(Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 and 18)
I wrote before that it's important to keep your workout plan (time slots, activity, route, people-taken-care-of) simple and do-able, especially for a beginner, or for someone who's had trouble with quitting in the past. Too much variety may "spice things up" but it can keep you from seeing measurable improvement from week to week, from developing an identity, or even from evaluating whether your plan is working. And if you start small, saving "doing more" for later, you're much more likely to see yourself following through with your commitments to yourself.
But even though the main plan needs to be simple, it also has to be ready for changes, expected and unexpected. That's what the backup plan and the transition plan are for: to keep your induced exercise from falling through when your circumstances change. If they are to work, they (and you) must be ready before you need them.
The backup plan is what you rely on when your main workout plan becomes temporarily impossible. The pool is closed; it's too hot to safely run outside; you're traveling out of town; your spouse who usually watches the kids for you can't do it today; you have a dentist appointment at the time you usually work out. Your backup plan provides a temporary substitute for your normal exercise plan, to be deployed when your normal plan falls through.
The primary goal of a backup plan is to preserve the habit of "showing up" for exercise. As such, it doesn't have to fit into your "vision" of who you are; it doesn't have to match your usual plan in any way, or supplement it; it doesn't have to give you the same kind of a workout; you don't have to enjoy it very much, as long as you're willing. It is only a secondary goal of a backup plan to maintain your fitness until the normal plan can resume within a few days. So if you have some discretion in designing your backup plan, you can try to have it give you a workout of similar intensity to your normal plan; but your number-one-goal is to have a backup plan that you can deploy successfully on short notice. One you can show up for.
A transition plan is different---and not everyone needs one. Transition plans are necessary when your vision for your induced exercise has "seasons" --- traditional climate-based seasons ("I cross-country ski in the winter and bike in the summer") or life-change-based seasons ("I run and lift weights most of the time, but when I'm pregnant I prefer yoga and swimming") or a season of recovery ("I'm walking right now but when my knees get better I'm going to start running").
The transition plan prepares you for the change in seasons. It helps you make a smooth transition between them so you're not caught off guard with the sudden failure of your workout plan (e.g., all the snow melts overnight and though your skis are still ready to go, your bike is in pieces in the garage!) The primary goal of the transition plan is to maintain your discipline and your athletic identity as you cross from one season to another.
Here is where the four parts of a workout plan -- time slot, activity, route, and people-taken-care-of -- can really help you: they can be a step-by-step process of designing your backup plan and your transition plan.
Designing the Backup Plan
Since a workout plan has four parts that all need to work together, it's pretty easy to see that your plan will fail if any one of the four parts falls through. So, write your workout plan down on a piece of paper where you can see it all laid out. I find it easiest to make a separate mini-plan for each time slot. My current plan looks like this:
Monday 10:30 a.m-11:45 a.m. Swim 40 min, shower, and change at the YMCA while kids are in Y child care.
Thursday evening. Run 40 minutes on the treadmill at the YMCA while husband makes sure kids get in and out of swim lessons and Y child care.
Saturday morning 7:45-9:45. Meet friends to swim 40 min, at the Y on the other side of town while husband takes kids grocery shopping.
You see that each time slot has an activity, a place, and a plan for the children. You see that I blocked out extra time for the swims to allow for showering and changing. Also, you see that while there is some variety (swim or run? which YMCA?) there is not a lot of variety. My workouts are the same length and always at a YMCA. There is more consistency about it that you can't see from this plan: for one thing, I keep all my gear, toiletries, and clothes, for swimming or for running, always packed together in the same gym bag (along with my YMCA membership card). I don't even have to look in the bag: if I have the bag, I know I am ready for any of my three workouts for the week.
For each of your time slots, write down these questions:
1. What will I do if I can't exercise at this time?
2. What will I do if I can't do my usual activity?
3. What will I do if I can't exercise at this place (or along this route?)
4. What will I do if my arrangements for caring for my people fall through?
Any one of the four pieces might fail. The backup plan is not complete unless it is ready for any of the four failures.
