We live in a busy day and age. Between work, family, travel, social events, etc, etc, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to fit it all in.
When it comes to exercise, we often reschedule, bargain down and put it off just to fit everything else in. We know how important it is and do genuinely want it to be a consistent part of our weekly routine, but when push comes to shove it just seems be the easiest thing to comprimise on to free up extra time.
If you really have a good think about the main things in your life that cause you to be unhappy and dissatisfied, there’s a good chance that exercising on a regular consistent basis would help, if not solve some of those problems entirely. Think about it for a second. Not being able to wear the clothes you’d like to when you go out. Feeling tired and lethargic throughout the day. Feeling a bit down, depressed or anxious. Over stressed with work. Feeling self-conscious about wearing bathers on your beach holiday. Not being able to keep up with the kids. Avoiding social events because of your weight. Suffering from neck pain, back pain or general stiff sore joints. Not being able to physically do the sports and activities you’d like to because of your weight and/or fitness. Stress and anxiety over your health. The list could go on and on…. All of these could be helped by exercise!
So how do we find the time to exercise on a regular consistent basis and stop it getting squeezed out of our schedule.
1. Schedule it in as an appointment – workout how often it’s realistic for you to fit in exercise and set a weekly time schedule for it. Days, times, etc. Lock those sessions in and plan your week around them.
2. Find pockets of time for exercise – if allotting a full hour or more per workout is just going to be too hard, break it up into bite size pieces. A 10-minute walk after dinner. A 15-minute high intensity interval workout first thing in the morning. A 20-minute run on your lunch break or while the kids are at basketball training.
3. Defend your scheduled workout time (as if your life depended on it) – without a doubt people or situations will try and eat into your allotted workout time. DON’T GIVE IN, even if others try and lead you astray or make you feel guilty. Be prepared and let everyone know that time is blocked out. Or set it at a time that won’t get interrupted. 530am is usually pretty safe!
4. If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask – if you need someone to take the kids, organise someone that is reliable. If you aren’t self-motivated organise to do it with a reliable training buddy. If you don’t have one of those, hire a personal trainer. If someone else needs to make dinner a couple nights a week so you can train, ASK!
5. Use exercise as your means of transportation – rather than just drive everywhere and park a few metres away from your end destination try using pedal power or walk/jog. If it’s a short journey, walk. If it’s a bit further away, ride your bike. If it’s too far, drive part way and walk or ride the rest. FIND A WAY!!
6. Combine family time and exercise – there’s nothing wrong with “killing two birds with one stone”. Especially if it means you get to spend quality time with the people you care about the most and you all get the benefits of being active. Try walking the kids to the park for a play. Go for a family bike ride. Go kayaking, bush walking, trampolining, swimming, surfing, the possibilities are endless.
Regardless of how busy you are, there is always a way of “fit”ing it in. The main thing is that you find a way of incorporating it into your life that will work for you. I.e if you try waking at 5:30am to work out and you find that you are hitting the snooze button, try a different time. Don’t give up all together just keep trying different things until you find what works for you!