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Why You Keep Skipping Workouts Even Though You Want to Be Consistent · FitMitTuro Fitness Podcast

• 1:08
  Turo Virta: Most people don't skip workouts because they don't care. They skip workouts because the workout feels too big, too hard, too long, too complicated, too much. And when something feels too much, your brain starts looking for a way out, you might say, I will do it tomorrow. I don't have enough time today. I'm too tired. I will restart Monday. And then one missed workout becomes two.
• 1:38
  Turo Virta: Two becomes weak, and suddenly you feel like that. You are starting over again. If this sounds familiar, this episode is for you, because today I want to talk about why you keep skipping workouts, even when you really want to be consistent. And I want to show you that the problem is probably not your motivation and it's it is probably not your discipline, and it is definitely not because you are lazy. The problem is often that your plan only works on your best days. But real life is not only best days, real life is busy, days tired, days stressful, days low energy, days, days when your kids need you, days when work takes longer, days when your body feels stiff, days when your mind says Not today. So if your plan only works when everything goes perfectly, it is not a real life plan, and today we are going to fix that, I will give you a simple frame framework called move so M stands for make it smaller. O is for own your minimum. V is value the streak and E is expect bad case, because if you want to become consistent, you don't need the perfect workout. You need a plan that survives real life. So let's get into it. So let's, let's get start with the real question, why do you skip your workouts? Most people answer this too quickly. They just say, I'm lazy, I'm not disciplined, I don't have motivation, I'm just bad at consistency. But honestly, I don't think that's the full truth, because many of the same people are very consistent in other areas in their life. They go to work regularly. They don't miss a day. They take care of their kids without missing a days.
• 3:53
  Turo Virta: They help their family, they answer messages, they pay bills, they sew up for other people.
• 3:58
  Turo Virta: But it is not that they are unable to be consistent. It's often that they have built no realistic system for showing up for themselves, and that is different because you are not lazy, you are not overloaded, you are not weak, you are not tired, you are not broken. You are trying to build a habit in a life that is already full. And this matters, because if you think the problem is laziness, solution becomes punishment. You try to force yourself, you shame yourself. You say, Come on, let's just do it. But if the real problem is that workout feels too big for your current energy, then punishment will not help. A better system will help.
• 4:54
  Turo Virta: And let me say it like this, most people don't need a harder plan. They need a plan with a lower entry point, because starting is often the hardest part itself, starting changing clothes, driving to the gym, opening the app, pulling on your shoes, rolling out the map. The first step is often the real wall, and if the first step feels too big, you don't start, and if you don't start, nothing happens. So today, I want you to stop asking, How do I become more disciplined, and start asking, How do I make starting easier? Because that is a much better question. And in the end, you become some of your quality, of your questions you are asking yourself. So one of the biggest reasons people skip workouts is all or nothing, thinking you believe a workout only counts if it is certain length, for example, 45 minutes, if it's perfect, if it's sweaty, if it's hard, if it's planned, if it's complete, done exactly as written. So when you only have 15 minutes, you skip when you are tired, you skip when you can do the full workout. You skip when your sketch schedule changes, you skip. When your body feels stiff, you skip. And then you say, I failed again.
• 6:36
  Turo Virta: But you didn't fail because you didn't train. You fail. You failed because your definition of training was too strict. And this is the same problem. Many people have nutrition. They think if I can't eat perfectly, I might as well eat everything with workout. It becomes, if I can't do the full session, I might as well do nothing. And that's the trap, and this trap keeps people stuck for years because life will always interrupt you. You will not always have 60 minutes. You will not always feel motivated. You will not always sleep well. You will not always have perfect energy. So if your workout habit depends on perfect conditions, it will always break. You need a plan for imperfect conditions.
• 7:31
  Turo Virta: This is where many people misunderstand consistency.
• 7:36
  Turo Virta: Consistency doesn't mean the same perfect workout every time.
