Exercise is a beautiful thing in theory. Thinking about going to the gym and lifting some weights or going for a run always sounds good in the future. However, when it comes to the actual time of doing it there are always so many excuses not to. You may not have eaten, you may have a slight injury, you may have an early meeting tomorrow, you may have kids, you may just not have the time. Yet it is important to prioritize exercise in your life or you will never keep up with a consistent routine. Follow our tips to ensure you never allow time to get in the way of exercise again.
Sometimes an excuse is actually a reason. To be totally fair, people are busy and it can be difficult to fit a full hour of exercise into every single day. However, with the right preparation, you can ensure you get at least some exercise every day.
Sleep
The most common way that people find the time to exercise is by cutting back on sleep. This is the one thing you should not cut back on. While exercise may be your top priority, sleep is the foundation of everything working well in life. If you start cutting back on sleep you will have a bad gym session, you will pick up injuries, you will be cranky, you will argue with people. Sleep is incredibly important and the required amount is between seven and nine hours. Studies have shown that people who get six hours of sleep perform 30% worse at activity the next day. Sleep is a hugely significant factor in you reaching your goals.
That does not mean you can’t wake up early. A five a.m. start may seem ridiculous if you are going to sleep at midnight but that is what needs to change. We have so many wasted hours at night where we let three or four episodes slip by on Netflix. Have a set bedtime routine and ensure you are not staying awake too late, to ensure you can wake up early in the morning.
Meal prep
So many fitness enthusiasts that I speak to get defeated by meals. After a long day of work, you are hungry but you need to rush to the gym. You make it home and the idea of cooking for an hour is too much to take. This is the difference between working hard and working smart. So many people think that those people who achieve so much are killing themselves to do so, instead, they are just planning ahead. If you can put two hours aside on a Sunday dedicated entirely to meal prep then you can save so much time during the week. This will allow you to have a quick meal after the gym or have a snack on the go before it. Proper preparation is required to achieve proper results.
You can exercise less than an hour
There are some days that are just busy. On these days the possibility of a full hour of exercise can disappear. Instead of ruling out exercise altogether why not change your aim. You could do a 4 minute Tabata session and still get a great sweat worked up. While that is a little short, in 20 minutes you could have had a great workout. Combining that with a quick warm-up and cool down could have you finished in thirty minutes.
By adjusting your goals and being realistic about availability you can easily find a way to ensure that exercise is a fundamental part of your day. A key requirement is to keep motivated. Set important goals for your fitness that force you to find the time every day and ask your family for their support in helping you achieve these goals. Once you have the time, the next step is to go out there and do it.
