The Weekly Workout Plan: Do You Have One?

I feel my best self when I am on a weekly workout plan. I mean, I really feel great! Better than ever in my 30s, now I’m in my, ah-um…40s. Mentally and physically I have never felt better than when I am eating healthy and getting the exercise I need.

Of course, it hasn’t always been like that. It took some time before I could adjust to the eating habits. My body needed to detox from the foods I had come accustomed to eating. It also took some self-motivation to get up and get moving for my workouts to build the memory of how good it feels after completion rather than focusing on how comfy I was relaxing watching tv. Occasionally, it can be easy to come up with excuses why not to work out. We’re human, right. We are comfy in bed, comfy on the sofa, naturally tend to go towards the path of least resistance.

At some point we realize the health goals are more important than a few extra minutes of laying around and certainly more important than stopping by the doughnut shop. 

Not everyone will have the same health goals. Everyone will need a slightly different formula for the weekly schedule of exercise and nutrition based on how much fat loss is needed and how much muscle gain is desired. I have to say something about the muscle gain here though. When I first started doing P90X, I was a little nervous about gaining too much muscle. I did not want to bulk up. My fears were put to rest as time when on and I saw the results of what I was doing. Sure, muscle mass was improving but never to the point of not looking like a woman. The muscles have increased my metabolism and helped slim me. Bottom line, don’t be afraid of strength training.

The more fat you want to lose, the fewer carbs and more cardio. If you are at the point of needed some muscle growth, more strength workouts with more protein and carbs will be needed. No matter what your “why” (if you haven’t read my Best Weight Loss for Women Over 40 to know you “why”, maybe go read it after this) for healthy is, good nutrition is the foundation. My workouts and nutrition changed a little throughout my weight loss journey, so make sure to adjust from time to time as needed.

The weekly workout plan shown below is the metric I aim for weekly. My core workout is the Insanity program. It gives me both the strength training and cardio. I have been doing Insanity for about 6-7 weeks now and can feel an improvement in the strength of my core. Insanity is a crazy, intense, effective and difficult workout, but if you give it a try and can’t make it through the first workout, don’t get discouraged. Really. Even if you can only do a few minutes each day, if you are persistent it will pay off. Each day and each week you will feel stronger with more endurance. Just don’t give up, don’t talk yourself out of it. The awesome thing about it is, during the first month, the daily workouts are only 30-40 minutes. I still do the older Insanity program – there is a new one that is a Max 30.

Use this formula to plan your workout week. Find some type of fun activity to add to your cardio blocks to keep you moving as much as possible. There is a comprehensive list of 100 ways to burn calories without working out here for reference and I am sure you can come up with some on your own!

If you really want to be healthier there are two goals you must keep in mind. Eating better and get moving!