Managing Your Time to Exercise When You Just Don’t Have the Time

Some days there just aren’t enough hours to get everything you want to do into your day. Here are three tips that will help you stop the ceaseless argument between your brain, body and schedule.

1) Commit to making exercise a regular part of your life. – You wouldn’t say that you don’t have time to brush your teeth, to make your children dinner, to put gas in your car, or to go get groceries when you need them, so why would you let your health be any different? If you think of exercise as a regular part of your life, like walking the dog, washing your hair, or checking into facebook, and you make the conscience decision to incorporate it into your weekly routines, you’ll be less likely to neglect it. Organization is key! At the beginning or end of the week, whenever you do your planning for the days ahead, schedule exercise time in, and stick to it. Having the goal to get fit and exercise is great, but every journey needs a map. If you don’t plan how you will get there, you never will.
2) Hire a personal trainer. – Exercise professionals are not only great at correcting form and keeping your workouts interesting with variety, but half of our job is to motivate our clients to keep their training dates and schedule. I have had many athletes who were as knowledgeable as I with regard to fitness, but would never train unless I were there standing over them, making it happen. Having a fixed time and date with a trainer is the best chance for continued success. If you can’t afford a trainer, the next best bet is to get a friend to commit to exercising with you regularly. If you’re accountable to someone, you’re less likely to bail out when your schedule is tight.

3) Do what you can when you can. – 60 minutes of exercise a day 4-7 days a week is what is recommended to maintain health. No one says that it has to be all at once. If you have 10 minutes to spare on your lunch break, get on your office floor! You’d be surprised how many push ups and sit ups you can do in that short amount of time. Break it up and do little bits here and there. Take the stairs, park at the farthest space away, jog to the store to buy your milk. Also resistance training goes a long way when it comes to your metabolism, so a few sets here and there to strengthen and tone your muscles can do wonders for your health. Building muscle keeps your metabolism revved after your workout is over. You continue burning calories even at rest far more by lifting weights than by walking or jogging alone.