Recently I was speaking with someone about finding the time to exercise. She stated that she got home from work at 6 and just couldn't put in another hour devoted to exercise because she didn't have the time or the energy. Like many others, we seem to think of exercise in terms of larger chunks of time. We feel that in order to be effective we should devote an hour to it or otherwise, why bother. Although exercising an hour at time if not more is effective, it isn't the only way.
One thing I do on the days that I have something to after work and can't get to the gym or just want to have more downtime at home after work, is to break up my workouts. I will wake up 15 minutes early and start my day doing 15 minutes of abs or I will wake up a half an hour early (and sleep in my workout clothes to save time) and go on a half hour run in the morning before work. This means I wake up at 5, but once I get moving I actually feel more awake when I make it to work.
You can also use your lunch break as workout time. Yesterday I ran 5 miles at lunch and came back a much happier person. It is nice to get a mental break and be moving for a period of time during the day. Of course you don't have to run but going on a brisk walk can be just as benefical. I come back a little sweatier but the sweat dries, you can reapply make up (if you wear it)and spray yourself with body spray and get on with the rest of the day. By this time you have already worked out for 45 minutes to an hour and can stop there if you wish.
But if you want to, you can still workout after work for a shorter period of time, like a half an hour as opposed to your usual hour. This is when you can get some weight lifting in or some sort of muscle building activity. Total activity time for the day would range from an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half, which is not an overwhelming period of time when you break it up. The great news is that you can even get benefits from exercise in shorter periods of time if you do interval training, which is short burts of high intensity exercise followed by short periods of rest that generally last 30 minutes.
It isn't always easy but most people can find time to exercise. By breaking up your workouts or doing interval training you can get the work done and reap the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
Need motivation? This might help:
I've learned to see exercise as a 20-40 minute time investment. Sometimes, once I've gotten going, I'll workout for longer, but it's easier to get myself into a workout if I say, "It's just 20 minutes."
ReplyDeleteI agree, once you get going you find yourself feeling better and can extend that if you want to. Also, I never regret a workout but I will regret not working out.
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