• 7:42
  Turo Virta: Consistency means continuing in some some days that is a full workout. Some days it is a short workout. Some days it is mobility. Some days it is a walk. Some days it is one exercise only, because that still counts and because the goal is not only to burn calories, the goal is to keep the identity alive. I'm someone who shows up, and that's the real goal. So this is my own example. I used to be that person who was always keeping who was thinking, as a former athlete, that perfect workout need to be 60 minute long, 45 minute long, or one and a half hours, and if I wouldn't have that time, I would be the first person who would talk myself Out of doing it. But now, as five years i i made a decision that I only need to get started. I made it as simple as possible with using these exact same principles I'm going to share later. So if and these have made huge difference, I amounts, I'm training. If I look minutes, they are maybe one quarter, 20 frozen, 25% of previously what I count as a hard workout or strengths, but I'm still able to maintain, because of consistency, my muscle mass making even some progress with the bare minimum. But at this point in my life, I don't have to. My goal is not to gain as much muscle mass or strength as possible. It's simply maintaining everything, staying pain free, having energy. And that is at the moment, it's enough. If I at some point I want to improve something, then I know how to change it. But at this point, maintaining everything maintenance that is the majority time of your life.
• 9:52
  Turo Virta: You should be on maintenance.
• 9:56
  Turo Virta: You shouldn't be even aiming to build something. Or if, if you are building like me, it's very it's not going to happen very fast, but it's a huge win already to maintain everything.
• 10:11
  Turo Virta: And what is the real purpose of a workout? Because I believe that many people think the purpose of workout is only physical, to pair calories, build muscle, lose fat, improve fitness. And of course, these things matter matter, but for long term consistency, there is another purpose. Workout is also a vote, a vote for the person you want to become. Because every time you show up, even in a small way, you tell yourself, I am someone who takes care of myself. I'm someone who keeps promises to myself, and that is a huge one. I'm someone who doesn't quit just because the day is not perfect, and that identity is powerful, and that's why a 10 Minute Workout matters?
• 11:09
  Turo Virta: Not because 10 minutes will change your whole body immediately, but because 10 minutes can change your story.
• 11:17
  Turo Virta: Instead of I skipped again, you get I still showed up. And that is a completely different feeling. And over time, that feeling builds self self trust.
• 11:27
  Turo Virta: And self trust is built by keeping small promises, not giant promises, small ones. And if you promise yourself five five workouts and do zero, trust goes down. If you promise yourself 10 minutes and trust goes up, and this is why I would rather have someone do three short sessions per week for six months than one perfect week followed by three weeks of nothing, because your body changes from repetition and your identity changes from repetition too. And now I want to make this like really practical if you keep skipping workouts. I want to use the Move framework and make it smaller. O own your minimum v value, the strike E, expect bad day. So let's go through each one. So M stands for make it smaller, and that is the first step. And this sounds simple, but many people hate this step, because when motivation is high, you don't want smaller. You want bigger.
• 12:45
  Turo Virta: You want a full plan. You want five workouts. You want 10,000 steps. You want meal prep. You want morning routines. You want everything. But if you have a history of starting and stopping, bigger is not always better. Bigger often becomes heavier, and when the plan feels heavy, you drop it. So the question is, how can we make the workout small that it becomes hard to skip, not forever, just to get started. For example, instead of saying I need to work out for 60 Minutes, say I need to put on my workout clothes and do 10 minutes. Instead of saying I need to go to the gym, say I need to do one round at home.
• 13:37
  Turo Virta: Instead of saying I need to train legs, upper body, core and cardio, say I need to do one squat movement, one push movement, one pull movement.
• 13:46
  Turo Virta: Instead of saying I need perfect workout, say I need to just move my body today. And this is not lowering your standards, this is building the door into the habit. Think about it like entering a house. If the door is locked, you stay outside, making the workout smaller is like opening the door. Once you are inside, you can always do more, but the first goal is to get inside. And here is a simple example, if you plan a 45 minute workout, but today gets crazy.
• 14:28
  Turo Virta: Now only you have 12 minutes.
• 14:28
  Turo Virta: Most people skip, but instead you do, for example, then squats, then push ups, then bandros, maybe 32nd plank, repeat it two to three rounds.
• 14:42
  Turo Virta: Is it then? Perfect? Absolutely not. Does it count? Oh, yeah.
• 14:48
  Turo Virta: And because you get habit alive, you moved, you showed up, you build a rep of identity. And often, what happens once you get started? You might do more, not always, but often, because starting creates momentum, and that is why making it smaller works. It reduces resistance, and once resistance is lower, action becomes easier. So the first question to ask is, what is the smallest version of this workout that still counts, and that is your starting point. The second step is own, your own minimum. And this is where you decide what is your lowest acceptable version. Is not your ideal version, not your minimum version. And the mistake many people make is the they only have a best day plan. They know what to do, and they have time, energy and motivation, but they have no bad day plan. So when the bad day comes, they do nothing. And I want you minutes of Strength Training Plan B is your minimum workout, for example, 10 minutes or one exercise or a walk or mobility.
