How to Exercise When You Don’t Have Time

Busy Schedule
12 Apr

Last Updated on April 12, 2016 by Michael Brockbank

Many people don’t know how to exercise when they don’t have a lot of time to do it. Careers, play and even family can deplete the amount of time you have in any given day. However, you shouldn’t let this discourage you from actually getting up and putting effort into physical activity. Many of us believe we have a full day, but is it really?

How to Exercise When Time is Short

Most of us get this mindset that we don’t have enough time in the day. In reality, it all depends on how you spend it. There could be a plethora of ways you could shave some time to get active.

Logging Your Day
Keep a running log of how you spend your day. Whether you’re at work, sitting at the computer playing games, watching TV or any other activity, take note of the time spent. It’s kind of like creating a budget, only your focusing on your day and not your bank account. It can help you find time-sinks that can be used for other activities.

It Only Takes 5 Minutes
How often do you waste five minutes doing nothing? A lot of us will burn time without even thinking about it. Why not throw on your shoes and walk around the block? For me, it takes just over six minutes to walk around the neighborhood. Do this a few times per day, and you’ll burn quite a few calories and get some exercise.

Set Schedules
Schedules are nice, but sometimes they can be difficult to maintain. Life in the home is often chaotic, and it may be hard to keep certain times to yourself for fitness. However, scheduling “you” time in this fashion can be greatly beneficial for home and work lifestyles. Try to get up earlier in the morning, or dedicate a specific time that you cannot be interrupted. You do this for work, why not for your health?

Cutting the TV a Bit
A lot of us will spend a large portion of the day watching TV or streaming from services like Netflix. Like I mentioned in a previous article, you don’t need to completely cut TV watching out of your routine. Personally, I have cut an episode or two per day while I exercise while watching some of my favorite shows.

A Quick Workout Before Bed
A lot of people will do a quick workout before jumping into bed. This is good for two reasons: it may help enhance your sleep and it can help burn any carbs and fats you ate after dinner. Even if you were to do a grueling 10 minute routine, it can impact your health in profound ways. Exercises like jumping jacks, sit-ups, planks and other cardio workouts are easy to do right before you hit the sack.

Walk More
Instead of driving, get on your feet to go to the corner store. I know not everyone lives near a shop, but think of it as a way to get in some walking. For me, I plan out a mile round-trip to Family Dollar when I need to pick something up for lunch or need a gallon of milk. It’s all about getting the body moving and burning some calories and carbs.

Deny Yourself Conveniences
There’s a lot of conveniences people take advantage of that are not conducive to healthy practices. I like to leave the remote next to the television. This makes me get up and walk across the room to change the channel. It’s not a lot of steps, but it adds up when you have to get up repeatedly throughout the day. I’ve also stopped asking my children to do things for me that I can get up and do myself. It’s things like this that can add up when you deny yourself some of the conveniences that you’ve grown accustomed to.

There are multitudes of ways that you can get more out of your day if you keep an eye on the amount of time you spend. Learning how to exercise when you’re busy isn’t that difficult if you simply shave a few things off. For me, it’s Netflix. It doesn’t take a great deal to get started, only determination from yourself to succeed.

What can you reduce in your day to make more room for fitness? What have you done to increase the time you have to improve your health?

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