When Life Gets Busy, Don’t Stop. Adjust.

Shalom friends,

There will be times in your life when you’re doing an amazing job with your exercise routine. You’re hitting your goals, whether that means exercising three times a week, five times a week, or whatever schedule works for you. You’re consistent, you’re feeling good, and everything seems to be clicking.

And then life happens.

Maybe it’s a busy time at work. Maybe it’s the holidays, family obligations, travel, or something completely unexpected. Sometimes the disruption lasts a few days. Sometimes it lasts a few weeks or even longer. And that’s when you face an important choice: Do you put your exercise routine completely on hold and tell yourself, “I’ll get back to it when things calm down”?

I’m going to argue that this is one of the worst things you can do. Not because missing a few workouts is going to destroy your health, but because restarting a routine is often much harder than maintaining a smaller version of it.

I see this firsthand with Jump Into Shape. The overwhelming majority of our members are religious Jews, and after Pesach and Sukkos are some of the hardest times of the year for me professionally. People have been out of their normal routines because of Yontiv, family, travel, meals, and everything else that comes along with those weeks. Once Yontiv is over, I have to work extra hard to help people get back into their exercise routines.

That’s why I encourage people to be proactive. If you know a busy period is coming, look at your schedule before it starts and create a temporary exercise routine that you know you can realistically maintain. Maybe you normally exercise five days a week, but for the next few weeks you commit to two. Maybe your normal workout is 30 minutes, but right now you can only commit to 10 or 15. Maybe you reduce both the number of days and the length of your workouts.

That’s okay. The goal during these periods isn’t necessarily to improve your fitness or break records. Sometimes the goal is simply not to lose the habit.

Put those shorter workouts into your calendar. Make an appointment with yourself just as you would during a normal week. If your baseline is two workouts and you suddenly find time for a third, fantastic. But don’t make three the requirement if you know your schedule probably won’t allow it. Set a realistic minimum and stick to it.

There’s an important difference between slowing down and stopping. When you slow down, you maintain the rhythm. You’re still someone who exercises. You’re still making your health a priority, even if that priority temporarily has to occupy a smaller part of your schedule. When life settles down, you’re not starting again from zero. You’re simply turning the dial back up.

Health and fitness are long-term endeavors. There will be busy seasons and quieter seasons. There will be weeks when you accomplish everything you planned and weeks when simply keeping the habit alive is an accomplishment. Don’t let a temporary disruption become a permanent change.

When life gets busy, don’t quit. Bring it down a notch, keep moving, and keep your eye on the long-term goal.

Many, many blessings to stay healthy when you’re busy, when you’re not busy, and until 120.