• 16:38
  Turo Virta: And this is not failure. This is a strategy. And let me give you examples by what you can put into your real life. If your plan A is full body workout at the gym, your plan B could be three rounds at home, so those then squats, then incline push ups, then rows with the band, 32nd plank. And if your plan A is running intervals, your plan B could be a 15 minute walk. If your plan A is heavier lower body strength training, your plan B could be glute bridges, body weight squats and stretching. If your plan is 60 minutes, your plan B could be 10 minutes. And now here is the important part, you must respect Plan B. You cannot do Plan B and then say that didn't count because it counts, because the goal of plan B is different.
• 17:46
  Turo Virta: Plan A builds fitness and plan B protects consistency and both matter. You need workouts that build your body, but you also need workouts that protect your habit. And sometimes protecting the habit is the most important thing, this is especially true for busy people, mothers, professionals, women in a midlife, people with stress, people who are starting again because the habit is fragile in The beginning, you don't protect protect it by demanding perfection. You protect protect it by making success possible.
• 18:30
  Turo Virta: And here is a sentence I love, never miss twice. If you miss one, workout, life happens. If you miss two, the pattern is starting, but if you have a minimum workout, you can avoid missing twice. You might not do the full workout, but you do something, and something keeps the chain alive. So own your own minimum write it down. Decide before the hard day, you can ask yourself, what counts as my minimum workout and make sure it is realistic, not impressive realistic, because the best minimum workout is the one you actually do. Third step is value to strike, and I want you to I want to explain this carefully.
• 19:37
  Turo Virta: I don't mean you must train hard every day. That would be stupid for most people, because recovery matters, rest matters, sleep matters. But I do believe in valuing the strake of showing up. The Strait is not I trained hard every day. The strike is I kept promise in some way that could mean strength training, walking, stretching, mobility, a short workout, a plant rest day.
• 20:12
  Turo Virta: And yes, a plant rest day can count because it is intentional.
• 20:18
  Turo Virta: The problem is not rest. The problem is disappearing. And there is a big difference between I'm resting today because it is part of my plan, and I skip today because I didn't feel like it, and now I feel guilty. One builds trust, the other creates shame, so value a streak of intentional action. Think of it like brushing your teeth. You don't brush your teeth because one brushing changes everything you press, because it is who you are. It is part of taking care of yourself. Training can become the same, not always big, not always intense, but regular.
• 21:11
  Turo Virta: This matters, because many people break the streak mentally before they break it physically.
• 21:16
  Turo Virta: They miss one workout and think I failed then, because they already feel like they failed.
• 21:26
  Turo Virta: They skip more. But if you value the strike differently, you can say, Okay, I missed my full workout, but I did 10 minutes.
• 21:36
  Turo Virta: I'm still in the game. That phrase matters. I'm still in the game. Because many people remove themselves from the game too quickly. They think one imperfect day means they are out. No one imperfect day is normal. So the question is, how fast do you return? That is consistency, not never falling off, but returning faster. So start tracking your streak in a better way. Not just that, did I complete the perfect workout, but instead, did I show up for my body today? And this could be a check mark, a note, a calendar, a happy tracker, whatever works for you, but make the habit visible. Because when you are when you see yourself showing up, you start believing this is who a I am. And when you believe it, it becomes easier to repeat. Then the fourth step is, expect bad days. And this might be the most important one, because most people create create plans if bad days will not happen. But that is not realistic, as you know, bad days will happen. You will sleep badly, you will have stress. You will get sick. Your kids will need something. Work will explode. Your body will feel heavy, your hormones will shift.
• 23:16
  Turo Virta: Your mood will be low. You will not always feel like training.
• 23:23
  Turo Virta: So if you are surprised every time life happens, you will keep tweeting instead expect it, plan for it and say bad days are part of the plan, not a sign that plan is failing, part of the plan. And this is especially important for women in midlife, because energy can change more, recovery can feel different.
