Making Time For Fitness In A Hectic Schedule
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Maintaining fitness is a key part of your self-care, but what happens if you are too busy to work out regularly?
You can make time for exercise. All it takes is a change in perspective and a deep dive into your schedule.
Making Time For Fitness
What you do with every minute of your day is, ultimately, your choice. It’s easy to say, “I have no time,” but is that really true? Beth Skwarecki writes at Lifehacker, “When something really important comes up in our lives, we find a way to fit it into our schedule—whether that’s a new video game we’re excited to play or a doctor’s appointment about something that’s really bugging us.”
Change the way you think about exercise. Consider it too important to miss, just like that doctor’s appointment, rather than an unpleasant chore. Select exercises that interest and excite you like dance lessons or hiking.
Next, consider how often you want to exercise. You can start slowly, with 30 minutes a day, 3-5 times a week. Then take a look at your schedule for the upcoming week and write out all your commitments. Where do you have room for exercise? Here are 25 more ways to find time for fitness from Experience Life.
Make your time count. This article from Active.com recommends using the time you spend at home to make fitness fun, for example, exercising with your kids or marching in place while you watch TV. You can even set up a home gym, which will save you time traveling back and forth to work out. The garage, basement, or an extra bedroom are all great spots for your home gym.
If you are still stumped, consider doing exercises while you’re at work. One option might be taking the stairs instead of the elevator. You can also do certain routines at your desk. Time has examples of 10 exercises you can do at work.
Dual-Purpose Fitness Routines
Another option is finding workout routines that serve dual purposes. Here are a few:
Learning While Exercising Instead of being bored, use the time you spend working out to catch up on your reading or learning with podcasts and audiobooks. Read this post from Forbes on the benefits of using audiobooks to multitask.
Yoga Yoga is a great exercise because it teaches you breathing, deep relaxation, and meditation, all while working on your body. That means less stress and better mental health while you get into shape. Here are more surprising benefits of yoga from Huffington Post.
Hiking This exercise provides the benefits of nature, vitamin D and socialization if you hike with your friends and family. Learn why nature is good for your physical and mental health at ASLA.org.
Dance Lessons What better way to keep your romance alive by taking dance lessons with your partner? It’s a more engaging way to spend date night!
Swimming If you struggle with injuries or arthritis, swimming can provide a therapeutic way to stay fit. Read more benefits of swimming.
The Key To Balance: Expecting “Off” Weeks
Now that you’ve made some room in your schedule for exercise, what happens if you really are too busy for fitness? Perhaps you are traveling, down with a nasty virus, or on a really tight deadline. Whatever the reason, there will be weeks that you cannot stick to your schedule.
That’s OK. The key here is to accept those weeks as part of life. In the meantime, you may want to get a little more physical activity in during those hectic weeks. Park your car further away in the parking lot when you go to work or stand rather sit at your desk all day.
Even if you can’t do more activity, you can also add another day of exercise when you are back on schedule. And remember to get back to your schedule as soon as you can!
Making time for fitness in a busy schedule is a matter of reorganizing your priorities and finding the right routine. Try dual-purpose exercises and give yourself a break when life is too hectic.
