Why You Should Schedule Your Workouts On Your Calendar
Working out is good for you — you know this already.
But life’s busy, and pre-existing responsibilities can often get in the way of a good sweat session. However, there’s a big difference between finding the time to exercise and making the time to do it. When you commit to the latter, your life will change — fitness will become part of the schedule.
Indeed, writing your workouts into your daily agenda can make all of the difference. Here’s why:
1. You’ll Have Time
Let’s start with the obvious benefit of scheduling your workouts on your calendar — you will have time.
If your schedule is already packed, you probably have trouble finding a time when you can exercise. Once you pen it into your calendar, though, you will instantly make time for a workout. Treat it like a work meeting or carpool pick-up — you can’t reschedule those, and fitness is just as important.
So, write it down and stick to it. That way, you will always have time to dedicate to your health and fitness.
2. You’ll Be Committed
On that note, scheduling your workouts helps you to commit to them, too. Having something written down in your planner will make it feel more like a must-do — which exercise is, for both your mental and physical health and fitness.
And, as you continue on with regular exercise, it will become part of your routine. You’ll stick to your workouts just as you do your other daily commitments, such as walking the dog or prepping dinner for the family. That’s precisely how exercise should be, anyway, so block out time for your sessions.
3. Your Workouts Will Be Varied
When you create a workout plan, you shouldn’t be doing the same routine every day.
Instead, you should be performing a mix of resistance training, cardio and flexibility for a whole-body approach to fitness. By penning your workouts into your schedule, you can ensure you get this blend.
For one thing, you’ll commit to enough sessions each week that you have time to do everything. You can write down what you’ll do each day so that you keep track of what you’ve done and what area deserves your focus next.
4. You’ll Make Fitness Friends
Once you start going to the same workout classes or hitting the gym at the same time, you’ll start recognizing people.
And, you never know — from there, you could make a workout buddy or two. Having a friend with whom you exercise affords you so many benefits, both fitness-wise and socially. You’ll have more fun, and you’ll be even more accountable to your workout schedule. Your pal’s waiting for you at the gym, so you’ll go.
5. You’ll Become a Pro Planner
This benefit isn’t necessarily fitness-related, but it’s a good thing regardless.
You may not be the best at scheduling or managing your time. Writing your workouts down will help you to become an expert at planning, though. For instance, you may start to use tried-and-true scheduling programs, such as Google Calendar. If you didn’t do so before, then you could totally change your life with an app to help you plan and stick to a routine every day.
6. You’ll Have Time For Rest
One of the most important elements in your workout schedule is the rest day.
After intense cardio or weight-lifting, your body needs time to repair and re-energize before your next session. If you’re working out in bursts, you may not give your body this time to recuperate. You could be more prone to injury or burn-out because of it.
On top of that, you can coordinate your rest days so they align with your fitness schedule. For instance, you might plan to rest after leg day at the gym. This set-up allows your body to recover before your next scheduled sweat session.
7. You Can Work Toward a Goal
Learning to schedule workouts can help you work toward a fitness goal.
Let’s say you dream of running a marathon. Penciling in your weekly runs will ensure that your training stays on track. As you build up stamina, you can run longer and farther — until you’re crossing the finish line at your first race.
Of course, you may have a simpler goal, such as building muscle or losing fat. Planning your workouts can help you toward your desired results. Further track your progress by taking photos or measurements. Seeing the changes you’ve made will only spur you onward — and help you stick to your scheduled workouts.
Schedule to Sweat It Out — And You Will
Sometimes, what you want to do and what you have to do are different things. Your health and fitness shouldn’t be a toss-up, though — it’s good for you, and it makes you feel good. It should be part of your everyday life.
So, start to schedule your workouts to stick with them. Soon enough, exercise will be just as routine as the rest of your responsibilities. And that change will make you feel as good as your improved physical fitness.