• 23:54
  Turo Virta: Sleep can be worse, stress can feel heavier, hormonal changes can affect motivation, mood and training. So the goal is not to force the same intensity every day. The goal is to have different gears. Some days are high gear. You train hard, you feel strong, you push. Some days are medium gear, you do the workout, but reduce the weight.
• 24:28
  Turo Virta: Some days are low gear due to mobility, walking or a short session. All of these can be success, because your body is not a machine. You don't need to punish in it into consistency.
• 24:48
  Turo Virta: You need to work with it. And this is where many people get it from. They think adjusting means weakness, but smart training always adjusts athletes, adjust good coaches, adjust programs, adjust. So why would you expect your own life to be the same every day? That makes no sense.
• 25:12
  Turo Virta: A good plan has flexibility built in. Because flexibility plans last, rigid plans break.
• 25:25
  Turo Virta: So before your next at a pumps, decide, what will I do when I don't feel like training? Maybe your answer is, I will do 10 minutes, or I will walk, or I will do mobility, or I will do one set of each exercise, or I will put my shoes on and start after 10 minutes, I can stop if I want. And that last one is very powerful, because often after 10 minutes you feel bitter. But even if you stop, you still sewed up. And that matters. Expect bad days. Plan for them and stop making them mean something is wrong with you. Then now I want to talk something very important, because many people confuse consistency with intensity. They think if I didn't sweat, it didn't count. If I wasn't sore, it didn't work. If it wasn't hard, it was useless. But that's not true. Intensity has its place. Hard. Training matters progressive overload matters challenging your body matters, but intensity without consistency is not enough. A brutal workout every two weeks will not change your life. A simple workout done regularly.
• 27:05
  Turo Virta: Can think about training like brushing your teeth again. You don't brush your teeth very aggressively once per month, and think perfect now my teeth are healthy. No, you do small daily accidents. And training is similar, a little often beats a lot, rarely, especially in the beginning, because the first goal, first goal is not to prove how hard you can go. The first goal is to prove that you can show up. And this is why I often say, Make training easy enough to repeat, not easy forever, but easy enough to build momentum, because once consistency is there and we can build then we can make it harder, then we can increase weights, then we can add volume, and then we can push performance. But if you skip all the time, making the plan harder is not the answer. The answer is making the plan repeatable.
• 28:16
  Turo Virta: Because the best workouts is not the one, the ones that look impressive on paper, the best workout is the one you can do consistently enough to get results. And let me give you a simple example. Because usually when people come at me, especially in the beginning, they are very motivated, and I did in the beginning of my coaching career, this mistake, somebody said that, you know, now I pay for coach. I want to get most out of it. And when we talk at the moment, past years have been hard, and they haven't been doing anything. And now they say that they are now really motivated. They want to get started. They want to get the fastest possible results.
• 29:09
  Turo Virta: And they said, I want to work out five times in a week. And I, as a young coach, I was like thinking in myself before after big search, what we get after one or two months to use my personal marketing. And of course, we did it. I did it, and five times a week workout. And you can guess what happened after two weeks, I never heard first week, everything perfectly. Second week started to skip workouts from third week, everything was too much. I never heard from the person anymore. And honestly, I was thinking that, Oh, this was she wasn't just motivated enough.
• 29:49
  Turo Virta: And I said I couldn't do anything. And now I'm telling that this was 100 pros my fault, that one could start motivated who wanted to change a life as a coach, I gave a plan that was too much. So that is, that was definitely on me. But I, I have done many mistakes and and this is something, what you learn through experience, that that more is not always better. And if, for example, if you are someone who is saying that I want to train three times per week, great, so, and maybe you create a plan. Monday is going to be a full body strength.
• 30:39
  Turo Virta: Wednesday, it's a full body strength. Friday, full body strength. Each workout is 60 minutes. So this is kind of same example. So the first week goes well. Second week, Monday is busy. They miss it. Wednesday, they think that I already missed Monday, so maybe I will start next week. Friday comes. They are tired. They skip again. Now one missed workout became missed week, the guilt comes. Then they just say that I just can't stay consistent. What if they had a minimum plan? Monday, 12 minutes at home. Wednesday, normal workout. Friday, tired to have the workout. Now the fee now the week is not perfect, but it is still alive, and they still train three times in some form.
