Today, I’m going to show you how to get (and stay) fit while working remotely.
In a world of diet fads and 60-second abs, I’ll walk through a habit-based approach that focuses on adherence.
(In other words, this approach helps you stick with fitness.)
Here’s what most remote work advocates don’t talk about…
How easily bad fitness habits form when you work remotely:
- You walk less
- You forget to workout
- You snack throughout the day
I spent 10 years experimenting with different ways to create better fitness habits.
Here are my 10 favorite tips.
1/ Prime the environment
Make fitness easy.
How?
Place as many fitness “triggers” around you as possible:
- Kettlebell next to the desk
- Pull-up bar in the entrance
- Yoga mat on the floor
When you hit a “trigger”, do a few swings, pull-ups, push-ups (respectively).
James Clear calls this “priming the environment”.
2/ Stack the habits
After you do that kettlebell swing…
You’re already working out…
Might as well add some squats.
When you’re done with the squats, why not add some push-ups?
Stack good habits atop one another.
“What’s in motion, stays in motion.”
It’s just physics 🙂
3/ Grease the groove
“But Chris:”
- “How am I going to lose weight with a few push-ups?”
- “How am I going to burn that fat?”
- “What about hypertrophy?”
Forget all that.
Fitness is a skill.
This is about getting in as many low intensity, high quality reps as possible.
It’s called “greasing the groove.”
Firas Zahabi (MMA coach) put it this way:
“If you’re working out and feeling too sore to workout the next day, you’re doing it wrong.”
4/ Make success inevitable
People love setting big, hairy, ambitious goals.
Me? I prefer easy goals. I want it so easy, that successful is inevitable.
- 15 minute walk outside
- BJJ class 1x a week
- 10 minutes of yoga
It should be impossible to fail even on my worst days:
- Both kids sick
- Work fires to put out
- Zoom calls stacked throughout the day
5/ Consistency is king
Fitness is a long game.
What matters most?
The ability to stick around, without giving up.
The best way to win a long-game is never stop playing.
So opt for a simple schedule: workout everyday.
No MWF, TThSa, or taking weekends off.
Make tiny progress everyday.
I loved how Morgan Housel put it:
“If something compounds—if a little growth serves as the fuel for future growth—a small starting base can lead to results so extraordinary they seem to defy logic.”
6/ Track one thing
Progress is powerful.
Track something. Anything.
The only 2 rules are: everyday and honesty.
Some ideas:
- Consecutive days worked out (X’s on the calendar)
- Number of push-ups
- Hours of sleep
- Yoga sessions
- Calories
- Weight
- Macros
- Steps
7/ Create paths of resistance
We talked about fitness triggers: making good habits easy.
The reverse is also true:
Hide the triggers of habits you want to avoid.
- Trying to drink less? Don’t stock wine.
- Want to eat less? Stop buying snack foods.
- Watch less Netflix? Delete the app from your phone and iPad.
8/ Calendar it
Schedule your meals and workouts.
That’s it.
To start, don’t even worry if it’s “good”. Just have a plan.
That plan can be a cheeseburger and Coke.
Write it down.
We keep our meal plan on a dry-erase board on the fridge. I keep my workouts in my personal and work Google Calendars.
Nothing fancy.
9/ Counter schedule
My favorite benefit of remote work is counter-scheduling.
- Grocery shop while others work
- Gym while others commute
- Work while others rest
You’ll be shocked at how much time opens up when you zig while others zag.
10/ Double dip meal prep
I used to love meal prep weekends.
I’d spend a Sunday afternoon shopping, prepping, cooking. Plate it all in Tupperware, arranged like rows of nutrient-dense teeth in my fridge.
Two kids later, that “meal prep” time has evaporated.
Instead, I have to make small chunks of time work.
I call this “double-dipping:”
- Prep dinner while making breakfast (e.g. chop and wash veg)
- Prep while eating lunch (e.g. check the grain or prep the protein)
- Cook extra grains while cooking dinner (e.g. roast sweet potatoes)
- Make extra so leftovers can be served for lunch
Conclusion
10 tips to get (and stay) fit while working remotely.
- Prime the environment
- Stack the habits
- Grease the groove
- Make success inevitable
- Consistency is king
- Track one thing
- Create paths of resistance
- Calendar it
- Counter schedule
- Double dip meal prep
Fitness is easy. Creating new habits is hard.
Some of this will “feel” like suffering. Your lungs will burn. Your muscles might get a bit sore. Your new habits will feel strange.
That’s normal.
But as Ed Latimore said:
“If you don’t mind your fitness, you’ll suffer too. You’ll gain weight, your knees will start to hurt, you’ll feel depressed.
“Either way, you’re going to suffer.
“Only that one type of suffering leads to a strong, healthy body you’re proud of.
“Might as well pick that one.”
