Consistency Is a Skill, and You're Allowed to Be a Beginner

I've been a beginner again lately, and I'd forgotten how funny it is. You're clumsy. You're a bit lost. Everyone else seems to know the rules.

It's also the best reminder I have for anyone wondering how to find time to exercise as a working mum. You don't find it. You start with an amount so small it feels almost silly, and you practise turning up the way you'd practise anything new.

Consistency isn't something some women are born with and others aren't. I promise. It's a skill, and skills are built by beginners.

Start with five minutes, and let it be enough

Most of us plan for the life we wish we had. Forty-five minutes, three times a week, fresh kit, a quiet house. Then real life turns up with a sick child, a deadline and a school form due yesterday, and the whole plan falls over.

So I shrink it. Five minutes counts. It really does.

Squats while the kettle boils. Press-ups against the kitchen worktop while the pasta cooks. Glute bridges on the bedroom floor before you get dressed. Done properly, with a bit of effort, five minutes wakes your body up and tells your brain you're someone who moves.

That last part matters most. The first few weeks aren't about getting stronger. They're about proving to yourself that you do what you say you'll do.

Hang it on something that already happens

If you're waiting for the right moment, it won't arrive. I've checked. Instead, pick something that already happens every day and stick your five minutes to it.

The kettle. Brushing your teeth. The kids' bath time, when you're sitting on the loo lid with nothing to do but supervise. Waiting for the laptop to wake up. These are tiny gaps, and they're already there.

You're not adding a new job to your day. You're borrowing a minute from one you already have. That's how you exercise consistently when life is busy: you stop relying on motivation and let your day do the reminding.

Be a clumsy beginner at the habit itself

If you've ever asked yourself why you always quit working out, here's the kinder answer. Usually the plan was built for a woman with more hours and more energy than you have. It was never a lack of willpower. The plan was just too big for your life.

When you're learning anything new, you wobble. You miss a day. You miss a week. A beginner expects that and picks it back up without a speech about what it means.

So try this. If you miss a day, do the five minutes the next day. That's the whole rule. No catching up, no doubling up, no starting again on Monday. Making exercise a habit is mostly just getting good at coming back.

Notice what changes, not how it looked

You don't have to be good at this. You don't have to feel confident, and you don't need to know it all. I say this to the women I train all the time, and I say it to my girls too: you only have to start.

Instead of judging a session by how it looked, notice what's different in your day. You get off the floor after playing with the kids and it feels easier. The shopping bags come in from the car in one trip. You've got a bit more energy at four o'clock, when the afternoon usually flattens you. That's the real result, and it shows up long before anything else does.

Once five minutes feels easy, add a little. A second round. A few more reps. Or a proper session once a week, if you fancy it. Let it grow when it's ready, not when a calendar says so.

Come and be a beginner with me

If strength training feels a bit intimidating and you don't know where to begin, I get it. Come along to one of my live sessions. You can be nervous, you can be new, and you can get things wrong while I'm right there with you. We'll do it together, and I'll help you with the rest.