I am asked quite often where I find the time to exercise. It’s a fair enough question, I think. Between our typical daily jobs keeping us out of the house, trying to make quality time for friends and family on the weekends for our mental health, and somehow managing to get our other responsibilities done, making space in our lives for our health often seems to take a back burner and takes just way too much time out of the day to be able to be consistent.
There are a lot of answers for those wondering how to make this work, and just because something has worked well for me doesn’t mean it will be perfect for you of course, but here are some of the things that I do in order to keep myself healthy and energetic!
One
I combine some of my “fun” time with my active time! Some of the activities I do to hang out with my friends include exercise, although I don’t tend to think of it that way. I spend two days a week taking dance lessons with a group of friends for example. My favorite style of dance is Irish step, but all styles tend to be demanding in balance and on your heart, and some will give you a great leg and arm workout too, but for me this is more of social time. By blending the two together, I’ve managed to affect how my physical health routine cuts into my social health routine! I do the same with my saber training, trying to train a few days a week with a group of friends that makes it social and physical as well!
Two
I set up my gym in my home! I’ve talked about how to construct an affordable home gym before, and my setup totaled about $60 for the major pieces I use now, and with this small amount of affordable equipment I cut down on both the cost of health maintenance (avoiding monthly gym fees) and travel! Part of what can make finding gym time inconvenient is the fact that you spend time in transit, parking, walking in, setting up, and walking out. Of course this adds in cost of gas as well, so by having a rounded home gym setup I can more easily fit my workout into my schedule and save some money for other things!
Three
I choose calorically demanding activities to cut my workout time down! I like to utilize a method of training known as HIIT which allows me to get my recommended amount of both cardiovascular exercise and resistance training in within about half the time it would take me if I were doing something more traditional like going for a walk or run. To boot, some of the activities I choose like dance, jump rope, and boxing, burn a lot more calories at base than some of the more traditional activities alike jogging as well, so I can be appropriate on that end as well in less time!
There are a lot of other options people can work around to help them find time to exercise, like splitting their workouts throughout the day instead of trying to work through one large block of time, picking just 3 mornings to get a lot more done in and taking the rest of the time off, and just the basics like parking further away and taking more stairs when possible. All of these methods can help keep us moving, which is the best medicine you can ask for!
