One of the best excuses for not fitting fitness in is not having enough time. But the only difference between people who exercise and those who don’t, is choice. People who exercise choose to make time for it. It’s as simple as that.
No matter who we are, what we do, or where we live, life is such that we are all given the same gift of 24 hours each day. No more, no less. Those who exercise have the same amount of time as everyone else. And are just as busy. Yet, they manage to make time for it. So if you want to make exercise a priority in your life, you need to make time for it.
Forming habits will help. If you make a conscious effort to make exercise part of your day, it won’t take long for it to become part of your routine, and your psyche. With good time-management and daily planning, anyone can fit fitness in. Here are some tips to help make that happen.
Start your day with it
Studies indicate those who exercise first thing in the morning are least likely to skip their workouts. It can be as easy as waking up half-an-hour earlier and spending 20-30 minutes exercising at home – walking, running, strength training, doing yoga, whatever you want to do. Just do it.
Schedule it in
When you’re filling up your daily calendar with meetings, tasks, and activities, add in your exercise times, too. Seeing it visibly in your calendar makes it more official, and helps establish that time as important. Helps remind us not to be so quick to sacrifice it when something else comes up. We all get to decide how we spend our time each day. Adding exercise to your calendar and committing to it is your choice.
Make it part of work day
Take a gym bag with you to work, and at the end of the day take a new route home past a fitness stop. Find a place you’d enjoy going to, and make it part of your routine. Make it a habit to leave work and go straight there. If you go home first, it’s easier to lose motivation once inside that front door. Consider the work day done only after the work-out is won.
Have an at-home option
When you don’t have time to go to the gym, or don’t like to workout with others, invest in something to use while at home. There are loads of choices in treadmills, stationary bikes, elliptical machines, and other equipment. If you like watching TV, set up shop nearby the screen and get your exercise time in along with your favourite program. Make it part of your living environment, and part of your daily life. No excuses.
Make it fun
If you dread exercise time, chances are you won’t want to do it. Pick something you enjoy doing and avoid the stigma of it being a chore. Learn a new dance or something you’ve always wanted to learn. Return to a sport you used to love to play. Get a friend to work-out with you and socialize some. Join a group or team that will motivate you. Plan family time to involve being active. Make exercise fun, and you’ll want to make time for it.
Take what time you can get
If you don’t have a chunk of time to put towards exercise, do it in smaller blocks. Go 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes over lunch, and whatever time you can fit in the evening. The benefits of exercise are cumulative, and each minute you put in contributes towards making you more fit. Even adding 15 minutes once a day is better than no minutes. It all adds up.
Walk it out
The most important thing above all of this, is that you don’t need any one thing or any one place to exercise daily. Because if you are able to, you can always go for a walk. Proven to be one of the healthiest pursuits for the human body, you can do it anywhere and anytime. Walking not only keeps you fit, but helps clear your mind, too. It’s one of the best antidotes for compromised mental health, along with any and all forms of exercise. Moving the body in any way helps calm the mind, and can bring more peace in life overall.
Making up your mind to make exercise a priority will contribute to a healthier and more peaceful lifestyle. While working out may seem like work, and fitting it in may be challenging, it’s definitely worth it to keep in on your daily calendar. Because it’s your day, your life, and you’re worth it.
It’s as simple as that.
