For most people, it is difficult to find five minutes to let your mind wander, much less shoehorn a workout into today’s busy schedule. So how do other people do it? You know the ones . . . the people you hear in the office talking about their gym workout or the 5K that they will run this weekend. How do they find the time to exercise? Is this just the domain of the unmarried, no children demographic? Here are some tips as to how a busy person who is juggling kids, career, and household responsibilities can fit in a 30 minute workout.
Twenty is the Key – Although estimates vary, exercising for at least 20 minutes a day at an elevated heart rate for three to five times a week is enough for your body to reach a “training effect.” This is the point at which you will see an increase in your fitness level as your body adapts to the exercise that you’ve introduced into your schedule. Less than 20 minutes a day or less than three times and week, and you will not move the needle on your current fitness level. Although 20 minutes is great, an even 30 minutes is manageable for your workout routine.
Schedule it – Just as you plan your day, schedule meetings, and block your calendar for working on that project deadline, you should schedule your workout. Whether it’s in Outlook or penciled in on your desk calendar, make sure that you know when you plan to exercise each day.
For many people, getting it done first thing in the morning is the easiest way to maintain your workout schedule. Yes, you may have to sacrifice 30 minutes of sleep, but as your fitness level increases, you won’t even miss those 30 winks. If your spouse or significant other is also pursuing a workout routine, then you should sync your schedules so that each person has an opportunity to exercise in the morning.
The lunch hour is typically scheduled into our day. If possible, you can slip a workout into the first half of your lunch. But what if your place of work doesn’t have showers? George Shehan, a runner and esteemed author of almost a dozen running books and thousands of magazine articles once said, “An honest sweat has no odor.” Ok, but those of us who do have an odor, a sponge and stick of deodorant in your backpack can do the trick.
Plan the workout – Now that you have your schedule worked out, you have to have a specific workout planned. Will you run for 30 minutes and pump iron? You can cycle, swim, stretch, walk, or all of the above. Just have a plan for which exercises you will do and the specific days on which you will do it.
Build Up – If you are a newly converted couch potato, then you need to start slow and build your workout up over time. If your goal is to complete a 5K and you’ve never run a mile, then start by walking. As you gain strength and stamina, begin to alternate some minutes of running into your routine. You can continue this pattern until you’ve covered 5 kilometers. At this point, you can begin to walk less and jog more until you can run the entire distance.
Add Variety – If you become bored with one activity, then mix it up! Sunday could be your day to run and Monday your day to lift weights. After a day off, Wednesday is yoga and Thursday is your second running day. Who doesn’t want Friday off? But you should plan to ride your bike on Saturday. Each of these exercises will help you increase your fitness and, at the same time, let you sample different exercises.
Friendly Competition – How many times have you heard that if you want to stick to a workout routine, do it with a friend? Use peer pressure to help you get out of the bed and into the gym or on the road. Again, don’t limit yourself to this one way of creating the motivation that you need. Go social — as in social media. There is an industry of electronic gadgets that help us track our performance and compare how we’ve done to others in our “community.” When uploading a workout from a Nike GPS sports watch, you can compare your week of running to the other people your gender and age as well as the overall Nike community. Just because I live in Texas doesn’t mean that I can’t have a little friendly competition with a co-worker in Florida using our Jawbone Up bands. As you can imagine, all of these devices allow you to post to Facebook or Tweet your workout.
So there you have it: six simple tips to help you get your fitness routine kicked off. Of all these tips, the scheduling and the planning are the most important. They lay the foundation on which the others are built. Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.” But then again, ole Ben looks like he can use 20 on the treadmill.
* Please see Disclaimer of Physical Activity