• 31:31
  Turo Virta: And that changes everything, because now the story is I adapted, not I failed, and this is exactly the same, like I rather program now, especially for the first month or two, a little bit less, if you are someone who says that I I thought to work out three times a week, is that, if we start with the two, and because the self confidence, what you get, you have always option to do three workouts. If you know that usually Fridays, you are tired after the week. So you're not sure if you get workout in. It could be options. Could be that you have Monday, Wednesday, normal workouts. If something happens on Monday, you still have time on Friday to recover it, do it on Friday, and when you end your week, you do have done your two workouts. And if it's a perfect week. But there is nobody says that you can't repeat your workout also on Friday. So and because there is a mentally there is a huge difference how you talk to yourself, how you feel about yourself. If you did everything you were promising to yourself two workouts per week, and if you for some reason, you did even something extra, you did third workout. So now you are like, holy shit, I did. I promised I did. I kept my promises. I did even something extra. Instead, if you promise yourself to do three workouts in a week, you happen to do two.
• 33:03
  Turo Virta: You skipped one. How you talk to yourself? You are not happy, or most of the people are not happy about doing two workouts, but they are pissed off with themselves that they missed one.
• 33:17
  Turo Virta: So that is a huge difference.
• 33:21
  Turo Virta: And then if at some point, once you build that consistency, you feel like that? Oh, now I feel I'm into it. I want to do more.
• 33:30
  Turo Virta: Then it's time to start adding because that identity matters.
• 33:38
  Turo Virta: So I want to give another example. So if some woman is I recently started to work with a woman who is 46 years old, so she was a little bit nervous.
• 33:50
  Turo Virta: She didn't know if she was doing the things right. So she thought that she needs to go to gym. She was thinking that everyone will watch her, and she she was thinking that seemed it's a perfect plan. So what? What was the story for herself before she did nothing, but then we changed it, that what I asked her question, that, what if the first goal would be only two times a week, 20 minutes at home, basic exercises, body weight squats, wall push ups, pantro clues, bed bugs, because those are those exercises are easy and they are more than enough to get started, not forever, but to Start. Because the first goal is not to become an athlete. The first goal is to become someone who trains, and you become that by training, even simply. So now I want to talk about motivation, because motivation is nice, but motivation is not reliable. It comes and goes. Sometimes you have it, and some days you don't. If you only train when you feel motivated, you will never, ever train enough. And that is normal. Even people who are very consistent are not motivated all the time. They just don't require motivation to get started, because they have systems, they have routines, they have minimums, and they have a plan for bad days. They know that sewing up usually creates motivation, not the other way around. And this is important, because most people wait to feel motivated before they act. But often motivation comes after action, and I believe that it's actually always you put your shoes on, you start walking, you feel a little better. You do one set, you feel more awake. Usually 10 minutes you feel proud. Now motivation appears, but it came after starting. So don't wait for motivation. Create momentum, a tiny action can do that. So put your shoes on, open the app, roll out the mat, do one set, start the music. Walk for five minutes, because these small actions are telling your brain we are starting, and starting is the win. Now I want you to build your own move plan so you can do this today. Take a piece of paper or open your phone notes.
• 36:49
  Turo Virta: Write this down in make it smaller. Ask yourself now, what is the smallest version of my workout that still counts? It could be 10 minutes, one round one exercise, evoke mobility, then o own your meaning, write your minimum workout. For example, my minimum workout is 10 minutes of movement, or my minimum is one set of each exercise, or my minimum, is putting on shoes and walking outside for 10 minutes. Make it clear, there is no guessing in this one. Then B stands for value to strike. Decide, how will you track your showing up?
• 37:41
  Turo Virta: Maybe it's a calendar, maybe a check mark, maybe an app, maybe a note, but track the act of showing up, not only perfect workouts. Then E is, expect bad days. Write your bad day. Plan when I don't feel like training, I will and then finish that sentence, for example, when I don't feel like training, I will do 10 minutes. Or when I don't feel like training, I will go for a walk. Or when I don't feel like training, I will do mobility and call it a win. This is how you stop skipping, not by becoming a different person overnight, but by building a plan that works with your real life. So let me give you a few minimum workout ideas. These are not perfect, they are not magic, but they are just simply tools.
