How I make time for fitness
Over the course of my journey, my commitment to fitness has evolved. It went from being an obligation to a passion. As that happened, I wanted to spend more time doing it – whatever the activity. Today, I typically work out 6 or 7 days a week, sometimes incorporating more than one workout into my day. Here’s an overview of what I mostly do right now, including how often and why I do it:
This is where my fitness routine is today. It is much different from one year ago, yet alone 10 years ago, and it will likely be different a year from now. The passion I developed for fitness is the basis for how I find the time to work it all in. This requires making sacrifices.
Whenever the topic of my current routine comes up, I am often asked how I fit it all into my schedule. Some ask because they are curious how I can work this into a busy schedule, while others are looking for advice on how they can work it into theirs. I’ll get to the former later, but let’s start with how to work fitness into any schedule.
The idea of telling someone else how to fit fitness into their schedule seems a bit preachy to me, and that’s certainly not what I am aiming for here. Everyone is different and there’s no one size fits all answer. But there are some common elements that fit most of our routines that can help work fitness into a busy schedule.
Make a commitment: There’s no way around this. Many of us have work and life schedules that feel overwhelming and exhausting. Whether it’s early days, late nights, or both, it’s hard to find the time to fit anything new into a busy schedule. When I first committed to training, my thought was that I’d book two sessions a week and be good – until my trainer pointed out that I needed to work out on my own too and that I should “win the week” (work out more days a week than not). Even just the two sessions were difficult to adhere to. I worked out in the evening and generally booked my sessions for 7 PM at the end of my work day. But in my line of work, my day would not always end in time for my training session, and there are many times that I canceled at the last minute. Canceling just before a session meant paying for it, and that’s a good thing because I probably would have found even more “work” excuses if I hadn’t already committed myself to the workout.
Find the best time of the day to make it stick: As I just mentioned, working out at the end of the day often led to work getting in the way. But for the longest time, I was not a morning person, and working out late was all I knew. Gradually, as my dedication to fitness evolved, I realized that, for me, the time of day that was most reliable for working out was early in the morning. I turned my lifestyle and sleeping habits upside down to make this happen. So much so, that I sometimes wake up at an hour where I sometimes used to go to bed.
Find ways to workout faster: I once asked my trainer what constitutes a workout. His answer, “It depends. You can walk on a treadmill for an hour while eating a bag of chips, and that’s not a workout. But you can go really hard for 10 minutes, and that is a workout. So, you know it when you see it.” This mentality got me through many days that seemed like I had way too much on my plate. No matter how long the work day is, it’s hard to say there is no opportunity to get in 10 or 15 minutes. That can be an intense run or Peloton ride, a short session jumping rope, or any sort of high intensity interval training. There are plenty of resources online for ideas, but even without looking, anyone can figure out some way to get the heart rate pumping extra hard for a short workout. I’m lucky enough to have a swimming pool in my building, and a hard 15-minute swim gets my strain quite high for the day.
Find ways to workout anywhere: Don’t fall victim to the idea that you have to go to the gym in order to have a fitness routine. Plenty can be done from home or even a hotel room. I mentioned the jump rope already, which is a staple of mine when I travel, but another easily portable workout method is resistance bands. They work anywhere – at home or on the road – as a great form of resistance and cardio training. There are also many innovative routines that can be done, including one that was invented by my trainer – Salsa Bandz. For those who love dancing (another good workout on it’s own that can travel anywhere), my trainer combined it with his other passion – fitness – to make a truly fun workout. Add a weighted vest like he does in this video, and you get even more out of it.
Move: I wrote a post about this one already. One of the keys to setting my journey in motion was adopting the mantra, “move.” You can do a lot by walking where you would otherwise get in a car; climbing stairs where you would otherwise take an elevator; or getting up and doing some form of stretching or body weight exercise when you would otherwise sit on the couch. There are times in each of our days when we can replace being sedentary with moving.
Rest: I know, this one seems out of place or counterintuitive for tips on how to work out more, but the only way to truly incorporate a fitness routine into a busy schedule is to get enough rest. It’s much harder to channel the inner strength to get something in when you are exhausted. Treat your body well, and it will want to do more. Turning off the television was a great way for me to ensure I got more rest.
When I look back at what led to my current routine, I can credit each of the principles above for laying the foundation. Each of these is so natural to me now, and over time, my commitment to exercise became a craving for it. Once that happened, the next step for me involved making greater sacrifices to get my routine in. If you love something, you will find even more ways to make time for it, and you ultimately look back and realize you probably had more time for it all along. But, trust me, you don’t have to love it at first to end up loving it in the long run.
Aaron