We’re all so busy trying to balance work and family that sometimes staying fit gets cast aside. But if you’re strategic about it you can stay in shape without it getting in the way of your day. Here are tips that will create space for fitness in your already-packed schedule.
Wake Up Earlier
It may not be the easiest thing to do, but waking up early is one of the guaranteed productivity hacks that adds more useful time to your busy day. The benefit of waking up early is that no one else is awake and you can get right to your exercise routine without any distractions, if you can just get yourself out of bed.
Make sure that you don’t choose an exercise that you don’t like or it will be even harder to get out from under the covers. Pick something that you’ll look forward to and that doesn’t require a lot of prep time to get started.
Try High Intensity Interval Training
If the thought of 40 minutes on a stationary bike or elliptical machine is enough to make you skip your workout, it’s time to look into high intensity interval training, also known as HIIT. With this type of training you put in maximum effort for shorter periods of time and shorter overall workouts.
You can get more benefit from a 10 to 15 minutes HIIT workout then you can from a moderately paced treadmill session. It’s all about pushing yourself as hard as you can and then resting in intervals. It forces your body to adapt and gets it to release chemicals and hormones that help it function properly.
The other beauty of this type of exercise is that you continue to reap the benefits into the next day, making it so you only have to do it every other day. Once you see the results you get from working out in short bursts rather than long drawn-out cardio sessions you’ll be hooked.
Multitask While Exercising
You can read your favorite book in audiobook format while you exercise so you’ll be staying on top of the latest news for your industry while getting fit. Jogging, rowing, taking a walk, and cycling are all great activities that lend themselves well to listening to audiobooks, while giving you a decent workout.
Use a Fitness Tracker
The latest fitness trackers will encourage you to get up and move if you haven’t done so in a while. They provide excellent reminders for busy work days when you forget just how long you’ve been sitting at your desk. They also add some objectivity to your fitness regimen, showing you in black-and-white terms whether or not you’ve been active enough for the day.
If it’s nearing the end of the day, you can quickly glance down at your device and it will let you know if you need to step it up and get more activity in before you wind down for the night. It can mean all the difference between getting a good night’s sleep, or lying in bed awake because you still have energy you need to burn up.
In just a few weeks you’ll start to see the benefits from these changes, which will only encourage you to make more positive and healthy additions to your day.