• 38:47
  Turo Virta: What you can do, minimum workout, one full body in 10 minutes, set the timer for 10 minutes, repeat 10 squats, then incline push ups, then rows with a bang or rumbles. 32nd plank, 20/32, plank. And do many? Do as many rounds as you can. You don't need to destroy yourself.
• 39:09
  Turo Virta: Just move minimum workout shoe, example, it could be longer pre day two to three rounds, then glute bridges, then squats, then reverse lunges or step backs.
• 39:26
  Turo Virta: 32nd wall seat. Then maybe your minimum upper body workout would be two to three rounds, then wall push ups or push ups on your knees. I prefer doing them against the table or or wall instead of putting on your knees. If you are not able to do real push ups, then bend rows, then shoulder presses, and then 22nd the 10 if you have a possibility or ball bent pull apart. Basically, exercises doesn't matter. These are just examples. You can do your favorite exercises, what you enjoy doing. It's just because this is not about perfection.
• 40:09
  Turo Virta: This is about creating a plan of your minimum day that doesn't feel hard to get started. Then maybe your minimum workout is mobility day. It could be just some five slow cat cows, hip circles, Child's Pose, Hip Flexor Stretches, good morning.
• 40:31
  Turo Virta: Shoulder Circles. Any mobility.
• 40:31
  Turo Virta: If you have areas that need attention, do more of that. And if you need if you have no idea, then reach out to some codes or ask AI. It's at CPT. What's YouTube? There's more than enough ideas. And I have for my clients, I have my mobility guide, what I have built that you can self test your whole body and you see areas, because this is, this was eye opener for me. I thought that I'm pretty okay in some parts. But then when I did my that self test, which is it takes 2020 minutes, 2030 minutes to do it once, then I I saw that, oh, my wrists, my hips, they need a lot attention.
• 41:27
  Turo Virta: Shoulders, those three areas, mainly, and I started to include those parts what were lacking, of mobility into my warm ups, into my cool downs. And now doing them, not a lot, but consistently, there is huge change how I feel. I have obviously improved my mobility.
• 41:48
  Turo Virta: I'm not having any more pain as I used to have in my shoulders or wrists or or or on my hips or lower back, which is often coming from my hips. So those things, especially when you are older, they matter even more younger ones get out of it. They still are okay for recovering, but faster, but older you get, I need to do my mobility. If I don't do it, I will feel it very, very soon. And it's not that mobility is not something that you need to plan to do one hour workout. No good mobility.
• 42:24
  Turo Virta: Workout is one to seven minutes.
• 42:30
  Turo Virta: And the important part with mobility is that it has to be consistent, so several times per week, short ones is actually better than one, longer focused mobility says and then maybe your minimum workout is walk only. So go for a walk 10 minutes, 20 minutes. That comes because, especially on a day and the alternative was nothing that is huge if you are going to walk, because you have to remember that the minimum workout is not there to replace all real training. It is there to keep you connected. It protects the habit. So now I want you to be led, to be honest, even this system you will sometimes miss and because that is how life works. So what do you first? Don't make it dramatic. One Missed workout is not a failure, it is all information. Ask, why did I miss? Was the workout too long?
• 43:37
  Turo Virta: Was the time bad? Was I too tired? Did I forget? Was I scared? Was I overwhelmed? Did I have no plan B, then adjust. The mistake is not missing. The mistake is not learning second.
• 43:57
  Turo Virta: Return quickly. Don't wait until Monday. Don't wait until next month. Don't restart the whole plan. Just do the next small thing, a walk, a short workout, one set, anything that stays I am back. And this is how consistent people think. They don't never fall off. They come back faster. And that is the skill, not perfection, recovery and because now this episode is really about identity. And you are not trying to become someone who never misses. You are becoming someone who returns, someone who adapts, someone who shows up in small ways, someone who doesn't quit when the day is imperfect, and that is a powerful identity. So stop saying I'm bad at consistency, and start saying I am learning to keep promises to myself. Stop saying I always keep workouts and start saying I am building a minimum version that works on hard days. Stop saying to yourself I need more discipline and start saying I need a better system, because they save the story, and the story saves the behavior. And this is I want to tell my own example, how I actually do this. So for me, my minimum, I have my own workout app, what I use for all my clients, and it's there I have it. I have set my own workout goal. My goal at the moment is to do the two strength workouts, and those are non negotiable for me. I had, have to put them into my calendar, and I'm not taking any other appointments. They are as important as going forward, doing a practice session, whatever it is, non negotiable event for myself, that's how it starts. It still happens. Every once in a while. I skip those but I do have a minimum goal, and that is two times per week and 10 states. So it means 10 sets I do, usually five exercises, two rounds. That is my 10 set. And now, for example, this week, my friend, my gosh, I'm, I'm I'm a person who doesn't enjoy doing strength training. I know that I need it.
