Finding Time to Workout

A question I get just about every other day is how do I fit time in to work out?

Yes I’m a busy person, yes I’m traveling a lot for work and you better believe I’m still working out.

I stopped making excuses for myself once I hit rock bottom.

I was there about a year and a half ago. Once you hit rock bottom you don’t ever want to go back. Keeping that in the back of my mind is what keeps me moving each and every day. I look at the pile of clothes stacked up outside of my closet that I can’t fit into anymore because they are about four sizes too big. I’d like to keep it that way. I know what happens when I let myself eat whatever I’d like and seldomly workout. I don’t want to go back to that place.

It’s not easy to find a hole in your busy schedule everyday to workout.  But you absolutely need to find a time each day (allow yourself at least one rest day a week though) to get sweaty for at least 30 minutes.

You will  find yourself reaping the benefits of working out not only in the way you look and feel but also getting things done faster and more efficiently in all areas of your life. 

Below I will list a few things that have worked for me and will hopefully work for you as well.

1. Set expectations for yourself. Have a concrete goal in mind as to what you want to achieve. So if you want to loose weight, set a number of pounds you’d like to loose and by when.  If you want to shape up and loose a little belly fat before a vacation, picture exactly what you want to look like. Flip through some old pictures of yourself or find a celebrity body type you’d like to strive towards and hang it up on your fridge or somewhere you will see a lot.

2. Set up a workout schedule- This allows you to mentally prepare yourself for your workouts. Think about a time where you rocked a presentation or project at school or work. You probably spent some time preparing for it. You knew you would do well because you took the time to think it through. The same goes for working out, set up a schedule for yourself at the beginning of each week mapping out your workouts for the week so you can visualize success.

3. Hold yourself accountable to your schedule. I get it, life gets in the way.  Your meeting ran late so now you can’t get to your spinning class on time like you had scheduled. Or your child got sick at daycare and you have to leave to pick him up.  That doesn’t mean you can’t still workout. You will need to improvise. You can still go to the gym and get a workout in or or lace up some running shoes and go for a run. Another option is to do a exercise video at home.

4. Timing. Find the best time of day that is going to work for you to workout. For some it’s the morning. The hardest part is peeling yourself out of your warm and comfortable bed but I promise you will get more energy from a workout than a venti cup of coffee. Maybe morning workouts aren’t you’re thing and you like to do it after work. Whenever it is, find the time of day that works best for you to get sweaty and stick to it. Eventually it will become a habit and a part of your daily routine and you won't even think twice about it.

5.  Fun. Last but not least have fun with it. Tag your friends along with you to the gym for a zumba or spinning class. Make friends with people at the gym. If you look at working out in a positive light you will get positive results in return.

Hope this helps! Please let me know if there are any topics you’d like me to touch on.