Starting your fitness journey is tough. Maintaining it could be even harder! After all, it is a lifelong commitment. Is there a way to make it a little easier? Yes! As with a lot of things, having a plan can make things smoother. In fitness, this can take the form of a workout schedule. It helps you keep your training on track and easy to follow. Aside from that, it can do so much more! Below are five benefits of having an exercise routine.

Image of a woman running with text "Benefits of Having an Exercise Routine"
Pin for later!

1. Ensures you get enough exercise

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adults should be getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity (or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity) aerobic activity and 2 days of muscle-strengthening activities per week. It sounds like a lot of time, but if you break it down to 30-minute chunks, that’s only 5 times a week and then a couple of those strength workouts. Keeping track of this weekly could get tiring, so putting it into a schedule ensures you get enough!

Here’s an example of a weekly fitness calendar with the minutes tallied up per day. You don’t have to do this exact routine, but create one based on your own fitness level and personal schedule. As long as you follow it, you’re sure to get the recommended amount of exercise for the week.

weekly fitness calendar showing different activities and their respective minutes per day
Who says schedules should be boring? Get this fun calendar for free in my resource library!

2. Makes exercise a habit

Once you get into the groove of your exercise schedule, it will slowly become a habit—and a good one, at that. Habits have a way of running your body on auto-pilot mode. You’ll know exactly what to do, since you’ll associate certain days for certain workouts. Monday is for cardio, Friday for yoga, etc. When you’re not in the mood to exercise, this comes in handy since you can let your habits kick in, change into those workout clothes, and get sweaty!

On those times you feel like slacking off, you’ll need all the help you can get to push yourself off that couch. Making exercise something that you want to do to start or cap off your day is one of the benefits of having an exercise routine. Eventually, your day won’t feel complete without getting your muscles moving! And if you’re looking for more ways to overcome your exercise excuses, click here! No matter how much you love exercise, no one is immune to having those lazy days.

woman sitting down with cat on her lap with words "too lazy" and "too tired" in speech bubbles
Make exercise a habit so you can beat those excuses not to exercise!

3. Targets all areas of your body

Third of the benefits of having an exercise routine is making sure you target all areas of your body. After all, you don’t want to skip leg day. It’s not just about appearances, of course. We don’t want to strengthen only some muscles and then ignore others, because all of our muscles work together to keep us moving. If we don’t build them all, the weaker ones might fail. Think of it like the columns on a house. All of them work together to keep the house up. If one falls, the rest will follow.

When you create a workout schedule, ensure that each major muscle group is worked on. If you have an upper body-focused session on one day, make sure you balance it out by having one focused on the lower body the next day or so in that week. It would be great to include some total body workouts in your fitness routine as well!

If you’re not sure how to do workouts like this and are just a beginner, try searching “upper body” or “total body” workouts on Youtube. A lot of coaches and certified gym instructors have created workout videos targeting all or specific muscle groups. Find one that works for your fitness level!

woman doing bird dog exercise
Here’s an exercise working your core and lower back.

4. Adds variety to your fitness journey

Variety is the spice of life! Add that spice to your fitness routine and you’re sure to reap more benefits. If you keep doing the same thing again and again, you’re bound to get bored. And since fitness is a lifetime journey, you don’t want this to happen. This is one of the reasons why you should have an exercise schedule! Mixing up your exercises with cardio, pilates, strength, HIIT, and all those other exercises makes a more enjoyable routine.

Aside from no longer getting motivated, doing the same workout won’t be advantageous to your body either. Eventually, your muscles will be reaching a plateau and the exercise won’t be as challenging to you. Straining the same muscles can lead to injury as well, so exercising a different group or doing another type of workout on the next day can help prevent that.

So make sure to add in different workouts in your weekly exercise routine to keep your mind and body stimulated. There are a lot of great workouts out there that allow you to work on your strength, aerobic fitness, flexibility, and balance! Learn more about those here.

Related:
Best Youtube Workout Videos For Every Mood
Exercise For A Balanced Life
What Exercise Beginners Should Know

Weekly fitness calendar with different workouts for each day of the week

Live a life of wonder and meaning! Subscribe for wellness in your inbox:

5. Helps you get enough rest

All work and no play makes Jack a dull man. If work here means exercise, Jack could very likely be an injured man as well. Working out every day is not okay. That is just a surefire way to overwork your muscles and lead to injury, which is the opposite of why you started exercising in the first place. It would also lead to burnout and eventually make you hate working out!

Helping you get enough rest is one of the benefits of having an exercise routine. You can make sure to add in at least one day of rest per week. You can also opt to do a light yoga flow or stretching section after days you do vigorous-intensity workouts like HIIT. Give your muscles enough time to repair themselves and don’t schedule consecutive intense days. Instead, schedule some rest days or light workouts in between so your body has enough time to recover.

Learn more about all the benefits of having an exercise rest day here.

woman doing seated twist with cat
Do some yoga on your rest days to relax and work on your flexibility at the same time!

Reap those benefits of having an exercise routine now!

The road to fitness is a challenging, lifelong marathon. But there are many tools to help us if we’re just willing to use them. A workout plan is one of those tools that are free and easy to create. If you have a gym instructor or know a fitness expert, asking for their advice on the best routine for your physical fitness level would be even better. Once you’re done, you can simply start following it weekly and maybe changing it up every now and then to challenge yourself more as you get stronger and more fit.

There are so many reasons why you should have an exercise schedule, as shown above! If you’re serious about your fitness journey, why not create one and start reaping those benefits right now?

Like this? You might like Start Exercising And Stick To It: 10 Tips for Beginners.

Image of a woman running with text "Benefits of Having an Exercise Routine"
Pin it!