Last week I had the same conversation with 2 clients who had expressed frustration at not being able to find time to do some movement when they wanted. One who worked long hours and was unable to find the time to get to a class and the other needed to do rehab type exercises to keep unwinding an issue in her body and had lost the motivation to spend 45 minutes a few days a week to do her programme. In both cases we talked about finding their key to maintaining a simple, short habit to make the progress they wanted.
The major thing I have worked on personally and aim to encourage in my clients is that any conscious movement is beneficial and bringing in 5 minutes of movement every day will massively benefit your future self. I mostly find that we are all so busy that if we aim to set aside 45 mins - 1 hour, 3 times a week to do a load of strength and rehab exercises, plus add in let’s say a yoga class, a circuit session and a run we would basically be working part time and never seeing our children just to fit it all in! And that’s assuming there’s a choice of classes we like nearby and at times we can get to, which is highly unlikely.
As busy women and mothers we need to take what we can get and for the most part that’s 5 - 15 minutes in the morning before the kids get up or we need to get in the shower before the start of the day. Here are my top tips of advice for setting up this habit:
You are highly unlikely to do anything at the end of the day. Unless your baby is still feeding and you struggle to have time unattached in the morning I have consistently found it unlikely that my clients and I will have the energy and the motivation by the end of the day to do anything so make time in the morning and that may mean going to bed 15 - 30 mins earlier in the evening.
Make the habit easy to set up - have any equipment you need right there, almost in a place you’ll fall over it so you don’t need to go searching for a resistance band or mat if you need them.
Despite what I said in 2) you do not need any special equipment or a specially designated space. Yes a resistance band might be helpful, a yoga mat so you stick to the surface you’re on is nice, but really you can do conscious movement in a space no bigger than your body size in standing, in your pants and no equipment at all. You know this, but we often give ourselves the excuse that we’re not wearing the right clothes, haven’t eaten the right thing, don’t have our hair right, it’s not quite the right time etc. Actually we don’t need anything, right now is the right time (unless you’re operating heavy machinery of course!).
If you have “rehab” exercises to do - and by that I mean exercises that will help you get stronger by engaging and activating sleepy muscles, untwisting imbalances and doing those small pelvic floor, glute and abdominals exercises we all need to do to be able to go and work the big stuff - then write out a list of all of them, for example 12-15 of them and do exercises 1-3 on day 1, 4-6 on day 2, 7-9 on day 3 etc etc.
One major key to doing your habit is attaching it to some other thing you do each day - cleaning your teeth, putting the kettle on, getting out of bed and then always doing this new habit at that time. Be specific about it, “every time I put the kettle on first thing in the morning I’ll do 10 reps of single leg squats each side” or “while I brush my teeth each morning I will stretch my calves on the step in the bathroom for the same amount of time”.
Another key is to find the gateway to that habit. What I mean is, there is a point at which you have a choice to either do your new habit or not, the point at which you’ll hit the snooze button again, scroll on your phone some more or sit down on the sofa never to get back up again. When you find that gateway you’ll know that the creation of the habit is not the doing of the exercises, how many reps or even what exercises you’re going to do but making that decision to do it at that gateway. For me that gateway is getting out of bed without touching my phone. If I turn my phone on it’s game over, I’ll look at my messages, check in on social media and that’s 15 minutes wasted. If I get out of bed without touching it I know I’ll just get on with what I want to actually do which is take steps to get stronger. See if you can find your gateway to your new habit and make that clear in your strategy.
Five minutes is better than nothing, and 10 squats or 2 core exercises are 10 squats more than you would have done if you’d have thought it wasn’t worth it. It is worth it, always. Showing up day after day and showing yourself that you are worth that small moment in time is a consistent step towards the strong and resilient person you are becoming.
Personally, I have chosen to alternate between rehab exercises and a simple yoga sequence each day. I found last year that I got bored of the same rehab exercises each day so I do as I said in point 4 above and then alternate with a yoga flow I make up every other morning. This keeps it interesting and focusses my attention on the rehab days to really make best use of that time. You may need to spend some weeks/months working out what works best for you and try different options out.