How long should I be exercising? And when is the best time to exercise?

If you read last week’s answer to the question, ‘How many days should I exercise?’ I partially answered this question in short, but I would like to extrapolate on the factors that will help determine this answer for you.

The short of the matter is that purposeful movement should be an everyday occurrence. Making exercise a part of daily life will build the routine quicker and provide more consistency to daily life. That is the secret. The fantastic mystery that everyone is looking to solve. The keys to success are in consistency. Doing the workday in and day out. That should be the foundation for all exercise routines that one can adhere to. Having a base of daily movement is the initial inertia needed to start compounding success. From there we can build to the more focused task of improving our health, building strength and muscle, and/or acquiring new skills.  

So, how much time do we spend on all this? Like all health and wellness articles say, “It depends.” It depends on the answers to some questions we need to ask ourselves. Because we all have different goals and priorities in life, someone looking to improve their marathon time is going to spend their time differently than someone who is looking to improve their health so they can spend more time playing with their grandkids. The When and How Long are different. So what questions can we ask ourselves to find the right time to exercise and what are the most common times for people to prioritize their exercise.

·         What is my main health goal? Do not answer, “I want to lose X number of pounds” or “I want to get stronger.” We need something more long term and closer to the heart

·         When do I have 20 minutes free EACH day at the same time or close to the same time?

·         How important is your health to you? Now, ask yourself if your time management reflects this answer.

·         What access do I have to exercise equipment?

·         What do I know about exercise? Do I need guidance or help with the physical act of exercising?

If you take a look at these questions, you are self-assessing your experience level, and determining where physical fitness falls on your list of things most important to you. Once you know that answer you can start laying the foundation on how much time you can happily spend on physical fitness.

One huge failure point for a lot of individuals is that their priorities do not align with their fitness goals, so time becomes hard to find. But, if you answered the questions I posed above, and you have determined where fitness falls on your list of things most important to you, finding the time could be as simple as cutting out your doom-scrolling, or watching a bit less TV or it could come with more difficult decisions like giving up time with family and friends. When it comes down to it, how important is being healthy to you?

Now that we have the mental planning complete, we have a rough idea of how much time we are able to spend exercising, based on the idea of how important it is to us and how ambitious our goal is. So, the 2nd half of this week’s question comes next, when is the best time?

The best time to exercise during your day is going to be the most routine times in your schedule. There is no way for me to know when the best times to exercise are for you. Morning, noon or night, it does not matter. Pick the time of day that you feel the best, and enjoy the process!

How many days should I be exercising if I want to live a healthier life?

This is the first question someone should ask themselves when considering their workout routine. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not get this question right. Instead, a lot of people give the hopeful answer, the answer they think they should adhere to. Typically, I hear 4-5x a week. And for some people that is sustainable, but it is likely that physical exercise ranks high on their list of priorities and they enjoy it already. But for the majority of people it’s at this point, failure is inevitable. The time commitment is too much. When you ask yourself this question, brutal honesty needs to be considered, and a few variables need to assessed to get this question right for yourself.

·         Do I have any consistency in my schedule?

·         What days have the least chance of surprise events and interruptions?

For many people this is only 2-3 days a week. Weekends are typically different week to week, Fridays for most are hit or miss, and typically 1 other day of the week is used for life tasks like groceries or family time or something else. This obviously does not apply to all people, but the thought process remains the same. A schedule that is harder to break is easier to follow.

Realistically most people in this world have about 2-3 good days a week where they can get in a solid chunk of time (1 hour or more) for exercise. While this is a good sustainable relationship with exercise on paper, this does leave 4-5 days of inconsistency and lack of movement. How can one expect to get a true hold on their exercise routine when most of their days do not include exercise?

I’m sure you might be able to see where this is going. You need to do some sort of exercise EVERYDAY. I will go over the smaller details in next week’s question, “How long should I be exercising (and when)?” but the TLDR is that we are creatures that need to exert ourselves each day in order to thrive.  It can be as simple as a 20-minute walk outside, a quick kettlebell routine, a bike ride around town, anything really as long as you are moving with purpose.

Building out your week’s exercise routine will be unique to you, but it should contain the rough outline of: quick daily movement, 2-3 intense workouts (45-60min). For a working person this should be enough to maintain a healthier lifestyle without it being too overwhelming.

How I Got Introduced Into Fitness

I have found that a lot of the passions that I have in life, that feel true to my core, and that I can remember, were introduced to me during my elementary school years. As a kid sports were a large part of my life. I was introduced to wrestling at the earliest age of about 4 or 5, then soccer & t-ball, football followed around 3rd grade, baseball shortly after and then finally track & field. Activity was always around when I was young and that was where I made a lot of my life long friends. My association with fitness has always been a net positive for me but it is not the main reason why I choose this as my profession.

I grew up in a smaller town in West Michigan with both of my parents being public school teachers within the school system that they grew up in. And where my grandfather also taught. My father was a varsity wrestling coach first and foremost, a varsity football coach, and a varsity throwing coach for the track and field team. Hopefully you can picture the amount of time and attention that was committed to sports, coaching, teaching and community involvement. Over the course of my childhood, I heard about all types of kids that my parents taught, and all types of parents they had to deal with as teachers and my father as a coach as well. If you were wondering what teachers talked about outside of work, to their friends and too each other, its usually about the kids they are teaching. The good and the bad.

I’ve heard about kids overcoming immense obstacles, kids missing opportunities, parents being helpful, and parents being the problem. They would always discuss how they could help, provide support, how they could celebrate wins for their students and give praise to the parents. I could give thousands of examples here, but we will save those for another time. This was what I grew up hearing my entire life up until I moved away to college. But, throughout those years between then and now a past student more often than not, would seek out my parents and tell me how much their teaching or coaching helped them in other aspects of life. The joy on each face was impossible to miss and it always left an impact on me.

I chose personal training to continue on with that tradition of helping others realize the potential that they have in their life, and how having an active and mobile body can be a major advantage when it comes to living out a fulfilling life.

The motto of StoelenStrength is “Taking Back Control” You were given a body when you were brought into this world and to use it as a tool to make an impact and steer your own ship. I want to carry on the tradition of helping others steer their own ships and succeed in what life they want to live.