My 27-week streak that almost died ... multiple times
Why doing something – even just once a week – matters more than being perfect

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Six months is a long time to do something, week after week, without fail.

In fact, it’s long enough for seemingly small changes to turn into meaningful outcomes.

Last summer, I temporarily stopped doing aerobic exercise because my shoulder was too injured to hold on to the handlebars of my bike. 

A few weeks turned into a few months, and when I resumed training, it was clear that I had lost fitness (and likely health benefits as well).

It was clearly a mistake because there were alternatives I could’ve considered. But that’s not the point.

The point is that the longer you neglect doing something, the more you solidify not doing it as a new habit. 

I thought my shoulder would be better in a few weeks, but it wasn’t. And after a few weeks of not doing any aerobic training, it was easy to continue not doing it. Too easy, in fact, until it was obvious that I neglected it for too long. 

I’m sure you can relate – maybe not to the shoulder injury, but to daily life getting in the way. 

I use an app called Zwift for my indoor cycling (I highly recommend it, unless you prefer staring at a wall). It automatically tracks a “weeks streak” for how many consecutive weeks you’ve ridden. 

My last ride marked the 27th week of my current streak. 

That got me thinking about how long that is, and how, for at least a few of those weeks, I just barely got in the one ride that kept the streak alive. 

Some weeks I was overwhelmed with work, other weeks I played a lot of tennis and/or golf (not leaving as much time for exercise), other weeks I was traveling, and then there were the weeks that my body was a bit banged up and needed some rest. But I still found a way to get at least one weekly ride in. 

It’s not, however, about keeping a streak alive. It’s about keeping the habit alive … because habits are the foundation of what leads to significant achievements. 
 

One workout per week is honestly not enough to notably improve your aerobic fitness, but it IS enough to keep a very important habit alive. 

And it’s certainly better than doing no aerobic exercise at all.

If you can’t keep a habit alive, it doesn’t matter how perfect you are when things are going well, because it’s not going to last. 

This is why many people struggle to maintain weight loss and achieve long-term health and wellness. They’re not solidifying their habits.

In many cases, they’re forgetting that consistency is a lot more powerful than perfection. 

And sometimes they’re trying to maintain habits that are too demanding to be sustainable.

Coach Kayla and I see it quite frequently. In fact, Coach Kayla spends a lot of her time reminding clients that small wins, accomplished consistently, lead to big wins. 

Aiming for three to four aerobic workouts per week is great, but if you don’t have the time or motivation, just two aerobic workouts per week still adds up to 112 workouts for the year. 

Compare that to zero workouts … and consider the differences it might lead to in your health, body composition, and overall well-being. 

And how do you think that difference will compound over years and decades?

Not good if you're on the zero workouts side of the equation … and that’s exactly where you’ll end up if you let life get in the way too much.

Think about that the next time you try to justify being too busy to exercise.

Better yet, think of how your life might be different a year from now after a 52-week streak of your own!

How might you feel? How might your physical capacity change? How much more self-confidence and pride might you have? 

To making time for priorities,
Dr. Vin 

🆘 Need help losing weight in a health-promoting way that’ll help you feel better than ever? Schedule a free call with Coach Kayla to hear more about our coaching options and whether or not they’d be a good fit for you.