We (maybe you did also) made the goal that we want to incorporate strength workouts into our fitness routine as much as possible. But how do you actually make that happen?

We got Kelly Coffee-Meyer workout tapes. She is great because she pushes you without being annoying, or mean. She is feisty and funny. Her tapes are designed to be done in 30 minutes. There are two full length workouts on most of her DVDs. Also, she provides “pre-mixes” that are shorter and target certain areas. To us, the premixes are everything! They tell you what you’ll be working, how long it will take, and are 8-17-ish minutes long. So you can just do one or you can do a combo.



We also have Celine Johnson’s Piyo, a combination of Pilates, yoga, and it uses your own body weight to work on strength. She is slightly annoying, but not to the point I have to mute it. There are several DVDs that have names like “Drench” and “Lower” and it’s a nice change of pace. The Piyo is good because it sneaks up on you. You’re doing a yoga-type sun salutation, stretching (I’m breathing, though she’s not all pesty about the breathing/mantra stuff), then you’re like out of breath a sweating.

My point is find something you like, some short/abbreviated versions of it, that target different areas. The pre-mixes or different discs target specific areas of the body. So we do upper body one day, lower body the next, abs the third, than back to upper body. Then you can do strength every day without fatiguing any one muscle group. Each group has two days to recover. Have a plan and schedule out which days you want to do what. Or mix it up sometimes to fight boredom.

Once you have your workout in mind, make a space in your day for it. Really fight to keep this time for your workout. Make the time a priority. It doesn’t have to take long–sometimes we literally only have (or are willing to do) 10 minutes in a day. If you are awake for 15 hours in a day, 10 minutes in literally 0.9% of your entire day. Which isn’t much. That’s not really an amount of time I can make excuses for.

Part of blocking out (even a short) time is making it a routine. This is key! Every day honor that time to work out. Start by trying to go 5 days in a row. Every day get up there and at least do some working out. This is the whole thing when trying to start and stick to a workout. We start small. You know, during holidays when we’ve fallen off the wagon, or if we reverted back to couch potatoes and we want the workout goal to be a thing again…

I always feel like I have to be doing 30 other things, and don’t have time. Sometimes I feel tired and lazy. Just do something. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time, a lot of reps, or a lot of weight. Do any little thing. When we re-start this goal, we might do 1 or 2 sets. It’s not about being superman, it’s about making your brain know that this is a routine. Any little thing is better than nothing.

And I promise, it gets easier. Nobody wants to get off the couch. Nobody starts out an in-shape expert. That first 7-10 days (the out-of-shape phase, I call it) is horrible. Nobody likes feeling like they can’t do it, they’re getting winded early, they are sore the next day. Everyone would rather be sitting. Push through! Just tell yourself to get through the first week, and it DOES get easier. A lot of people never feel the joy or happiness from exercise, because they don’t realize everybody goes through an out-of-shape phase that totally sucks for the first 7-10 days. That goes for running too, but that’s for another post. Get through that 7-10 days of a new program and that’s when you start to feel it get not quite as difficult, not as sore, and you feel a bit happy.

Also, if you force yourself to adhere to your workout for a week in a row, your mind settles down and actually enjoys establishing routine. Once you get into the second and third week, it’s a whole different feeling. And when you start being about to do all the reps, increasing weight, and noticing some tone–it’s a major morale boost.

And nobody ever regretted working out. Even on the days I was most hangry and fatigued, very stressed and busy–after the workout, ahhhh. I felt accomplished. And more importantly I didn’t feel the guilt for not sticking to it, the regret at lazy-ing out.

That’s my best advice on getting started. Nike has a point.

Good luck and let me know if this helped, and if you have any additional tips for getting fitness going in your life.