I mentioned in my June Write Day post last week that I had achieved my goal of exercising every day throughout the month of May. I’m very pleased and proud with this achievement. I haven’t had a regular workout routine since sometime during the pandemic.

For the 15ish years between high school and my early thirties, I had a regular gym routine focused on strength training. During that span, I trained with weights, running, swimming, boxing, and rock climbing, and I was able to evolve my routine over time as I moved places and my lifestyle shifted. That all changed when I was laid off in 2019 and lost access to my former employer’s amazing gym. I tried to reestablish a routine at a gym near our house, and then everything fell apart in 2020.

Starting a New Routine

So I’d like to take a look at my routine in May and see how it’s developed. This is partially a way for me to glean an early routine again. Now, I had three main principles for my daily exercise routine for May:

1. Do anything, regardless of how tired I was. Even if it was just a 10-minute stretch, I needed to prove to myself that I could proactively do something each and every day, regardless of how small.
2. Focus on small goals. I didn’t go for intricate, 30- or 60-minute workouts from the jump. I knew I needed to build up to that — and I’m still building up to that.
3. Be responsive to how my body feels. If I felt like I had the energy, I’d do something more intensive. If I felt worn down and just wanted to decompress, I’d focus on stretching and movement.

Building the New Routine

I’m not going to go day-by-day, but I’d like to trace my progress over the month of May to demonstrate how a decent routine can be built in tiny steps.

Here’s an overview of my first two weeks. Week 1 was heavy on stretching, while week 2 I managed to do a lot of yoga. I also took advantage of a family trip to an amusement park to get in a ton of walking, which I think counts for something.

Notice in the final two weeks, I started doing longer yoga sessions. You can’t see it in the above, but I also tried to vary the types of workouts I did, as well. I took advantage of a family play date / dinner date at our friends’ house to play on their trampoline with our kids, which was so much more tiring than I expected. I also used one of our regular summer lake trips to kayak, something I love to do and really love the workout.

Continuing the Routine

The point is, once I committed to exercising every day, I was able to quickly ramp up to more intense workouts and dedicate more time to my routine each day. I don’t have a firm routine set yet, but I think it’s plain to see one had started to emerge in the second half of the month, effectively splitting time between resistance training and yoga.

Now I just need to find the time to kayak more.

Steve D