Why You Should Start Training 7 Days a Week 🤪
So you're probably thinking… woaaah, I barely have time for 1 hour a week of working out and now you want me to work out every day?? Well... Yes, but it's not in the way you think.
After working with many women who are incredibly dedicated to making a success of themselves and also still being a great mum, sister, friend, wife, citizen, neighbour I've come to realise that sometimes no matter how much we want to get in shape we can easily talk ourselves out of skipping a workout if there's a big deadline due or your mum calls unexpectedly.
I want to introduce to you the seven day work out that every woman on earth has time for and show you that you adapt it entirely to fit right into your life and your goals. First, I'll give you a little back story to explain how this workout came to be and why I think it's a winner.
When we first went into lockdown at the end of March I was working with a lot of women in corporate jobs with limited time for exercise, but because my gym was around the corner, they managed to get themselves in for that weekly lunchtime slot, not always with ease and usually with a hell of a lot of unnecessary guilt attached. Lockdown meant that most of them were busier than before because the nature of the work and the roles they carry out at work meant significant changes needed to be made and they were the ones heading up teams. Although many of them had more time back because they didn't need to travel, they had little in the way of distractions. So, working at home all day long without taking half an hour at lunch or a daily evening walk became the dreaded 'new normal' that many accepted for a while.
I was eager to do what I could to encourage them to move as mental health was a real concern. So, I set up a WhatsApp group with all my clients from the gym to help them to support and interact with each other. It was also a great way to check-in with them as a group or send them motivation and energy when needed. I started trying to rethink how I could help them move more even though I was aware daily walks outside were restricted, and they were worried about their jobs. And so I came up with The Daily Challenge (original I know). These daily challenges took advantage of everyday activities at home and added a little juicy movement on top.
Here are some of the challenges I dished out over the weeks:
Every time you visit the toilet, you have to do 5 'bog squats'.
Every time you get up to make a cup of tea or coffee, you have to do 10 calf raises with your knees bent, and 10 with your legs straight while you wait for the kettle.
Every time you get an email that annoys you air punch for 30 seconds
Every time you receive a message that makes you smile star jump for 30 seconds. If star jumps are challenging, you can do a side step or March on the spot instead.
Every time you see the words COVID-19 or Coronavirus, you have to run on the spot for 30 seconds. If you can't run you can march
At the end of your working week, play your favourite song and dance for the entire track in any way you want.
At the time, these just seemed like a way to make my clients smile and connect but I've been surprised by how much they've loved them, and some have even adopted it into their everyday life every day since!
My client Jayne started working with me a year ago, and at the time she HATED to squat. Fast forward a year, with daily bog squats for most of the lockdown months she has improved her squat significantly. Where she used to feel pain or had to push herself up from the sofa, now she can go hands free and will get up and down multiple times just because.
The fitness industry seems to have this obsession with short 20-minute HITT sessions which in all honesty for most people looking to get started, are less than ideal but seem to be popular.
Don't get me wrong; I completely understand why everyone has got on board, 20 minutes and you feel worked and you're red and super sweaty, so I get it, I really do, but exercise doesn't have to be brutal to be brilliant. The more stressed out corporate clients I work with, the more I've noticed that actually, they need the opposite. What they need is to slow down, they need to become more self aware, understand how to manage stress and sleep and focus on daily posture and mobility. These are the things that are missing from their everyday life.
So what am I suggesting? Quit the gym, don't do HITT even though it's the only class you live for?
No, not at all. Ultimately I believe in doing what you enjoy because that's the thing you're most likely to stick to and we always need more joy, so if you find it and it's HITT, and you're happy then all is well. If however, you're doing it because you haven't found what you love then why not experiment with a different approach.
If you really really hate exercise, talk yourself out of it or find you prioritise other things then these daily movement additions could genuinely make a lot of difference.
If you were to only do 10 bog squats a day that would add up to 70 a week!
If you only did your calf raises once a day (20 in total) while making your morning coffee that would total 140 at the end of the week.
If you only got 10 emails a week that annoyed you… (I do hope you love your job). That works out at 5 minutes a week of air punching.
1 message a day that makes you smile is 3 and a half minutes of star jumps.
You will see or hear the words COVID- 19 or Corona Virus at least once a day so that's another 3 and a half minutes.
Let's say your favourite song to dance to is about 4 and a half minutes long.
Now let's look at that another way, that essentially means that once a week you are doing the following:
7 sets of 10 squats
14 sets of 10 calf raises
17 minutes of cardio
Not bad right!? I've also only used the bare minimum of what's possible in the example above. And the great thing is you can adapt it all. For instance, with the life activities, maybe you do the calf raises while also cooking dinner or running a bath instead of waiting for the kettle. You can adapt the exercises; maybe you want to achieve your first press up so, why not put them in instead of air punches. Instead of 30 seconds perhaps you decide you'll do 6 reps because that's what feels right for you, your body and your goals.
Because this may seem silly on the surface, we haven't entertained it as a strategy that could genuinely help us achieve far better results. If exercise is an accumulation of work that leads to newfound strength and fitness, then why the hell not? We're still working the same way we've just changed the format.
My coaching aims to help women to transform their bodies by overcoming their mental barriers. Part of that coaching is to
Understand what works best for each woman
Help them use the superpowers they possess in the workplace through creativity, organisational skills and self-discipline.
Understanding their likes and dislikes when it comes to exercise to make sure they stay on track towards their goals.
Stop looking for the perfect exercise or diet plan; it doesn't exist. Instead, start experimenting and creating what can work for you. I promise it's going to feel so much better than what you've previously tried, plus you can say you train 7 days a week. ;)