Some days it feels like you barely have time to stop and breathe, let alone to fit in a workout! With the fast-paced lifestyle that so many of us live today, finding time to exercise often gets pushed to the back burner. At some point, the only way to stop using the best excuse we all give, “I just don’t have time” is to ask the real question: how can I afford not to when my health is at risk?
The good news is that you can still squeeze a workout in no matter how busy your day. Here are some tips on fitting exercise into a busy life.
Take the Self-Examination:
This will require you to make two lists. On the left side you’re going to write down every single reason you cannot workout. No matter what it is, how valid it sounds (or not) write it down.
On the right hand side of the paper, you’re going to write every reason why you should find time. When you’re finished, will this list make you run to your nearest trainer or local gym?
Maybe or maybe not, but what it will force you to do is look at your TRUTH. It should cause you to take a real inventory of your excuses and hopefully find your balance between your two lists and find ways to bring balance on your two opposing sides.
The “Mini-Workout”
We can all find reason to say, “Not only do I not have time, but I’m just too busy.” If this is your voice of reason, then you’re the perfect candidate for what I call “Mini Workouts”. These are 15 min. sessions worked in throughout your day to help you increase your commitment level to your new fitness plan. While there is no set location to where you have to start, these 15 min.
“Mini Workouts” can be done at your office desk, while watching your favorite TV show, after work, before work, while watching the kids or of course the gym. The goal is get STARTED with something manageable. At least you’re making the effort by doing more than just wishing to make time.
Be On Purpose
When you’re a working individual, most of us have to value our time. We have day planners, iPhones and any number of apps that will help us with time management and scheduling. The real challenge here is scheduling on purpose to make sure we are allotting time set-aside just for us. Just for our fitness goals. When you choose to make a lifestyle change, you have to be on purpose with your day. You can’t hope the day gets longer. You can expect if everything else in your life needs an appointment that you will somehow fit in an hour of your day for the gym without you having an appointment scheduled as well. Plan it, excuse it and be on purpose with a set time of day, same time each day, if possible.
Fitness is a lifestyle that may only start with one individual in the home, but can quickly be extended to a spouse, the children, grandchildren or friends. If you see this time as quality time spent doing an activity together, that time will not seem selfish. There is no denying that after working a 8-10 hour day, finding quality time can be a challenge, but use it as a set family activity and enjoy the journey together.
Fitness Selection
Everyone doesn’t enjoy going to the gym and lifting weights. But in today’s fitness climate, there are so many options of ways to get into shape. The best thing to do first is decide what your fitness goals are. Once you do that, choose an activity you will really enjoy, stick with and fits your new healthy lifestyle goals. Here are just a few things to choose from:
Traditional Gym
Yoga (Hot) or traditional
Rock Climbing (Indoors or outdoors)
Zumba
Pole Dancing
Aerobics
Cycling
Ballroom Dancing
Cross Fit Training
Kick Boxing
Swimming
Move More
You can still get the benefit of exercise without having to have a set workout time or routine that you do each day. Instead, focus on making yourself move more during the day. Simple things like parking further away from the store so you have to walk a little more and taking the stairs at work can really make a big difference in your daily calorie burn.
Stuck in traffic? Try squeezing and holding your stomach muscles, or your buttocks. You can even do this at the office while you are sitting in your chair at your desk. Really focus on using those muscles and you can get a great isometric workout that can start to lift your rear and shape your stomach.
When you take a bathroom break during the day take a minute to do some bicep curls. Even without weights you can really work the muscle as long as you concentrate and have good form.
Being busy is an everyday part of life we all face. At the end of the day it will come down to priority and how you choose to prioritize your health/ lifestyle. The more important question is to go back to the one we started with. Can you really afford not to find time to take better care of yourself?