All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
PREPARE
Even if you didn't get COVID, the pandemic probably changed your body, whether you found yourself locked out of the gym or you wrecked your posture working from home or you simply weren't able to sleep. But now we have a rare opportunity, because the pandemic also scrambled everything else about life. As we rebuild how we work, socialize, and travel, we can completely reimagine our relationship with our bodies.
Which is where I come in. I've trained a long list of clients with a wide range of goals. Some wanted to get through a 5K—others were about to walk down a runway in Paris. No matter where you're at, I believe there is a universal baseline that every person's body should be primed for: to feel great moving through the world and to be resilient in the face of whatever life throws our way.
This isn't a workout program. Yes, it incorporates physical movement, but it's also about your emotional well-being and all the ways, big and small, that you nourish yourself. The plan is built around consistency, helping you make lasting changes to live just a little healthier, eat a bit better, and move your body regularly. That's far more powerful than any single tough workout. It's not easy, but it is simple, and if you buy in, you will see results.
You have to get your head right first. And what's wonderful is how this can create a positive feedback loop: A healthy mindset leads to the consistent physical activity that quite literally makes you happier and smarter—and ready to make even more good decisions for your body.
We're building a body equipped to deal with life, and I want you to think of a workout as anything that will improve your resilience. Good sleep improves your ability to bounce back from stress. Meditation sharpens your mind. Maybe today you plan a week of healthy eating and then go to the store. Congrats—you just worked out.
A well-designed body needs well-designed goals, and that means goals that are concrete enough to measure, so you can hold yourself accountable. “I want to run more” is not a good goal. Try for something more like “I want to run my first half-marathon in November.” Then work backward, breaking your big goal into the smaller goals—like a Russian nesting doll.
The idea is to create a mental framework that allows you to pile up small wins and bounce back quickly from minor losses. Take that half-marathon: Getting in shape to drop the hammer for 13.1 miles is a big, long-term project—thinking about it in its entirety can be overwhelming. And in the day-to-day grind (short term), you may not feel like you're making much progress. But at the end of each week (medium term), you'll see that you got your miles in—and those weeks add up. Thinking medium-term will also help you constructively rebound from setbacks: If you miss your run one day, don't beat yourself up—you have six more to get back on track.
Maybe you've got some insecurity about your body—how it looks or how it functions. First, understand that you can probably achieve much more than you think you can—but it will take time. Second, accept that no matter how hard you work, you probably can't transform yourself into LeBron or The Rock. But if you aim toward maximizing your potential—without comparing yourself with anybody else—I promise you're going to like the results.
At some point you might think, I can't do this. That's only a problem if you stop there—and most people do. But the next time your inner critic chimes in, ask yourself three follow-up questions.
- Why do I think I can't do it?
- Is that reason true?
- If it is true, how can I work on that?
I don't care how fit you were in high school or even at the beginning of lockdown. Start where you are, not where you were, and certainly not where you want to be. Doing too much too fast is the number one cause of both injury and simply getting overwhelmed and giving up.
I've found that almost everyone has a strong innate sense of how they're doing; it just takes some prompting with a few basic questions.
- Am I able to work out—or play with my kids—for 30 minutes without getting excessively fatigued?
- Am I able to recover from temporary setbacks in my life?
- Do I have more fresh foods than processed foods in the kitchen?
- Do I have access to nature or green space? Do I spend enough time there?
- What has caused me to fail when I have tried to commit to a movement program in the past?
No grades here. But once you're aware of where you are, you can start the work.
TRAIN
Athletes train for specific sports. You're an athlete, and your sport is life! The movement patterns of daily living should be a joy, from bending over to tie your shoes to hoisting your suitcase into an overhead bin to jogging for the bus. And whether you're a marathoner or a weight lifter or a pickup hooper or just want to crawl around and play with your grandkids in 25 years, better movement is where you begin. If you feel like this process is slow-going, just remember: You're building a body for the rest of your life—start slowly to make sure you get it right.
Some vanity is completely natural—and building a base is the first step. It doesn't matter if you want to add muscle, shed weight, or go all out for a chiseled six-pack—your body needs to be in basic shape. Otherwise you won't have the strength to do the reps to gain muscle or the endurance to go long enough to lose pounds. It's the reverse of what Deion Sanders said: Your body has to feel good before it can look good.
When we say we're “out of shape,” we're usually talking about our cardiovascular health. But when you've been sedentary for a while, your whole body stiffens up. So before you even think about getting your wind back or building muscle, I want you to start by focusing on a few often overlooked body parts: feet, hips and glutes, and spine. This will help you with your posture, stability, body control, and spatial awareness—all of which you'll need when you get into more complex movements. If you're starting from scratch, spend at least a few days shaking off the cobwebs with these moves, then keep them as part of your daily maintenance.
No matter your preferred training activity—boxing, basketball, or jogging in the park—it's important to start from a base level of fitness. (And it's always good to reconnect with the fundamentals, no matter the shape you think you're in!) So for the next four weeks, focus on some of the basic biomotor building blocks: strength, endurance, and flexibility. Starting with this general preparation phase will set you up for whatever specific discipline you want to move into next.
- Endurance: Get the heart rate up: boxing, jogging, Peloton, HIIT, bodyweight circuits. Three or four times a week for 20 to 45 minutes.
- Strength: Anything load-bearing: machines, dumbbells, or barbells. One or two times a week for 30 to 45 minutes.
