Why Your Strength Training Routine Needs More Than One Setting

You have a plan.

Three strength workouts this week. Maybe 30–45 minutes each. You know what days you're going to do them. You're feeling pretty good about yourself.

And then life happens.

One of your kids gets sick. Work gets crazy. Sports schedules change. You have appointments. You're traveling. You didn't sleep well.

Or you look at your calendar and think, Who in the world scheduled all of this?

And then you remember it was you.

Suddenly, those three workouts that looked completely reasonable when you planned your week don't look so realistic anymore.

And this is where I think a lot of women get strength training wrong.

Not because we aren't motivated enough.

Not because we don't know strength training is important.

But because we have one setting for what strength training is supposed to look like.

And when we can't do that version, we do nothing.

But if you want strength training to become something you do for the rest of your life, your routine needs to be able to adjust when your life does.

Consistency Doesn't Mean Every Week Looks the Same

I think we have a pretty unrealistic definition of consistency sometimes.

We think consistency means:

I strength train three days a week for 45 minutes at the same time every week, and nothing ever interferes with that.

Sounds great.

Also doesn't sound like anybody's actual life.

I have three kids, a business, activities, church, appointments, and all the other things that come with having a family.

There are weeks when my schedule works beautifully.

And then there are weeks when what I want my schedule to look like and what my life will actually allow are two very different things.

So I have two choices.

I can say:

Well, I can't do what I normally do, so I guess I'm not working out this week.

Or I can ask a much more useful question:

What's the version I can do this week?

That question changes everything.

Because consistency doesn't mean doing the exact same thing every week.

Consistency is learning how to keep going when the plan doesn't go perfectly.

And sometimes keeping going means changing the plan.

A 20-Minute Workout Is Not a Failed 45-Minute Workout

Let's say your normal strength-training routine is three 45-minute workouts a week.

Then you look at next week and immediately know:

There is no way that's happening.

This is where I don't want you going from three workouts straight to zero.

Those aren't your only options.

Maybe this week you do two 20-minute workouts.

You don't need to cram 45 minutes worth of exercises into 20 minutes and nearly kill yourself trying to make up for the time you don't have.

You adjust.

Pick a few things that matter.

Lift.

Move on with your day.

And please stop treating that as though you somehow failed.

A 20-minute workout is not a failed 45-minute workout.

It's a 20-minute workout.

You strength trained.

That counts.

Sometimes Your Strength Training Needs to Get Really Small

Then there are weeks when even 20 minutes feels like a lot.

Everything hits at once.

You're tired. Someone is sick. You're not sleeping. You're running from one thing to another.

Those are usually the weeks when we say:

Well, I guess I've fallen off track.

And I really don't love that phrase.

Because what usually happens next?

I'll start again next week.

Then next week isn't great either.

So you'll start Monday.

Then the next Monday.

And suddenly it's been three weeks since you've lifted a weight.

Not because you couldn't have done anything for three weeks.

But because you couldn't do your normal thing.

So you did nothing.

That's what I want to change.

Maybe during a really busy season, you have 10 minutes.

Can you do a couple of sets of squats?

Some rows?

Some presses?

Absolutely.

Am I worried about creating the world's most perfectly balanced strength-training program in those 10 minutes?

No.

I'm trying to keep you connected to something that matters to you.

And that's an important distinction.

Your bare-minimum workout isn't your goal. It's what keeps you connected to the habit when your goal isn't realistic.

We're not saying, Great! Ten-minute workouts forever!

We're saying:

This is what I can do right now.

And when life settles down, we build it back up.

Doing Less Can Actually Help You Stay Consistent

Sometimes we're afraid that if we give ourselves permission to do less, we'll always do less.

If I tell myself 15 minutes counts, maybe I'll never do a full workout again.

But I think the opposite happens for a lot of women.

When the only thing that counts is the perfect workout, it's really easy to do nothing.

If I need 45 minutes and only have 20...

Why bother?

If I normally lift three days but can only fit in one...

What's the point?

The point is that one is still more than zero.

More importantly, you haven't disappeared from your own routine.

You're still someone who strength trains.

You're just strength training differently this week.

One of the Best Skills You Can Learn Is How to Adjust

We talk a lot about motivation.

Discipline.

Consistency.

But I think one of the most important skills you can develop with your health is something much less exciting:

Learning how to adjust.

Your life is going to change.

Your schedule will change.

Your energy will change.

There will be vacations, holidays, illnesses, deadlines, busy seasons, and kids who suddenly need to be somewhere you forgot about until 20 minutes beforehand.

If every change requires you to completely stop taking care of yourself until life calms down, you're going to spend a lot of time waiting.

I've been waiting for life to calm down for about 20 years.

I'm starting to think it isn't coming.

So instead of building a strength-training routine that only works when your life cooperates, build one that knows what to do when it doesn't.

Your Strength-Training Routine Needs More Than One Setting

Know what your normal looks like.

But also know what you do when normal doesn't fit.

Maybe your normal is:

3 workouts × 45 minutes

Great.

But what's your next setting?

Maybe it's:

2 workouts × 20 minutes

And what's your life is absolutely bananas setting?

Maybe it's:

10 minutes at home with dumbbells.

The exact numbers aren't the important part.

The point is that you decide ahead of time what adjusting looks like.

Because otherwise, when your week gets crazy, you start negotiating with yourself.

I only have 20 minutes. Does that even count?

I missed Monday. Should I just start again next week?

I can't get to the gym. I guess I'm not working out.

We don't need to have this meeting with ourselves every time life changes.

Instead:

When life gets busy, I adjust.

Shorten the workout.

Change the day.

Work out at home instead of the gym.

Do two workouts instead of three.

And when you have more capacity again?

You adjust again.

No guilt.

No starting over.

No dramatic Monday comeback.

Changing the Plan Isn't the Same as Quitting the Plan

I don't want you strength training for the next six weeks.

I want you strength training when you're 50.

And 60.

And 70.

And yes, I would personally like all of us to be able to get ourselves off the toilet at 80.

If we're talking about doing this for decades, every week obviously isn't going to look the same.

There will be seasons when you can do more.

There will be seasons when you need to do less.

Doing less for a little while doesn't mean you've stopped being consistent.

Sometimes doing less is exactly how you stay consistent.

Instead of defining consistency as:

I followed the plan.

Try defining it as:

I stayed connected to the plan, even when I had to change it.

That's real-life consistency.

What's the Version You Can Do Right Now?

So here's what I want you to think about this week:

What does strength training normally look like for you?

And then:

What does it look like when life gets crazy?

Decide before you need it.

Know what your smaller version looks like.

Because the goal isn't to lower the bar forever.

The goal is to stop turning:

I can't do what I planned.

into:

So I'm not doing anything.

Those aren't your only choices.

You can change the workout.

Change the day.

Change the length.

Change the location.

Changing the plan isn't the same thing as quitting the plan.

And I don't think the women who strength train consistently for years are necessarily the women whose lives cooperate the most.

I think they're the women who get really good at adjusting when life doesn't cooperate.

So the next time life gets in the way—and it will—don't ask:

How am I supposed to keep up with my normal routine this week?

Ask:

What's the version I can do right now?

Then do that.

And when life changes again, adjust again.

That's how strength training stops being another thing you're always trying to get back to and starts becoming something that's actually part of your life.