Why Is It So Hard to Work Out When You Work From Home?

You'd think working from home would make it easier to work out. It's a little bit ironic, don't you think? Working from home gave us the flexibility we thought we always wanted, but it took away the start and end of the day. Structure creates freedom, and without it, the workout keeps slipping.

On a call after working together for about a year, I asked a client what made it hard to stay consistent. I expected her to say time, or motivation. She said this:

"Ever since I started working from home, it's really changed the way I step out. I like the flexibility of it, but it's really put a wrench in the structure of the day, because it doesn't give me a start and end time."

That was the barrier. And once you know what the barrier is, you can work on it.

She's not the only one. This is a pattern I've seen with many clients.

And I get it, because I work from home too. I create containers for everything, and I'm a little obsessive with calendar invites. I'm on the very structured end of the spectrum, and that's exactly why I know it works: structure is what gives me the freedom.

Why is it so hard to work out when you work from home?

Because structure creates freedom. You need a container to do something. When you go into work, the day has a start and an end, and the workout fits around them. When you work from home, you can do it anytime, and when you can do it anytime, you do it no time.

She described exactly how it happens: "Even if you change into your workout clothes, you're like, oh, let me just check if there are any emails that I need to check before I leave." One thing snowballs into another. Then she's wrapping up work and it's "oh, wait, I need to make dinner."

That's what a coach is for: helping you create the container and the structure. It's what I help women do. Inside it, they have the freedom and flexibility to fit training into their real lives, and we tailor it to them across fitness, nutrition, mindset and recovery, the FBZ Method.

We're dealing with different challenges than we were even a few years ago. As AI speeds up and changes the workplace, even more of our days will happen in front of a screen. But nothing replaces physically moving.

What actually changed for her

Her first aha was about timing: "If I get my workout done at the beginning of the day, then my day is structured nicely." The morning workout became the start time the office used to give her. In her best weeks, getting to a morning class was enough to set up the rest of the day. That was her container: morning classes on the days she could get there, and getting outside to move on the days she couldn't.

Her second aha was harder to hear. "Even with you nudging me, there were days I still wouldn't go," she said. "It's so much from inside that I just need to do it."

Accountability helps, and I have coaches myself, on the workout side and the business side. But what she really learned was what's realistic in a given week: how many classes she'll actually get to, and what gets in the way. That part is hers now.

How to put a start and end back into your workday

These are the things we worked on together, and the ones I'd give any woman who works from home and keeps losing her workout to the day:

• Work out before you open your inbox. "Let me just check my emails" is how the morning disappears. If the workout comes first, it can't get snowballed.
• Make the workout your way out the door. The hard part isn't the workout, it's getting out of the house. A morning class or a walk outside gives your day a start time.
• Pick a daily goal you can hit in a messy week. Her goal is to get outside and move every day, not 10,000 steps every day or it doesn't count. (Walking counts.)
• Drop all-or-nothing. Monday wasn't good. Tuesday wasn't good. Get back on track Wednesday. Not "this week was bad, next week I'll do better."
• End the day with a checkout. Before you close the laptop, replan tomorrow, including when you'll move. I used to do an end-of-day checkout every day, and I walk through it in Make Time for You, my free energy management resource.
• Check in with yourself once a week. The weekly check-ins were one of her favorite parts of coaching, because they made her write down what worked, what didn't and what to do next week. You can do a version of that on your own.

The flexibility isn't the problem

Working from home isn't the enemy. The flexibility is real, and most of us don't want to give it up. It just needs a container.

She doesn't have a perfect routine. She knows exactly what gets in her way, and that's the part that lasts.

Working from home doesn't give you a start and end time. So give yourself one.

If you're a parent, this is the same problem from another angle: you might be missing a third place, not a workout. And if you want help building a week that works when you work from home, apply for coaching.