Rethinking Consistency

Training With Temporal Austerity

The alarm goes off again. Another call. A last-minute meeting is called. A deadline is moved closer. A key employee quits.

It is not just a lack of time that can rob you of the consistency that gets results. It is the unpredictability of available time. One week you have from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. Then for a month, it is 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. During peak busyness, you might only have fifteen, ten, or even five-minute windows dispersed throughout the day.

For many of the busy people I work with, this is the reality of life. Instead of thinking in zeroes and ones when it comes to a performance longevity lifestyle, what is needed is a flexible plan that allows for a macro consistency that contributes to the larger outcome at hand—staying broadly and generally awesome (and maybe even sexy too).

These situations are more than a simple lack of time. They represent temporal austerity: a fragmented and unpredictable schedule. It is a state many people live in, but few programs account for.

Temporal austerity is not just a lack of time. It is the unpredictability of time. The fragmentation. The inability to stack routine. It is a state many live in, but few programs are built for.

Traditional health and performance models assume:

• Stable blocks of time

• Repeatable patterns

• Predictable stress and recovery

But temporal austerity defies those assumptions. For people like executives, first responders, or those in the entertainment industry, schedules are both time-short and time-volatile.

No Seasons, No Calendars

Most human performance models are derived from seasonal sport models or weightlifting load progressions. Neither reflects the lived demands of the populations described above.

Austerity in time requires a more adaptable strategy to deliver the kind of practice consistency from which health can ultimately emerge. It is not just a scheduling issue; it is a systems problem. Volatile time demands do not just affect what can be done, but how consistency is defined in the first place.

It is not just about finding time. It is about redefining the model. Without adapting to temporal austerity:

• People burn out

• Progress stalls

• They drop off altogether

Health, fitness, and performance are not simple math equations where one plus one always equals two. These are complex systems with shifting and interacting factors influencing outcomes over multiple timelines.

Complex systems do not thrive on rigid repetition. They respond best to adaptable solutions. Those with unpredictable schedules need more agile approaches than what most professionals are taught to deliver.

Seeing through the lens of temporal austerity helps identify hidden opportunities for sustaining progress. It allows both practitioners and clients to work with their circumstances instead of fighting against them.

Practical Shifts

With all that in mind, let's get practical. I'll offer some general ideas as well as anecdotes from my own personal and professional experience.

It’s helped me a great deal when dealing with the temporally challenged to switch from asking:

What's your program?

To

What's your context?

When we think of a program or programming, we commonly think in predictable blocks of time and known resources. Those with the kind of temporal fragmentation I'm referring to in this article may not fit neatly into boxes with high-probability outcomes.

For these types, robust decision trees for common situations are often more successful. Not because they represent the kind of neat, exercise-science-inspired outcomes coaches love to love, but because they prevent the emotional roller coaster that can come from the lack of "consistency" that may appear in these situations.

My friend Alex Oliver of Virginia High Performance summarizes this sentiment simply with the phrase, "No Zeroes." Getting something done every day. As long as you didn't get a zero, the day is won.

Minimum Effective Dose

If the stimulus is precise and the athlete is intentional, high volume and/or intensity probably isn't necessary to achieve the big picture outcomes. Minimum effective doses, even if they aren't effective for delivering beautifully predictable hypertrophy, may provide a psychological and emotional stimulus.

Having said that, I can say with absolute certainty that a focused individual with the right tools can stay quite fit in the most difficult circumstances. For example, bodyweight exercise like calisthenics, done at a variety of tempos and intervals, as well as isometrics, offers easy access points to staying moving for those on the move.

Doing these exercises doesn't even require pushing to exhaustion, but instead having a laser beam pointed at consistency. Sometimes perfect is the enemy of good.

Here’s one of my go to hotel workouts:

2-4 sets of Sun Salutation

then:

5 sets of 20 Hindu Squats (nasal breathing)/10 Hindu push ups (nose-mouth breathing)

The whole thing takes about 12 minutes, my blood is pumping, and my mind is clear. Will it get me to the Olympics? Heck, no. But I’ll get a gold medal in consistency.

Microdosing

In extremely volatile cases of schedule instability, opportunistic timing might also be all you get. This is where microdosing can be helpful. Microdosing is essentially short bouts of activity that are woven right into the fabric of the day.

It could be planned, like if you have a known thirty-minute pocket of time—going for a walk and every four or five minutes stopping to perform ten push-ups and twenty squats. Or it could be completely opportunistic, where you only have five or ten minutes and you spend it stretching against a wall or a bike rack.

The catch is you come off a tad like Chris Traeger from Parks and Recreation. If you're willing to trade some immediate social awkwardness for the maintenance of your health, then microdosing might be a good fit. Our dogs express joyful fits of panticulation and sprints all the time.

Why not us?

Fitness Feng Shui

Environment matters. I’ve written about this pretty extensively before. Discipline is essential but setting up an environment that supports systems will let you save the energy required for discipline for when you really need it; one the person who knows the least pipes up during the team meeting at work.

Manipulating your environment needn’t be complicated. It can be as simple as keeping a kettlebell on hand for the aforementioned microdosing or making sure you have exercise bands in your carry on bag so you have them no matter where you go in the world.

It can also mean keeping garbage food out of the cupboard when things are going to get crazy so that you don’t default to poor habits.

Prioritize Rest and Recovery

Training is only half the battle. Whatever exercise regime you find works for you in the chaos means very little without providing your body and mind resources to heal from those efforts.

It’s easy to focus all of our attention on the exercise we need to do but forget entirely about sleep, nutritious food, and hydration. Be sure to use the above to organize your efforts around those things too otherwise you’ll have even more fatigue working against you.

Proper Previous Planning…

Prevents piss poor performance. Or so I’ve heard.

If you know you are somebody with a fair amount of shifting tides in your schedule then formulate a plan is even more essential. Just make sure that plan isn’t too rigid or you’ll find yourself frustrated and unfit.

If you don’t have the know how to create such a plan, you’re in luck! Their are loads of fitness professionals who would love to help you. A good rule of thumb when you’re finding a match is to find somebody who keeps it super simple and isn’t out to sell a bunch of crap or show you how smart they are.

Tempering Expectations

What can be done?

This is the most important question when facing temporal austerity. Not “what should have been done” or “what would be ideal,” but “what is possible right now?” This mindset invites flexibility, realism, and compassion—without sacrificing progress.

Tempering expectations is not about lowering standards. It is about aligning expectations with current conditions. It is the difference between rigid perfectionism and resilient progress. It invites athletes, clients, and coaches alike to prioritize responsiveness over rigidity.

Ask:

• What’s available to me right now?

• What action can I take that moves me even slightly forward?

• What patterns can I recognize about my schedule that will help me predict or prepare?

Even five minutes of movement, intentional breathwork, or a brief mental reset can be a win if it supports the larger objective of staying engaged and consistent. When time is scarce or unpredictable, clarity and intentionality become the new currency of consistency.

Tuning Not Timing

In a world of shifting schedules, rotating responsibilities, and unexpected interruptions, success does not belong to those with the most perfect plan; it belongs to those with the most adaptable system.

Temporal austerity is not a failure of discipline. It is a condition of modern life. Rather than resist it, we can build systems that absorb it with fluid strategies that turn volatility into opportunity.

When time is short, aim for clarity. When conditions are volatile, build responsiveness. Because in complex systems—just like in life—the path is rarely linear, but it can still be forward.

Thanks for reading,

Rob

---

If you enjoy my writing please check out my recently released book:

Check Engine Light: Tuning Body and Mind for Performance Longevity