The new year is always a good time to set goals and try to be a better YOU. Sometimes it can be overwhelming when it comes to figuring out where to start, so I am going to share my top tips to help you win your day and weeks!
- Schedule your day top-to-bottom
This is game-changing if you want to accomplish a ton of things in your daily schedule. Utilize a calendar of some sort – I like to use both my iPhone calendar and an actual hard-planner. In my iPhone I will put down every client for the day and from there I plan my own workouts, when I will eat my meals, when I will walk the dog, run an errand, etc. When you juggle a lot of things (don’t we all?) this is crucial in order to help you get everything done. PLANNING YOUR SCHEDULE ahead of time is absolutely key! I make sure to allow time in between clients if needed so I can eat a meal or give Cooper a walk as those things are essential – and I allow myself time to travel if I am training a client somewhere else besides my garage gym – I always allow myself extra time as well in case of traffic (if applicable). I highly suggest you start planning your days this way, schedule everything down to the HOUR and half-hour!
Where are you potentially wasting time? Keep a journal of what you do every hour of every day – even if you spend 8 hours at work, what are you doing the other 16 hours? How many are filled with sleep, travel, watching tv? When you start to do this it will open your eyes to the time you may be wasting – and perhaps you will see that you COULD use one of those hours as a workout slot. You will even make more time to get chores accomplished at home by compartmentalizing your day.
2. Get up earlier (and get a better bedtime routine)
These two go hand-in-hand. Sleep is absolutely critical in order to function and prevent disease and illness. If you are not sleeping, it’s time to get to the bottom of it. If your sleep is crap, odds are the rest of the day will feel like crap! So let’s get a better bedtime routine.
This means: eliminating alcohol and sugary, fatty foods at night. Have a routine where you spend 30 mins or more winding down for bed – take a bath or a hot, relaxing shower so you feel clean and refreshed, read a relaxing book or maybe do some journaling about the day or a meditation. You could even find a short bedtime yoga routine to go through. Make sure you are not eating too close to bedtime or drinking too many fluids too close to bedtime either as these will definitely disrupt your sleep (digestion is slowed when we lay down so we want to stay upright for a couple hours after meals to aid digestion and prevent upset tummy).
My personal bedtime routine usually consists of an early dinner if possible (between 5 and 6), an epsom salt bath or shower, a magnesium drink (magnesium helps sleep and relaxation – if I have hot tea I will skip the magnesium drink to avoid drinking too many liquids), reading some of my books, and maybe some gentle stretching or theragun. I avoid TV right before bed as that wires my brain (plus the light isn’t good from the tv and neither is your phone). On that note I also turn the brightness way down on my phone and avoid looking at it for an hour or more before bed if possible, and we dim the lights in the house so that we just have amber lights rather than bright white lights. All of these things help me sleep soundly! Occasionally I will take CBD oil, too, if I have had a disrupted night of sleep for whatever reason as CBD oil really helps me stay asleep through the evening.
Now once you have established a better bedtime routine, you can try to wake up earlier in the mornings. I like to give myself 2 hours before my first client so I have time to make my warm lemon water, walk the dog and get him fed, and get myself looking presentable before I have coffee and train clients. Perhaps you try to get up 15 mins earlier each day. Give yourself a solid 7-8 hours of rest time, and then set the alarm to get up out of bed. Waking up earlier and working out is a great way to “win the morning” and set you up for a successful and more energetic day! It may sound counterintuitive but waking up earlier to workout actually gives you more energy than if you slept the extra hour. It is always tough at first, but you can do it! Set your workout clothes out the night before to make it easier on yourself. Prep the coffee the night before too so you just have to turn it on — these will eliminate extra steps you have to take the morning off and help save time. Even if you are not waking up earlier to workout, having more time in the morning to get ready, drink your coffee, read something inspiring or journal your day will help set you up for a better day than if you keep snoozing and end up rushing out of the house with your hair on fire. Quiet time in the morning is essential for your brain and will certainly help you not feel so overwhelmed and stressed the rest of the day.
3. Track your protein intake
If you adopt ANY healthy habits this year, tracking your protein should be number one. This is crucial – CRUCIAL for maintaining a healthy lean body and if you have goals to lose fat. Most people do not get enough protein (no, your protein bagel does not satisfy protein requirements for breakfast!). Ideally you should get 25-40 grams of protein at each meal – read that again. Odds are you are not getting this – especially at breakfast. I have a blog post on macronutrient calculations you can visit to track your macros and get the goal number for protein for the day. Typically we need around 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body mass as a MINIMUM – and the number is higher if you workout or have more muscle mass. It’s very unlikely that protein will EVER be stored as fat and protein will keep you full and stabilize blood sugar all day so it’s so crucial to get plenty of protein throughout the day. Start reading your labels and tracking!
4. Plan your meals for the week
I plan the meals for the whole week the week beforehand. Around Wednesday and Thursday I start brainstorming what I want to shop for on Fridays (Friday is my grocery day). I make a list in my iPhone of everything we will need and we do eat a lot of the same foods for breakfast and lunch so it’s easier to plan those meals. Luckily my husband and I are easy-going and can eat the same kind of things on repeat once we find what we like. We always mix up our dinners though. So everything is planned and then over the weekend we cook something that will last 3-4 nights and always throw in a night of salmon. Planning planning planning – I can’t emphasize this enough. It’s so helpful to KNOW what you are eating and to have the food prepped on Sunday (at least a good bulk of it) because then you won’t find yourself starving last minute with nothing to eat! I highly suggest you try to start doing this. Use google – and almost anything can be made healthier if you just type in the word “healthy” in front of a recipe you are into.
5. Treat workouts as appointments you cannot miss
Lastly, I plan my workouts for the whole week. I know how many days I plan to strength train and the days I want to do cardio and I schedule these in around my clients. Missing workouts for me is non-negotiable and once you have mastered this you will be so grateful and proud! Life gets super busy and hectic and there will always be available excuses for missing workouts so until you can just fit them in regardless of how you feel, it will be a challenge to stay consistent. Even if I slept poorly the night before, I will at least attempt my workout as planned. This is how you stay consistent and keep the momentum going.
Look at your week ahead of time and get your plan IN THE CALENDAR! For me, I like to do one day of upper body strength, one day of lower body strength, and one full body strength day (all of these days I include some kind of abs training). Then I throw in 3 days of cardio (for me it’s the peloton or long walks, but at least peloton 2 days per week). 1 day is a rest day where I don’t workout or train but will still take walks with the dog but not stress about making my walks a “workout”. I know that I can train upper body followed by lower body back to back, but also know that I will need around 72 hours in between the lower body day and full body day (so that I give my legs time to recover before I train them again). All of my workouts are around the body movements push, pull, squat, hinge and occasional carry. These are essential for a well-rounded workout plan.
So that is my list! I hope these tips help you with making a better weekly routine for 2023! Remember, nothing will change if YOU don’t make some changes in your daily routine — so accept that fact and start with baby steps to make your day more organized and structured and reap the benefits.
Kelly Hayman Fitness 
Great tips!!!
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