When I look at some training plans, I sometimes wonder who they were actually written for.
Strength training five times a week. Cardio three times. Ten thousand steps a day. Meal prep. Mobility work. Stretching. Eight hours of sleep. And of course, drink enough water – and please avoid stress.
All of it makes sense.
It's just that a lot of women also have a job, kids, a household, appointments, parents to look after, and about seventeen other things that need to get done by tomorrow.
If fitness only works when the rest of life is perfectly organized, it won't work for long for most of us. That's why I now believe much more strongly in a different strategy: don't build your everyday life around the training plan – build the training plan around your everyday life.
Three good sessions are no worse than five you never manage
One of the biggest mistakes is starting with a plan we can't actually keep up long-term. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday training might look excellent on paper. But if you have to cancel every other session, it doesn't take long before it starts to feel like constant failure.
And yet your discipline was never the problem. The plan was the problem.
For a working woman, three strength sessions a week can already be a very solid foundation. Depending on where you're starting from, even two sessions done consistently can be worth more than an ambitious five-day plan that ends after three weeks. The crucial question isn't: what would be optimal in theory? It's: what can I still keep up even in a stressful November?
Don't plan your perfect week. Plan your chaotic one.
This is maybe my most important trick. If I only design a training plan for weeks when nothing gets in the way, I don't really need a plan at all. Life gets in the way. A child gets sick. Something at work runs late. You sleep badly. An appointment gets moved.
That's why a plan B helps. If three sessions were planned and only two are possible, those two aren't a "failure." They're two completed workouts. If an hour isn't possible, do 30 minutes. If the gym doesn't work out today, go for a walk.
