Why Do I Keep Putting Off Strength Training—Even When I Have Time?
You planned to strength train today. You knew what workout you were going to do, and you had enough time to do it.
Then you answered one more email. That reminded you of something else you needed to finish. By the time you closed the computer, dinner needed to happen, and your workout was moving to tomorrow.
Again.
If you've ever thought, I actually wanted to do it. Why didn't I? I understand the frustration. Apparently, knowing what to do and actually doing it continue to be two separate activities.
For me, this shows up with walking. I know I could benefit from walking more. I want to walk more. And yet I find myself cleaning my house or working on the computer instead of going outside.
If you've heard me talk about cleaning before, you understand that this is an interesting development. Somehow cleaning has managed to get ahead of walking.
I can hear the advice: “Michelle, just go for five minutes. You have five minutes.”
I know. Sometimes I really could take five minutes, and I still don't go.
Walking is my version of this. For you, it might be strength training. You've heard how important lifting is for women over 40. You want to get stronger, and you may already have a reasonable plan. But the workout keeps getting pushed aside.
Before you decide that means you don't care enough, let's look at where it's losing its place.
Your workout has an end. Your to-do list doesn't.
“You make time for what's important to you” sounds straightforward. And our choices do matter. We need to look honestly at how we're spending our time.
But a missed strength workout doesn't automatically mean answering an email matters more to you than being strong and capable.
Sometimes you're already in the middle of doing something useful. A message needs a response. A task feels close to finished. Staying with it makes sense in the moment.
Starting your workout means stopping that activity before everything feels done.
That's what I've been noticing with my walking. The walk itself might take five minutes, but I also have to decide that whatever I'm doing can wait for five minutes.
If your strength training has to wait until you feel completely caught up, it may never get a turn. I have three kids and a business. We are not approaching the end of the to-do list.
This gets especially tricky when the things getting done are good things. Work matters. Feeding your family matters. Having a reasonably clean house is nice, although my standards occasionally depend on who's coming over.
You're doing things that have value. But your workout can become the activity that always moves because nobody is standing in front of you waiting for it.
Look at the workout that didn't happen
Think about the last strength workout you intended to do and missed. What happened when it was time to begin?
If you planned to lift as soon as you got home, but that's also when everyone needed dinner, your plan may not have accounted for the demands of that part of your day. You might need a different time or help with what happens then.
Sometimes you're dealing with a real limit. You're caring for someone, you're exhausted, or something urgent genuinely needs your attention. Wanting the workout more doesn't automatically remove those circumstances.
But when there was room to lift, notice what got that time instead. Did you stay at the computer to finish something? Did leaving a mess to go exercise feel uncomfortable?
That gives you useful information. “I just need to try harder next week” doesn't tell you much about what needs to change.
You may already have a perfectly good strength program. If the thought making the decision is I'll work out once everything else is done, another program may leave you facing the same problem.
Give today's strength workout a reason to matter
Finding your personal reason for getting stronger matters. But you don't need to sit at your kitchen table and invent an even more emotional reason every time you miss a workout.
You may already know why you want to strength train. The question is whether that reason can affect a decision today.
If you want to feel more confident using the weights at your gym, today's workout gives you another chance to practice. If you enjoy discovering what you're capable of, working toward a weight or movement that used to feel out of reach can give the session meaning.
Your workout doesn't have to transform your entire life by Friday to be worth doing.
Lifting also doesn't have to outrank your family or your job. It needs enough room that, when circumstances allow, something else can wait while you do it.
Making strength training a priority might look like leaving the folded laundry where it is for a little while. Or closing the computer knowing there will still be messages when you return.
You haven't stopped being responsible. You've included your workout among the things you're making time for.
Plan for the moment that usually pulls you away
I know some of you are thinking, Michelle, I already put it on my calendar. I am making an effort.
I believe you. I've set alarms on my phone to remind me to drink water. The alarm would go off, I'd turn it off, and then I'd keep doing what I was doing without drinking the water.
The reminder happened. The action didn't.
So when a workout plan keeps falling apart, look at whether it includes the thing that interferes with it.
If you keep answering messages during the time you meant to lift, think through how you'll stop answering messages. You could decide that when work time ends, you'll write down where to pick up the next task, close the laptop, and change for your workout.
If something else comes to mind, it goes on the note for when you return. You're giving yourself a way to leave the task without having to keep track of it in your head. If you're anything like me, a thought can feel incredibly important and disappear approximately two seconds later.
This doesn't mean ignoring an emergency. It means recognizing that an unfinished task doesn't always need to move your workout.
For a home workout, having your equipment ready can support the transition. But if the dumbbells are already there, they probably aren't the missing piece. They cannot close the laptop for you.
If going home after work regularly turns into staying home, going straight to the gym could be worth trying, if it fits your responsibilities.
And if you're avoiding lifting because you're unsure what to do or worried about getting hurt, support with that concern may be more useful than another reminder that strength training matters.
Notice where your workout loses its place so you can address the problem you're actually having.
Let your next workout begin while other things are unfinished
Starting small can help, but it isn't always the whole answer. As my five-minute-walk situation demonstrates, an action can be manageable and still keep getting postponed.
Even a short strength workout requires you to begin. That may mean letting someone know you're taking the time or allowing something around the house to stay unfinished.
Choose one upcoming workout and think through how it will start. What will you be stepping away from? What is most likely to pull you back, and how could you respond?
If you expect to feel guilty about leaving work unfinished, decide beforehand what genuinely needs to be completed and what can reasonably wait. Give this one attempt enough attention that you can learn from it.
If it doesn't happen, look at why. You may need to change the timing, arrange support, or notice a task that keeps pulling you in. And if the opportunity was there and you kept working anyway, you can be honest about that without making it a character flaw.
Understanding the pattern gives you something to practice changing.
Strength training needs more than the time you hope will be left over. It needs a place you're willing to protect when you can.
What am I willing to leave unfinished so my strength workout gets a turn?
Your to-do list will probably still have opinions when you're done lifting. You can deal with those when you get back.
This post is based on episode 65 of Strength with Michelle: “Why Do I Keep Putting Off Strength Training—Even When I Have Time?” Listen to the podcast here.
Want help figuring out what happens between planning your workout and actually starting it? Join my free Facebook community, and let's keep the conversation going.
For real-life stories, encouragement, and help making strength training happen, sign up for my weekly newsletter.