Here are some things to think about as you go about answering the questions:
The backup plan does not have to be only one answer. You might choose one alternative if your time slot fails, or a different alternative if your activity fails. For example, if I have to take the kids to a doctor's appointment at 10:30 on Monday, I might simply go with the kids to the Y in the afternoon instead. If I get an ear infection and am advised not to swim until it clears up, I might substitute running for swimming at 10:30 on Monday.
Changing as few parts of your plan as possible keeps your plan simple and do-able. If I can't swim because of the ear infection, I try to run at the same time and in the same place as I would have had my swim.
A given problem might be interpreted as any one of the four failures. Let's say I arrive at the YMCA at 10:30 on Monday only to find a sign taped up across the pool door announcing that the pool is unexpectedly closed. I might interpret this in several ways:
(a) I can't exercise now. I have to find another time to swim.
(b) I can't exercise here.
(c) I have to do something besides swimming.
I can pick the backup plan that seems easiest in the moment. At ten-thirty on Monday, with the kids already comfortably ensconced in the child care, that's probably to put on my running shoes and hit the treadmill instead of the pool. But in other circumstances (say when Mark was watching the kids at home and I was really looking forward to a swim) I might instead head back out to the car and drive to the next nearest pool. And in yet other circumstances I might have said "Let's go home kids," and rescheduled my workout for the next day. Because I have a backup plan in mind for any of the four failures, I have extra flexibility.
This is what my backup plan looks like:
Time failures: If I can't exercise at 10:30 Monday, I'll exercise at 4:30 and we'll have a late dinner. If I can't exercise Thursday evening, I'll exercise Friday morning before Mark leaves for work. If I can't exercise Saturday morning, I'll exercise Sunday morning.
Activity failures: If ever I can't swim, I'll run instead. If ever I can't run or swim, I'll walk, either on the treadmill or on the track.
Place failures: If I can't exercise at this YMCA, I'll exercise at some other YMCA.
My people-care arrangements fall through: If I can't put my children in the YMCA childcare, I'll have to reschedule my exercise. I'll ask my husband or my friend if they can watch my children while I exercise at a different time.
Notice that in my plan, I interpret "people-care" failures as equivalent to "time" failures. It doesn't have to be that way, though. One mother might keep a yoga video at home just for using when the babysitting falls through, and do that yoga tape at the same time as the "normal" workout. Another parent might decide that when the child care falls through, it's time to hit the playground with the kids, and try to run around with them a little bit... it wouldn't really be enough to count as a weekly workout, but it is a fun way to get everyone moving and more importantly to keep that appointment with yourself. Remember, the crucial feature of a backup plan is that it gives you an alternative that you can show up for.
Using the Backup Plan
Once you have the backup plan designed, you must get everything ready so that you can switch to your backup plan quite literally at a moment's notice. Sometimes you will know a few days in advance that you will have to rely on your backup plan: for example, I usually know ahead of time when my husband is going to be out of town, and have a chance to arrange alternative child care or to reschedule my exercise. Other times, however, you will be "caught out." For me the classic example is arriving at the pool to find it closed for cleaning (translation: some kid pooped in the pool). Another example might be a sudden rainstorm that keeps you from going out for a run, or maybe your power goes out and you can't use your treadmill or your exercise videos. Unexpected failures are not an excuse to skip your workout; instead, build into your backup plan the possibility of unexpected failure. Get ready to switch.
Being ready to change my workout time means that the minute I realize I can't make my usual time slot, I'm on the phone with my husband figuring out when he can watch the kids so that I can make it up. Being ready to change my workout place means that I always have my YMCA member card, so that I can be admitted to any YMCA in the city (or indeed in the country). Being ready to change my workout activity means that I keep my gym bag packed, always, with everything I need to swim OR to run. (That in turn means that I have two complete sets of running clothes and two lap suits, one in the laundry and one in the bag).
I'll save the detailed discussion of the transition plan for the next post.
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