- Flexibility: Yoga, Pilates, simple stretching. Every day, for at least 10 minutes.
Often, when people are getting back into working out or starting a new program, they try to do too many things too quickly. I always stress nuance over novelty. Once you've established a baseline level of general fitness, for the next two weeks, I want you to change just one variable. It could be intensity (if you were going 70 percent in your workouts, up it to 90 percent for one of them), volume (your 20 minutes of HIIT work becomes 30), or frequency (push strength to two times a week or endurance to four). See what feels good and how your body responds.
A universal program can take you only so far. At some point you have to decide what's right for you and your body. Maybe your calling is the squat rack; maybe it's the yoga mat. Figure that out and design a movement plan that works for you. But don't just wing it! Do your research—by which I mean: Read some books. Even in an age when it can seem like everything is online, the real lore isn't on Instagram or Reddit—it's on paper. I promise. Here are three great books to help you get started.
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe
A radically simple guide to barbell lifts for anyone who wants to build general-purpose strength.
Free+Style by Carl Paoli and Anthony Sherbondy
A former elite gymnast completely rebuilds your understanding of how your body moves through space.
The Art of Running Faster by Julian Goater and Don Melvin
Even if you're content with your pace, there's more to running than just putting one foot in front of the other.
Sometimes the day goes sideways and your program falls apart. No stress! Just take 20 minutes and move. I don't care what you do—moving at all is so much better than nothing. But if you want a foolproof 20-minute workout, follow this formula.
- Three minutes to elevate your heart rate: Jump rope or jog in place.
- Three minutes of dynamic movement: Leg swings, knee tucks, hip circles. Do each for one minute.
- Nine minutes of strength work: Push-ups, air squats, crunches. Do each for 30 seconds. Repeat six times.
- Three minutes of conditioning: High knees, squat jumps, mountain climbers. Do each for 20 seconds, with 10 seconds of rest in between. Repeat twice.
- Two minutes of breath work: Inhale three seconds, hold three seconds, exhale five seconds, hold three seconds. Repeat eight times.
SUSTAIN
Design self- reinforcing habits so that once you've created your new body, maintaining it becomes automatic. Opportunities to reset, like this summer, don't come around very often— let's make this new plan stick.
You can't know how you're doing if you don't know what you're doing—and if you don't track your progress. At the beginning of every day, make a plan. At the end of every day, review it. Judge yourself the way you would judge anyone else: on your actions, not your intent.
3 Questions To Begin Your Day
- How am I feeling today? (Be concrete: Rate your energy levels, mental clarity, and mood.)
- What is a distinct health goal to accomplish today?
- What am I in awe of—what makes life special?
3 Questions To End Your Day
- What's something that worked today?
- What's something that went wrong?
- What am I grateful for?
Yoga and meditation are practices, and I talk a lot about fitness as a holistic practice. But I want you to approach eating the same way: We have to move beyond the idea of a single diet, because there is no one “right” way to eat. Of course, you have to know the general ground rules: Get your nourishment from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and high-quality protein—and avoid, as much as possible, added sugars, refined carbs, and anything highly processed. But beyond that, what you eat will depend on your life and your body.
Try to think less about which foods are “good” or “bad” and think more about what you need and what matters to you. Consider these three exemplary dinners.
Blood glucose is an incredibly useful biomarker, even for people who don't have diabetes. It's a snapshot of how daily life—not just what you eat but also how you sleep and exercise—affects your body. Here are two ways to measure it.
A High-Tech Implant
If you're willing to shell out $399 for a four-week program (and $199 a month if you want to keep going), a new start-up called Levels uses a continuous glucose monitor, a small medical device that you stick on your arm. It's connected to an app that logs your meals and tracks your blood sugar in real time—simply tap your phone for an instant reading. You'll feel like the Terminator.
An Old-School Finger Prick
For less than $30, the meters available at any drugstore will also do the trick. According to the American Diabetes Association, fasting blood sugar—measured in the morning before eating—should be under 100 mg/dL, and two hours after a meal should read below 140. But you can go much deeper than that: There's so much to learn about how different foods (and workouts and daily habits) impact your body.
Here are two calming breath work routines to have at the ready whenever necessary.
4–7-8
Inhale for four seconds, hold for seven, exhale for eight. Exhaling for longer than you inhale activates your parasympathetic— or “rest and digest”—nervous system. Good to use before eating, going to sleep, or firing off an inadvisable email.
Alternate-Nostril Breathing
Close the left nostril and inhale through the right nostril for a count of five. Then plug the right nostril and exhale through the left nostril. Repeat, starting with the other side. Five to 10 cycles will calm and center you.
Willpower is fickle and unreliable. So don't rely on it! Good choices should be automatic.
Increase or Decrease Friction
Want to quit eating Butterfingers at night? Don't keep them around. Want to get up early and run? Lay out your gear the night before.
Set Reminders
Maybe an alarm on your phone that goes off every day at 3 p.m. reminding you to foam roll for 10 minutes or go outside and get some sunshine.
Stack Good Habits
If you can get yourself to brush your teeth at night, you can get yourself to stretch for five minutes. If you can get yourself to stretch for five minutes, you can get yourself to journal for five minutes. Let momentum work for you.
Schedule Yourself Workouts
If a meeting you don't want to go to is on your calendar, you probably go anyway. So schedule your workouts—it's like a meeting with yourself.
You have everything you need to design the fitness and wellness regimen that works for you. And if you ever get off track, just come back and start at number one.
