There are 24 hours in a day and yet there are many people who struggle to get the most out of their day, especially when it comes to exercise. Finding time to exercise can be nearly as hard as exercising itself for these individuals. There are people who have a knack for fitting it in, and they aren’t slowing down either. What’s their secret? They know how to properly manage their time.
Time management is crucial if you want to find time for yourself. Before you can begin mastering how to fit in exercise, begin with an audit of your time. You may think that you spend 30 minutes on emails or social media, but they could be taking up to an hour or more of your day. This is not to say that you should remove these completely from your daily routine but give it a time limit like maybe 30 minutes. Now you’ve just created more time in your schedule. As you start writing down what your typical day looks like, you may find some other tasks that you could limit time on so you can make more time for self-care, like exercise.
You may not be able to fit in a full 60-minute exercise routine daily, so we’ll share our top five ways to squeeze in a healthy fitness routine in just 30 minutes.
1. Walking
Walking is a great multi-tasking exercise. Need to read those emails or check social media? Walking is an easy way where you can do both. You not only get exercise, but you’re using time wisely. Have shopping to do? You can hit the mall and walk regardless of the weather conditions.
2. Parking
Avoid trying to find the closest parking spot. By parking further away you give yourself another 100 steps in your daily step log and you’ve gained extra time too from now having to waste time looking or waiting for the perfect spot.
3. Biking
Hop on your bike and ride to the store or wherever you need to go instead of getting in a car. Riding your bike will help you lower stress, burn calories and help you feel better.
4. Working
If you have 60 minutes, fit in a quick 20-30-minute walk during your lunch hour. Maybe there is a fitness center close to your work. If so, alternate your days to fit in a 30-minute strength training routine.
Is your office on the third floor, or better yet, on the sixth floor? Avoid the elevator and take the stairs. Stairs are a great way to fit in exercise.
5. Planning
One of the worst things that you can do is not plan for your workouts. Look at the week ahead and schedule in time on your planner for 30 minutes - whether that’s before work, lunch, between meetings, or after work.
Busy as we may be, we seem to make time for television, social media or household chores and find reasons for not exercising. What you should be thinking about is what will happen if you don’t exercise. How will a sedentary lifestyle affect you in the next year, five years or more? Will you have time for multiple doctor’s appointments? Will you have the time and money to take medication every day to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes? Don’t be in denial about your health.
You don’t have to go it alone. We have come to understand that innovative and time-tested methods of dieting and exercise are all next to useless without accountability, support and motivation. Our goal at First Wave Wellness is to help guide, mentor, and provide ongoing support and guidance as you set goals to make sustainable lifestyle changes that will improve your well-being and health. If you want to try something different, to be involved in a wellness program that is sustainable, contact us today.