it to yourself, make the promise and make it happen.
I also write my workout as the first “must-do” item in my MAP Book notebook system each day. That means I can’t accomplish my top 3 without making the workout happen!
Prioritizing Your Workouts: Step Four
Another strategy that I’ve used in the past to make sure that I am prioritizing workouts is putting the workouts on my calendar, like an event. I learned early on that if I don’t do my workout when I first wake up, I just spend the whole day dreading the workout and ultimately find a reason not to do it. When I began putting them on my calendar though, it felt like something I wanted to check off my list. So once you have chosen a program, add all of the workouts to your calendar and commit to sticking with them. You may surprise yourself!
Prioritizing Your Workouts: Step Five
Finally, my last piece of advice for prioritizing workouts as a busy mom is to use the sticky note method. I’ve mentioned this before and it seems so silly, but I swear, it works. I take a stack of sticky notes (regular-sized) and cut them into 3 strips (sticky side on the left). Then, whenever I finish a workout, I stick it to the door frame in my kitchen. I add a sticky note every time I do a workout and if I skip a day, I take all of the sticky notes down and start again.
You may be wondering, “Um, Sharon, why the heck do you do that?” And my answer would be to get consistent! I am very visual and I love seeing the sticky notes as a representation of my workout efforts. Whenever people walk into our house, they inevitably see the sticky notes and ask about them. That helps keep me accountable. And when I have to take them all down, my kids moan and groan with me – more motivation to keep the streak alive.
Prioritizing Your Workouts: Real Talk
I was one of those kids that could eat whatever they wanted and not gain an ounce. Then adulthood hit, babies came and that reality changed for me. It took actual years to come to terms with the fact that a day wouldn’t come where I would step on the scale, realize I hit my goal weight and never workout again. As soon as I accepted that reality, I realized the mental struggle of workouts lessened as I realized working out was just going to forever be a part of my routine.
At the end of the day, mama, you need to do what works for you. These are a few tips and tricks that I’ve picked up along the way. I would love it if you would shoot me a DM with anything that has worked for you in the past in getting consistent with your workouts!
Let’s Make a Plan!
Right now, on a scale of 1 to 10, rank how you feel you do at prioritizing your workouts. Be honest with yourself. Now that you’ve determined that, decide what strategy you feel you can implement from this episode to get more consistent and prioritize your workouts as a busy mom.
And Don’t Forget…
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe on Spotify or YouTube so you don’t miss next week’s episode, which is all about my first year of using PowerSheets to track my annual goals. I can’t wait to share with you how it’s going and the changes that I’ve made in the past ten months after using it!
Next, if you want to connect between episodes, be sure to give me a follow over on Instagram. I would love to support you on your personal growth journey, mama!
Finally, be sure to subscribe to my email list to get weekly personal growth delivered right to your inbox – and because I know you’re busy mama, I promise it will include a meaningful action step that will take you 2 minutes or less to implement!
Thank you so much for being here, mama! Get back to doing your thing, rocking your world and remember – keep growing! Little eyes are watching.
Did You Love This Episode?
If so, be sure to share it with a friend – this helps busy moms like you to find me!
And finally, you can also check out these related episodes that I think you’ll be obsessed with:
[…] Prioritizing Workouts as a Busy Mom […]
[…] How to Prioritize Your Workouts as a Busy Mom […]