TOTAL LIFETIME FITNESS

Finding Time to Exercise

October 15th, 2008 Posted by David Lemberg

Let’s say you’re ready to begin a brand-new exercise program. You’re committed. You’re ready to go. You think, “Now’s the time I’m really going to get back in shape.”

And then you think, “How am I going to find the time?”

That’s a deal-breaker, right there. You’re already fully booked. There’s no extra time in your day anywhere. In fact, you don’t even have the time you need to do all the things you already need to do.

Your chest deflates a little and your spirit sags just a little. You really wanted to do this. But there’s just no time for a fitness program of any kind. Right?

Wrong.

The solution – the way to find time when it seems impossible – is to cause yourself to have a new relationship to time. I’m not talking about revising Einstein’s general theory of relativity or bending the space-time continuum like the character Hiro Nakamura does on the TV show Heroes.

I wish all that were possible, I really do. I’d love to wave my magic wand. But we’ve all got 24 hours in a day. That’s it. The magic comes from causing a powerful new relationship to those precious 24 hours.

The first step is acknowledging you’re going to find the time to do your new fitness program, no matter what. You’re going to be the master, not the clock. The next step is to see where some real time-savings might occur.

To create time for fitness you might want to get up earlier in the morning. Start to train yourself to sleep an hour less each night. Right there you’ve discovered 60 minutes you never had before – plenty of time to do strength training, core exercises, or an aerobic exercise session.

Or find the time at the end of your workday. Plan to do your fitness program after work, and push everything else forward an hour. You wind up going to bed an hour later each day. Again, you’ve discovered 60 minutes you never had before.

Or get up 30 minutes earlier, do your workout, and have a nutrition shake for breakfast – which only takes 10 minutes. You’ve saved 30 minutes by skipping preparations for breakfast and skipping watching the morning news.

If you really intend to make it happen you’ll come up with your own creative solutions to finding 30 to 60 minutes each day to do your fitness program. If you’re really challenged by this, make it your business to find 30 minutes and use that time for fitness. Once you get going, you’ll find new ways to find even more extra time.

And then, when you’re well into your exercise program, the whole thing starts to take less time. You notice that instead of being in the gym for 45 minutes, you can get just as good a workout in only 30 minutes or so. Now you’ve just recaptured some of that time!

The bottom line is this – do you really want to become the vibrantly healthy, wonderfully fit person you’ve always wanted to be? There are so many benefits. If the answer is “yes”, then you’ll find creative solutions to the 24-hours-in-a-day issue.

Remember, you’re the one who gets to say how your life goes. You can do it!

Technorati Tags: aerobic exercise, core exercises, Strength Training