Part 4: The 'double-up pledge' — how to make exercise non-negotiable

It's a simple motivation tool to not skip a workout and hold yourself accountable.

Warmup

Greetings from JetBlue en route from San Francisco to New York.

I’m guzzling water and electrolytes and wishing the dude coughing behind me would do us a favor and strap on a mask.

But we digress.

It’s been a week of non-stop work offsite meetings. The unavoidable toll of sitting and screens has been mitigated with these 3 survival tactics and these 3 three little items.

But today, my scheduled workout will get bumped because of the flight and time zone change.

Which means tomorrow, I’ll need to deploy the “double-up pledge.”

Post

Today’s newsletter is the fourth of five posts about how to make regular physical movement non-negotiable in your day.

By the time January 1 arrives, we’ll be nicely primed to reimagine our limits in 2025.

Here’s what we’re covering in this series:

• Pre-programming and Time-blocking (Posted 11/17/24)

• Visual Cues & Accessibility (Posted 11/24/24)

• Data & Tracking (Posted 12/1/24)

• The Double-Up Pledge (TODAY)

• Completion signaling (Posted 12/15/24)

• BONUS: N2L Reader Tips (Posted 12/24/24)

Let’s get it done.

Double-up pledge

This tactic is super simple.

If I miss a scheduled workout during the week, unless I am sick, I must make up that workout before the week ends.

That’s it. Like I said, not very complicated.

Here’s why the “double-up” works.

Knowing I’ve made this pledge means on days where I’m short on time, or don’t feel like exercising, I’ll usually still find a way to squeeze in my workout.

Why?

1. Because I know tomorrow, I’m likely to be equally time-pressed.

2. I don’t like the snowball effect of things piling up and stressing me out.

3. On the double-up day, I must wake up earlier, eat dinner later or lose an hour of sleep to get in the extra workout.

4. If I break my pledge, I will feel guilty about it.

5. None of the above is appealing.

Still, there are times where missing a workout is unavoidable. And the double-up becomes my fate.

Here’s how I make the “double-up” more fun(ish).

The pledge is to double-up with a workout of some sort.

But I get to decide what that second workout is — and it doesn’t have to be exactly the workout I missed. The exercise just needs to be generally in the same genre.

Today, for instance, I’m missing a strength workout.

Tomorrow, I’m already scheduled for a run. That will be workout #1.

But instead of the strength workout my coaches programmed for today, which I’ve already done several times this month, for workout #2, I’ll shake things up and knock out Michael Easter’s Burn the Ships December program.

Sometimes, if I need to make-up a run workout, and I’ve got another run already programmed, I’ll cycle or row instead for the “double-up” workout.

Not everyone has coaches, of course. Doesn’t matter — just keep things simple with a few principles:

• Try and separate your two workouts so you get the best performance from each one.

  • If you feel worn down after workout #1, then focus on mobility exercises or easy yoga or just walking for workout #2. Avoiding injury trumps everything else.

• Otherwise aim to replicate what you missed in some form (strength or cardio).

• Remember it’s fantastic that you are holding yourself accountable.

• Make it fun.

My favorite “double up” substitute: I’ll set up a mock obstacle course race along my road and give myself a time goal.

The key is making the “double-up” workout not feel like making up missed homework.

Cooldown

A special thanks to those of you who’ve upgraded recently to paid membership for this N2L newsletter.

Paid members receive:

• Full access to the newsletter.

• Access to newsletter archives.

• A Not Too Late 2” x 3” velcro patch (choice of 2 designs.)

• Not Too Late “No Excuses — Do It From Anywhere” workout PDF.

• Discount for online fitness training with Grit Coaching.

• New benefits as they become available

Founding members receive:

• All the benefits of a paid member.

plus

• Code for 1 free U.S. Spartan Race (Sprint, Super, Beast or Ultra) - value of $100+.

• Early access to run with the author (me) in a Spartan Race on a Not Too Late team. Venues and dates TBD.

See you next week. Thanks for reading. And as always, find something you love. Dig in. Stick with it when things get hard.

Wendy