• 46:44
  Turo Virta: I need to feel the best version of myself to stay out of injuries. I need it, but actually doing it, I don't think so. If someone asked me to go for if my wife asked me for a go, go for a walk, or my friend is asking me for playing tennis or or there is some hockey or something else, what I naturally enjoy doing, I don't have any problem with that. But at some point, like this week happened, my friend asked me to play tennis. I was I planned already my strength workout. So I was thinking that, Oh, what I of course, I go to play tennis. I I'm bad at saying no, and I enjoy it more. But then I was thinking that what I do I have my strength day, and if I skip today, my full strength session would, which is around maybe 40 minute session, most likely I will have huge problems to make my workouts. Till then, I started with good intention to do I said that, okay, I knew already before if I go to play first, I thought that I do it after my tennis, but I then I knew that, oh, I might be tired, I might not be wanting to do any strength work after playing tennis. So I I changed the plan.
• 48:02
  Turo Virta: I did my 10 sets. What is, what is my bare minimum before I went to play tennis, and then I said that after, I might be doing something more, what happened? I did my 10 sets. Went to play tennis and won it. I did already have a weights I continue doing, but it felt so heavy and I didn't feel like doing it. So I skipped, I didn't it was planned, but I didn't do it, but I still did my bare minimum. Now today is Saturday, when I'm recording this, I'm I will have my planned workout today I will do, I don't know, at this point, I'm talking myself. I need to go to do other 10 sets of exercises to keep my straight life. And now I when I look my calendar, this is the strike what I have been currently doing. This is going to be 10th week in a row.
• 49:01
  Turo Virta: And if I look holier, I think in January, I skipped some weeks, or I had only one session. But before that, after that, I knew there was a one busy week I could get only one workout in, but I did it then third workout I did it already before. So one week I did three, and next week only one. I am still even in my app, I see current strike is 10 weeks, which is, by the way, I'm very proud of myself, but it's not, it's actually a lot longer.
• 49:32
  Turo Virta: But this is visible. It is motivating me. I see it how it goes. And this is my bare minimum. And this is exactly this framework, what I what I talk to myself. So my goal is number to make full workout. It says to make it smaller. Like if you are someone who are skipping your workouts, use this move move principle. So make it smaller is for m. So lower the entry point, so starting becomes easier. So that is for me, I need to only to get into my garage gym, get one exercise done, and then I own my minimum.
• 50:13
  Turo Virta: So this is my minimum, is 10 sets of exercise. I could make it for eight. But for me, I decided that it's 10, valuing the streak. So track showing up not only perfect workout. So for me, what matters more is that I keep my week alive. And of course, if it's every week, two weeks, 10 sets or two two times 10 sets, that is, am I going to make progress? No, probably not.
• 50:44
  Turo Virta: Am I going to maintain everything pretty much, I'm not going to, at least I'm not going to lose a lot and expect that day. So of course, I know that I have those low energy days like you. You should plan it that when you have that bad day, Plan B and you are planning for low energy days before it happens.
• 51:07
  Turo Virta: And this is how you become consistent. You're consistent not by forcing yourself harder, but by creating a band that survives real life. So here is your challenge for this week.
• 51:21
  Turo Virta: Choose your minimum workout, not your perfect workout. Your minimum write it down. When life gets busy, my minimum workout is and then finish the sentence.
• 51:34
  Turo Virta: Maybe it's 10 minutes, maybe it's one round, maybe it's walk, maybe it's mobility. But decide now, because when the day, when the hard day comes, you don't want to negotiate with yourself you want a plan and remember, a small workout is not a failed workout. It's a gift, promise and kept promises build self trust, and if this episode help you, share it with someone who keeps restarting their workouts every Monday. And if you want help building a training and nutrition routine that actually fits your life, you can check out my coaching options at personnel. Turo.ip I will put link in the show notes. Thank you so much for listening and talk to you in the next episode.