In a previous blog on change, we talked about why change is so difficult, with one of the reasons being that we often self-sabotage our fitness efforts and make lots of excuses not to do anything about it. One of the most common excuses are that you don’t have time to fit exercise in around work, kids and family life.
As a busy mum of 3 boys I completely understand how chaotic life can be at times and how easy it is to skip that workout when you are flat out and exhausted. Take Friday for example. I had a super busy day before the long weekend, running from appointment to appointment and feeling pretty tired, but despite this, I still managed to get a 40 minute workout in as I scheduled it in the diary and made it happen!! This meant I had to put a few things aside for the moment, like my emails and my washing basket, but I felt so much better and more energised after I got my workout in!
Remember, things are always going to get in the way of your workouts, so it’s really important to allocate some time in your busy schedule to fit it in, even if it’s only for a short period of time. If you don’t schedule it, it’s less likely to happen!
In saying this, there are going to be days where its simply impossible to fit in an entire workout, or you may be away for the long weekend and are busy doing family things. If this is the case for you, something is better than nothing at all, so try these 7 tips if you are strapped for time. You could do one each day of the week or if you can string together a few of these throughout the day, it all adds up!
- Go for a light 5 min jog around the block on your lunch break or after work, or if you don’t have the energy for a jog, then power walk instead!
- When you are craving your afternoon coffee at work or home, take the stairs there and back, or do 3 sets of 10 squats and 10 pushups, then as your reward, make yourself that cuppa (without the chocolate biscuit!)
- Get off the train or bus a few stops earlier and walk to your car or home
- Do 5 sets of planks, planking for 50 seconds, then resting for 10 seconds while you watch TV
- When you need to make a phone call, go for a walk around the block and talk at the same time, or pop the kids in the pram and walk and talk.
- When you are feeling stressed out after a long day, do a 5 minute High Intensity session to get the blood pumping. Try doing each of the following exercises for 1 minute each – jump squats or regular squats without the jump, star jumps, dips on a chair, mountain climbers, then finish with 1 minute of burpees!
- Take the kids to the park and actually play with them – maybe you could do some running races, or bound jumps around the park or play tiggy! Whatever it is, just get moving!
So while the aim is to set aside some structured time to fit in a workout 2-3 times per week, if you are really struggling for time, there is no excuse to fit something in!
Enjoy the long weekend!
