What do you do to stay in shape?

“You’re never, ever doing these again.” 

That inner voice—that annoying voice—shows up every time I climb on the stationary bike. Through all six rounds of 30-second sprints, it tells me to quit. 

And yet, two days later, I’m doing them again. 

Ironically, listening to my inner voice leads me to workout routines I will stick with. But I also have to know when to ignore the voice, and push through difficult workouts. 

I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my 47 trips around the sun. But there’s one thing I’ve gotten mostly right: I’ve stayed in shape. Starting with workouts for high school sports, I’ve exercised consistently and mostly eaten with intention for 30 years. 

Now, in middle age, I look around, and I’m on the high end for fitness in my peer group. Not because I did anything special. I just kept showing up. 

And so, being middle-aged and fit, people ask me what I do to stay in shape. 

In the past, I would have answered the question like this:

1. I strength train three times per week, including leg day.

2. Three times a week, I climb onto a stationary bike and do sprint intervals. I go as hard as possible for thirty seconds, then recover for thirty seconds. Six rounds. 

3. I walk pretty much every day, 4-5 miles. Sometimes more. 

4. I don’t pound beers on the weekend. I like red wine with dinner. But no beers: Sam Adams is a stage-five clinger.

5. Protein is the main point of every meal I eat. 

6. I limit sugar. Dark chocolate MnMs are still a thing, though. We only live once. 

7. I don’t eat breakfast. Intermittent fasting reduces my total consumption, and exercising in a fasted state seems to offer greater fat-burning effects. 

But I’m not sure my listicle-laden answer is helpful.

Here’s a better answer: I try things. Different workouts, different eating styles. I find things I will stick with. Then I do them over and over and over until I find something more effective or efficient. Then I stick with that. 

Experimentation and consistency, in balance, is the key. If you’re new to fitness, then, as my friend Tobi Emonts-Holley points out, it’s important to journal your routines, results, and feelings. All three are signals for what is working for you not just physically, but emotionally. Both sides have to be addressed in order to sustain fitness over the long term.

For example: I made big changes to my workouts this year. I was a runner for 30 years. I quit cold turkey in February and shifted to walking and bike sprints. Why? My friends were getting injured. I wasn’t, and still felt great. But walking is lower-impact and more likely to keep things that way. As I get older, I want my workouts to protect and enhance my mobility--not to hinder it.

Speaking of turkey, I used to be a vegetarian. Then, after 18 meatless months, I just had to eat turkey. It was time to try something new.

Now I’m protein-centric: A cheeseburger and five eggs, every single day. And it works for me: when I made the switch, I added over ten pounds of muscle without changing my strength training routine. 

I tailor workouts to my personality. I’m a bit of an introvert. I’m perfectly happy to pop in my AirPods Pro and grind through a strength training session, or take a walk listening to a podcast. That system won’t work for everyone, though. Many people need to socialize while working out or they get bored. They need accountability partners. So what I do won’t work for them in the long run. 

The real answer to “what do I do to stay in shape” is to know myself and be clear about my fitness goals:

• Stay lean

• Be strong

• Protect long-term mobility

• Limit injury chances

And I experiment to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and most most importantly, to keep going. 

So, “what do I do to stay in shape,” is the wrong question. 

The right question is, what are you willing to experiment with to stay in shape?