The Summer Baseline Starts Now

Summer is closer than many of us would like to admit (for those here in Texas, arguably already here) and with summer comes the inevitable shift in schedules. Whether this shift is your actual schedule, kids schedule, change in traffic patterns, or just the shift in sunshine these can all create new challenges for any routine. And while we can't prepare for every possibility, setting up a solid routine now sets you up perfectly for a successful and enjoyable summer.

The challenge with keeping your health and fitness goals with this shift isn't a lack of motivation or knowledge, it comes down to a lack of structure. Now this structure doesn't have to be a completely rigid box but having some sort of defined baseline will help keep summer on the rails and continue moving towards your goals.

This is the perfect time to do a self audit and understand what in your schedule is working, what isn't, and then identify what you know will change in the next month or so. With this information, you can develop this baseline which are the minimums you want to target:

• nutrition targets

• sleep duration

• exercise goals (strength, endurance, or both)

• recovery both short term and long term goals.

• schedule review/evaluation period

The goal isn't to create the perfect schedule or routine but to help reduce the number of decisions you need to make when the chaos sets in. With these goals, you can also have defined your anchor(s) that you want to protect which also simplifies that decision process.

What does this look like in reality? Start with targets you feel you can realistically hold based on what evidence you've already gathered and build out what this plan looks like. So based on the items I listed above, it might look something like this:

• Protein with breakfast, maybe as simple as a glass of milk (chocolate is my favorite)

• getting to bed by 10pm at least 4 nights a week

• 1 workout broken into smaller 10 minutes chunks 3 times a week

• at least 2 evening walks during the week

• 10 minutes Sunday morning to review

Then this next month becomes a testing ground to see how those targets hold up. Take time each week to evaluate how you're doing, whether your box is too rigid, and what tweaks need to be made for the short term, and which ones will need to shift for the summer.

You do not need a perfect summer plan. You need a baseline strong enough to keep you steady when life gets busy and routines get tested. Set that foundation now, and you will have something to return to instead of something to rebuild. If you want help creating a realistic baseline for your training, nutrition, sleep, and recovery, book a call.

To get you started with this process, what is one schedule anchor you want to protect this summer?

January Check-In: What’s Working, What’s Hard, and What I’m Adjusting

I mentioned earlier that I start every year (and most major milestones) with a review process, and while I might not do this every month, I thought it would be good for my personal accountability to share how January went for me and what shifts I will make in February.

Overall I feel like January went very well for me, but there are a couple items that need some continued attention.  One aspect I feel the least happy about is how I'm handling the "checking out" during the day - I still feel like this happens a bit too frequently for longer periods then I'd like.  But I feel like my approach of slowly reducing the durations will help in the long term as I know SOME of those checkout times are necessary as they provide a mental break.  The other aspect I'll put in this bucket is protecting my time, but I'm not sure I've really had enough opportunities to evaluate how successful I've been with this, so it will continue to be an area of awareness for me to monitor.

Quite a few things have gone well for me this month and I feel like there's some good momentum starting to help pull me forward.  Two that I definitely feel have positive impacts and are helping in multiple ways are a better adherence to a strength training plan and getting an additional 15 minutes of sleep on average per night.  Neither of these are monumental shifts, but helping build the foundation for a strong year as I'm noticing it in my training on my way back from injury.  Speaking of, I also had a great day at the Houston Marathon (deciding to switch to the half marathon was the right choice) and that confidence has allowed me to shift my race goals a little bit and be more aggressive targeting my ambitious performance targets.

I feel like I've built up some pretty good momentum, so for the most part I want to continue what I have been doing as we roll into February, but I do have a couple things I'm going to layer in. I want to build on my success with strength training in how I shifted that mentally and apply that same "trick" to some of the "un-fun" parts of running a business. There are a handful of items that I have been putting off for way too long, and I need to get them resolved. So I'm putting the same criteria there - I need to get them at least started before I allow myself to start any new "fun" task. I know, again that sounds a little vague but hopefully you can relate to the concept and the idea here is to keep myself accountable. The other aspect that is continuing to evolve is my actual business scope, and I've announced some of that already but that will continue to evolve over this next month. I'm very excited about the quality of service this will allow me to provide, but there's also significant work to be done to make sure I have everything in place to ensure not only the success but a smooth process for my clients.

January isn’t about proving anything — it’s about paying attention.

What’s working deserves reinforcement. What’s hard deserves adjustment, not judgment.

Progress comes from reflection followed by action — again and again.

👉 If you want more grounded, practical conversations like this, subscribe to The Wellness Forge or reach out if you’d like help designing a plan that adapts with you, not against you.