If you want to learn how to find time for fitness and you’re a real person with a million work and life obligations, you’re in the right place.
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How To Find Time For Fitness
Now before you start saying “But you have multiple long runs planned in the middle of the work day!” let me say this: We make time for what is important to us.
So, how to find time for fitness? Start with a look at your calendar. I know you’re busy. We’re all busy. I find it’s usually the pinch points of the schedule that actually offer the most opportunity for fitting in fitness.
What time are you getting up in the morning? What time are you going to bed at night? Yep, those are the first two pinch points for most people. It’s the struggle between convincing yourself to get up early and get the workout finished and forcing yourself to exercise at the end of a long day when the couch is beckoning you by name. For most people, making the commitment to slipping a workout into either of these times of day is the easiest (after that ugly transition period). Harsh but true.
Do you have an awful commute? I find that encouraging people to exercise immediately after work at or in the vicinity of their workplace is one of the keys for fitting in fitness. If you sit in traffic on the way home, there’s a good chance you can do a 30-minute workout immediately after work and then you miss the peak traffic time. Thus, you get home only marginally later than normal. And you’ve done something nice for yourself!
What’s for lunch? Do you while away your lunch hour at your desk, mindlessly browsing the internet? Not anymore! Instead you can get in a meaningful low intensity workout without sweating up a storm— check out Yoga With Adrienne for a lot of options in the 20-minute range.
Can you kit out your car? All you need is a resistance tube and a yoga mat to keep in the trunk. You’re ready for a good quality strength workout. Or if you enjoy running, wear your running clothes and shoes whenever you schlep kids to:
Sports Practice or Music Lessons: This is particularly true for young kids, when these classes are usually only 30-45 minutes. It’s impractical to do much else in that time, which makes it an even better reason to fit your workout in now.
Birthday parties: Rather than driving home and back again all within two hours, you have a perfect time for a workout with time to run an errand or two as well. Just beware the offer of birthday cake when you return to pick up your child!
Soccer games: My oldest has to be at the pitch 45 minutes before match time. Guess what I do while waiting for kick-off? I have two usual options: either the field complex is large enough I can run around there and have a pretend one-person-cross-country-meet, or I take myself through an adjacent neighborhood and wind my way through the local streets. Either way, I get my run done.
Sunday School: I get in a good easy hour-long run every Sunday while my kids are at their faith formation class. Yes, this means I show up a sweaty, stinky mess to retrieve my children. God forgives me.
And a bonus idea for my running friends: Run your errands. Literally. Map out where you need to go, and get your shoes on. I also frequently run either to or from my boys’ soccer games (in the 8-10 mile range by the routes I run), or I run home from church (6ish miles). Like all of the ideas above, planning is required. But when you start to look for times to get in your workout, the calendar opens up.
Not ready to put that much planning in yet to find time to exercise?
For one week, challenge yourself during all those times you’d normally pick up your phone and check email or scan Facebook: get up and walk instead. How many minutes of exercise can you accumulate if you don’t jump down the social media rabbit hole? Remember that short bouts of exercise generate health benefits. You won’t get in the best shape of your life this way, but it’s a start to building a healthier lifestyle.
For those of you freaked out by the idea of being disgustingly sweaty and stinky in public where you’re likely forced to interact with friends and acquaintances, take heart. You’ll get over it. And chances are your friends will start saying things like, “I just don’t know how you do it!”
Let me know how you’ve figured out how to find time for fitness. The more tips, the merrier!
